Catching Up with the Connors
Quite little to tell today. Typical Tuesday!
I walked home from work. Immediately turned around to meet Shobhit getting home from work, and we walked together to US Bank so he could deposit my check helping with the mortgage. He kept trying to come up with ways to make this walk qualify as a point for the next Social Review -- he even asked if it would count if we stopped and split a dessert at Starbucks. I said yes, but saw little sense in that when we had both chocolate bars and Samoas Girl Scout Cookies at home. We did go in and check out the display case at the new Starbucks on Broadway and Denny, but nothing jumped out at us. "It's not worth it," Shobhit said, which I silently agreed with, and we walked the rest of the way back home.
We had leftover parathas and a potato/cauliflower dish he made that was much tastier than cauliflower has any right to be. I tasted mostly the potatoes anyway. It was very yellow in color.
I was going to take that food to Laney's to eat there while we watched Mad Men, after already having that activity originally scheduled for Friday postponed to Monday. But, Laney has a terrible cold and felt like shit and canceled. So, on to waiting until next month to continue with that. Instead I spent the evening at home, and we watched a bunch of season 1 of Roseanne on Amazon Prime. Eight episodes, to be exact.
I was rather struck by the episode in which Darlene, at age 11, gets her period. That series began in 1988, and this episode aired on Valentine's Day 1989. I was 12 years old and would turn 13 that April. So many years have passed that it's easy to lose sight of how truly ahead of its time that show was, particularly how irreverent it was, not just in how it approached sensitive topics like this but really all things. That show really was nothing like anything else on TV at the time -- and I'm realizing now that the Netflix show One Day at a Time, while far more diverse in its representation, has a lot of Roseanne in its DNA (right down to how the person playing the mother smiles a lot more than you might expect).
Interestingly, Shobhit briefly resisted watching Roseanne with me because she voted for Trump, but I would say his quick reversal into being just as compelled by the show is testament to how good the show really was. Now, to be clear, I will be the first to admit Roseanne is a fucking nut job, and she has been for years. I was even telling him about the media frenzies and controversies that surrounded her for years back when the show was first airing -- firing entire writing staff and the like -- at least, that's what I remember happening; I can't find anything online specifically confirming it now (although this L.A. Times article from 1989 confirms the first season was plagued with behind-the-scenes problems). I didn't even mention when she married Tom Arnold and brought him onto the show even though most people hated him (I have since decided he's all right), or the massive outcry that occurred after her terribly singing the National Anthem at a baseball game in 1990.
And now there's a reboot of Roseanne in the works, which I have very mixed feelings about. Roseanne is one of many people who proudly take credit for "shaking up the status quo" by voting for Trump, which is both outrageous and disgusting. She plans to make her character a Trump supporter, which is "just realistic" she said -- that's actually true. I've ready much of the rest of her family will be on the other side, which actually sounds like an interesting dynamic with this TV family. And I would be intrigued to see where the kids are these days with their own families, and whether Darlene grew up to be a lesbian just like Sara Gilbert herself did. But, like Shobhit, I'm not sure I want to support Roseanne all that directly. But, my curiosity may get the better of me regardless once that reboot comes out.
In the meantime, the old show remains as relevant as ever, and really holds up. The first season does, anyway, and as I recall most of the series did -- with the exception of the very last season which I never even watched and heard was terrible.
Anyway then we did a crossword at washingtonpost.com and then I went to bed.
[posted 12:12 pm]