Debate going on about the episode An Officer And A Gentlemen

[LisaM34]

On another board people are talking about this episode and how much they hated it.. I personally liked it.. What's your opinion??

[LecyGoransonfan]

I like this episode. It's one of the first ones I ever taped! I love the whole scene where the kids are getting ready for school and Jackie goes "Chop, chop chop gets your books ready!" and the kids all skip off together to school. I liked the last conversation Dan and Jackie had in the episode but I admitt sometimes when they were talking I woud get boooooored.

[Brent88]

I like it. The 2nd season(that is currently airing) is where the episodes start to get better...

[beckyc]

i don't like it.

[Little Mel]

That's one of my favorite episodes. I thought it was nice seeing Dan actually say something kind to Jackie for a change. I remember the first time I saw that episode, I thought they were falling in love or something.

[Brent88]

Me too! I was expecting them to make out at any moment... considering Dan always says mean things to here(and Roseanne sometimes):lol:

[Janice]

I liked it a lot. It was funny how they did a mini spoof on Leave It To Beaver. I missed Roseanne, and I'm assuming there's a real life reason she was only in the opener.

I did get a strange feeling about Dan and Jackie, and I think the show was designed to make viewers wonder. When you think about it, this show was really only about them. At first I thought it was going to focus on Jackie having a difficult time taking the reigns of the household, but then the show took another direction altogether.

Dan and Jackie's spouse type conversations which turned to reminiscing about the past which gave way to awkward silences and glances--this was clever writing. When the conversation ventured into, "Did you like me...I liked you...do you remember meeting me...I had a crush on you...I should have taken you for myself (paraphrasing here)"--I knew where they were steering the viewers minds. There was a definite flirtatious undercurrent, to say the least, going on with them.

And it's okay. This show so realistically portrays people, that it makes sense to show Dan and Jackie as humans who may wonder about each other. It's not surprising that when truly alone, without Roseanne, for probably the first time, they decide to tell each other what was on their minds all those years ago. The unspoken was finally spoken.

I didn't think they were falling in love, but I do think they were in that, 'What if?' mode of thinking. The episode's title, An Officer and a Gentlemen, is a telling sign of the show's nature.

Dan telling Roseanne on the phone how much he missed her was a nice way to end the show. This was one of the deeper episodes I've seen so far.

[LisaM34]

I agree with you guys. I loved the talk with Dan & Jackie. This was the other people's beef about the show. They hated the exchanged between them. But It was nice seeing Dan actually look at Jackie in a different light. When she was going to leave and Dan started to tell her about the night they met I got all misty. No I didn't think they were falling in love but I do agree with Janice they were wondering what If.. :)

[seven_to_shea]

I loved it, one of my favorites. I'm suprised that it's somewhat of a contentious choice? Any time that Laurie Metcalf took center stage was just fine with me. Her and John Goodman were really the only two experienced actors on the show, so it was great to see them have a story together that was not derogatory in any sense. It established further dimension to Jackie's character. That moment when Jackie realised that Dan remembered first seeing her; it was memorable and incredibly touching. Jackie had at that point only ever experienced transient relationships with men, never having reall been in love. Her relationship with her father was a bust. So when Dan said that he remembered her, it gave her meaning and value, in the sense that she too realised that she was important and worthwhile. I think it was the first time she had really felt valued by a man, which regardless of feminism, would have been important to her as a character. The really great thing was that this revelation for her was largely unspoken - it was Dan's recollection, and then some great 'eye acting' from Laurie. First rate stuff!

[db108108]

Over on Roseanne's website (where I think the discussion is coming from) they were talking about this episode. Roseanne said this was the episode where they tried to fire her.

When I first saw this episode, it just seemed out of place to me. First- Roseanne wasn't even in it. Second- the writers were trying to create somethnig between Dan and Jackie that just wasn't there.

It was nice to see Jackie's transformation into a more motherly being (as opposed to the end of the series, when she turned into a total motherly twit), but I'm glad it wasn't explored further.

Could you imagine? The episode turns out well so they fire Roseanne and stuck Dan & Jackie together. The series gets cancelled a year later.

Jakie was a good character, do't get me wrong, but she's a pushover when it comes to men. What made ":Roseanne" great was Roseanne. The fact that she was loud, brazen, stubborn and the center. I don't think the show could have pulled that off with
Jackie

[iloveTV]

I have to say that this episode is one of my favorites. The interaction between Dan and Jackie was some of the best writing on the show. The first time I watched it I was kinda speechless at the end, when Dan is telling Jackie he remembers their first meeting. It made me feel like I could do anything, like somewhere there was a person like that for me. It solidified emotions I felt for both characters: pity for Jackie (because she didn't have a family of her own) and love for Dan. I think that John Goodman is one of the most funny actors on TV plus he is wonderful at emotional scenes. Another episode that is really great is Jackie's wedding where he walks he down the aisle. Wonderful TV!

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

I thought it was a pretty funny episode but weirded me out with jackie and Dan acting like a happily married couple.

[Brent88]

Why did they try to fire Roseanne? The ratings were just starting to skyrocket then(this was right after the National Anthem mess with Roseanne)

BTW: Whoever thought that up should be shot. They must have wanted the show to fail. Roseanne made the show what it was. They would have had to change it's name if she was fired. What a disgrace!

[db108108]

Roseanne didn't say why they wanted to fire her, but I imagine that she was quite a handfull on the set. when this epipsde aired, the series was still quite young and they probably hoped the could successfully retool it.

Plus, Roseanne also threatened to quit the series quite a few times, they might have been preparing for the posibility or they did it just to show her "Hey, we CAN do this without you."

If you see the epiosde again, watch for a black armband on Roseanne. She says she wore it as a sign of protest against the script.

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

If you ever saw the E True Hollywood story on Roseane they have mentioned that Roseanne didn't like what the producers and writers were having her character say. So she would look at a script and if she didn't like the lines she would tell them she thought the lines were horrilble and unfunny. In mid-season of the first season she told ABC that either she herself or the executive producer Matt Williams had to go. And since it was her face ABC decided Matt Williams had to go.

[Brent88]

That also happened in the 8th season... during the filming of the 1995 Halloween episode(where Roseanne gives birth) she threw a temper tanturm and almost walked off the set if Eric Gilliand wasn't fired, he remained til the end of the 8th season then left.

[MilOGuy876]

You notice in that episode she comes in with the hat on her head, so no one can see her hair. And in the end she gets a haircut.

[flagler]

I remember hearing they wanted to get rid of her like they did Valerie Harper and that episode was a test to see if Laurie and John had chemistry and if a show with the two of them would work, but Laurie and John refused to go on without her so the network or producers or whoever had no choice.