What I’m Watching: The Conners

The Conners: Season 2, Episode 3 “The Preemie Monologues” (B)

This show does seem to be able to stretch a lot of its comedy from the notion of its characters not being able to afford much, something that comes up selectively and which often gets blamed on just one resident of the house. Darlene is the most frequently-accosted, in this case for them being out of toilet paper, which they apparently use for everything. The decision that she’s having trouble making about which man she’d like to keep romantically in her life wasn’t made any easier by the fact that Harris knows she’s sleeping with both David and Ben, and I like that Darlene tried to approach her “insane” daughter by talking right to her and being upfront after Harris told her that she knew. Becky being a mother hasn’t been smooth either, though I think she’s struggling most with Jackie driving her crazy, trying to have the baby start learning Mandarin from the nurses at the hospital and other absurd expectations that she’s somehow concocted. Going in to work and trying to guilt a customer into a huge tip because of what she’s going through went predictably poorly, though Louise did do a pretty great job of salvaging the situation by billing it as dinner theater in the early stages of development. It looks like Louise might become a more permanent fixture on the show after suggesting that Dan would want her there for important moments in his life, and he responded by eventually asking her out, which should provide some entertaining fodder for future episodes. I feel like we haven’t seen DJ do anything of substance in a while, and so having him do magic for the wrong baby felt oddly appropriate.