Josh-da-man

Did you ever watch Girls?

Apparently, frumpy women with repellent personalities drive men wild.

bluesix

Agreed!!!

Maybe they will age her up again and get a new older kid. Can't see her getting written out of the show unless daddy kidnaps her and takes her back to Mexico or something.

This show doesn't seem to have any overall season long plot line. The characters just seem to stumble along through their lives while we watch. I thought this season was going to be all about them moving into the new house and finally move upward in their lives. With Ben owning his own business, Jackie happily married, Becky somewhere around halfway through college, Mark going off to college, it just seems like things are on an upward trajectory except for Darlene and her loser daughter who seem content to sleep with any skank she can find and work at her lame job while she sponges off her family. But this group of characters just seems committed to self destruction and wallowing in their own failure. Even in real life I don't know any poor people who wouldn't have improved their lives by now given all the opportunities the Connors have had....

Paff

You're actually not wrong here, even if you were being slightly tongue-in-cheek. My dad was one of those men. His first wife was popular and attractive, and then cheated on him, so after that he started dating average women (yes, including my mom).

Daytripper

Right? These characters continue to make the worst life decisions. It's exhausting at this point. I still don't know why they felt the need to get rid of Fishman. Sure, he had almost zero screen time. But he was endlessly better than Beverly Rose. Fucking hell is that kid actor ever terrible.

Josh-da-man

It's not so much that Darlene and Hannah are frumpy or average, it's that they're generally miserable, awful people.

Darlene is clingy and needy, but at the same does everything she can to push the people close to her away and sabotage her relationships. It's not surprising she was never able to realize her dreams of being a writer; she has the people skills of a Tasmanian Devil, and being able to network and ingratiate yourself to people like other writers, agents, editors, and publishers is a big part of success in those fields.

Hannah is similar to Darlene in that she's needy and clingy, but she's also one the most obnoxiously self-centered and narcissistic characters I've ever seen. She might be a sociopath.

If both them had supermodel looks, they could probably get away with their behavior, but they don't, and it's kind of baffling what anyone sees in them.

I'm about the same age as Darlene, and when I was watching Roseanne back in the day, at first she seemed like she might actually be a cool girlfriend... she was kind of snarky and quick-witted, but as the show went on, her shtick just became obnoxious, and it's continued into adulthood.

MrX

It feels sometimes like they transplanted some of Roseanne's personality traits into Darlene after they killed Roseanne off.

windom

So Jackie took Darlene to see The Exorcist when she was 10 which would have been around 1985, but she didn't know what the movie was about? Not like it was a new release or anything.

Daytripper

Yeah, that was beyond stupid. As was this entire episode. Probably the worst "Conners" episode ever IMO. Ben and Darlene going to Becky to vent and get marital advice? Dan and Jackie bickering over those stupid home movies. The writing was just so bad and lazy.

Paff

Yeah. Did not care for much in the episode. While I know it was included for the storyline, if you're still working on your paper the literal second it's due, you're late already. Becky should have been merely proofreading at that point, and just submitted when she saw Darlene was going to take up her time.

No one mentioned the previous week's episode, when yet another Shameless alum appeared on the show, and at least this time Emma Kenney said "you look familiar" to her former TV dad. And I had to admit, the stunt WH Macy pulled on Dan was really low and dirty.

Daytripper

It was really bad this week. What's going on?

And just what kind of paperwork does Ben need to do in bed nightly for a hardware store!? About last week's show, how about that big reveal of a returning original "Roseanne" character? Turned out to be the bully from the Lobo who Dan got into a fight with. Someone who appeared on one episode in a less than 5 minute scene. Really!? So fucking lame.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, especially considering that he really dodged a bullet when Dan stole Roseanne from his all those years ago. He should have thanked him.

Daytripper

No, he should have written Dan a check for $500,000. Remember, he said his money kept pouring in after the first million. So no big.

windom

So Dan has a variable rate mortgage and he somehow owed an extra $6000 over what he normally pays? Would an ARM really work like that? Dan must be in around the 35th year of of his mortgage now. He's gotta be getting close to paying it off!

alfredog1976

I count 3 so far (4 if you count Katey Sagal)

bluesix

This week's episode was actually pretty good! At least for The Conners.

Story was realistic, Darlene and Ben constantly arguing keep Becky from getting good study time and she ends up failing her PSYCH class.
But she is able to apply things from the psychology course to help them realize why they are really arguing and find a solution.

B storyline was Dan and Jackie dueling over who is more senile and can't remember where old home movies are.
Both storylines resolved themselves within the episode, the characters actually came off as real human beings and best of all, it was actually funny.

I thought it was a little harsh that Becky had to retake the class just because of one late paper. Isn't she just going the local community college? That seems pretty harsh and if I was her I would appeal to the dean.
Also seeing the super modern furnishings at Darlene and Bens house just doesn't seem right. Hard to believe either of those two would pick that style or feel comfortable living in those surroundings.

Overall, I was happy I tuned in for once!

Daytripper

Terrible episode this week IMO. I just felt the writing was especially awful. Although I was glad to see Bev back again.

bluesix

Agreed. Altho it would be wonderful to see a Bev episode with writing strong enough for her to do something with so that she receives an Emmy while Estelle Parsons is still with us, I don't think it will happen, at least not on this show.

She certainly has all the materials there--a wonderful actress capable of working at the peak of her talents, a character with dementia and a long family history of emotional/psychological abuse within her family, other brilliant actors around her to play off....and yet....the hamhanded way they told of her broken arm and how she was protecting the kids....it was like an intern wrote it...

Daytripper

I really enjoyed this week's episode. And laughed out loud at Darlene's makeover for her last interview.

GuessWho

It feels like yesterday we just had the unplanned pregnancy storyline with Becky. Now Harris?

Joe Schmoe

I bet they did it because they wanted to address Roe v. Wade being overturned. Reminded me of when Jackie and Roseanne spent a whole episode fighting about the 2016 election. Real world politics creeping in. Did I hear Jackie say she had to make a similar choice when she was a teen? So did she and Roseanne both get knocked up as teens? Once again, we're supposed to forget Fred knocked up Jackie as an adult, as well as their son, Andy, and Fred himself.

Josh-da-man

From what I understand, Andy's existence and Jackie's relationship with Fred have been completely removed from the canon like the lottery win in the final season of Roseanne.

GuessWho

The ending of the original Roseanne series erased Fred & Andy since Jackie was a lesbian. So while the straight Jackie depicted was made up for Roseanne's book, Dan's death was real yet here he is in The Connors which goes beyond the book, so you can't count on any timelines at all.

Joe Schmoe

What was the point of Harris getting pregnant given the events of last night's episode? Finally, Dan's wife was in the show, but she spends the whole episode in bed? How stupid. Did they explain why Ben was MIA?

mickey65

I think the point of Harris' miscarriage was to repair things between her and Darlene since they fight all the time? I wonder if Katie will be on the show more now that she's "retired" from the road. I didn't miss Ben last night.

windom

My crazy nitpick. A waterbed would have left visible impressions in the carpeting after being removed. Probably any bed would have. That empty carpet looked pretty smooth though. Did they actually replace the carpet after removing the bed? Even getting it shampooed I would expect to see marks from the bed.