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We’re back, listeners – for real this time! Ahead of next month’s premiere of season 6 of The Conners, we’re looking at two episodes from Roseanne‘s later seasons that focus on a plot point that’s been bugging us throughout the run of this podcast: Jackie and Fred’s child, Andy. The Conners has wiped Andy from existence for reasons unknown, but a look at season 7 episode “Nine Is Enough” and season 8 episode “Let Them Eat Junk” demonstrates Jackie’s once all-consuming, unhinged and obsessive love for her now-disappeared baby. In “Nine Is Enough,” a hilarious episode that revolves around the Conners’ overcrowded house (and Dan shaving his armpits and being weird about it), Jackie’s overprotective, controlling attitude surrounding the baby has put a wall between her and Fred that never really seems to come down. In “Let Them Eat Junk,” this same parenting approach causes problems between Jackie and Roseanne, who violates Jackie’s “no junk food” rule, resulting in some soul-searching for Roseanne regarding her relationship to food, as passed down by Bev. We discuss how high-strung Jackie is in these two episodes, and how much more in line this late-Roseanne characterization is with the way she is depicted on The Conners, albeit without the presence of Andy. We also have some fun with Bev and a lively discussion of the differences between Sarah Chalke-Becky and Lecy-Becky.

Join us for all this plus digressions on Willem Dafoe (his charm and small stature). Beef, The Bear, our hatred for Incubus, May December, Loudermilk, the terrifying 1845 children’s book Struwwelpeter, Frog and Toad, and Cher’s Christmas song. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts!