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A School Skipping Evening With Sara

I used to like the show Roseanne when it first came out but then it eventually hit a point where I would watch it but felt that the show was more of a drama than a sit-com. Unfortunately, Sara Gilbert brought that serious tone with her to host tonight’s episode. That’s not to say that it was a horrible appearance, in fact, it was pretty fun but there was a sense of seriousness to most of the sketches to where there wasn’t all that much laughing out loud.

It didn’t help that this episode also came about while Sara was taking a break from acting opting to attend college instead. This might have added to the seriousness of the vibe she was putting out or maybe it was her acting that was a little rusty since something seemed just a little off making this viewing a bit like having a mouth wound that your tongue just won’t ignore as I was constantly questioning myself over why I wasn’t enjoying the episode as much as I felt the appearance actually deserved.

Once again, this could be due to the fact that this era is my wheelhouse when it comes to the show so I might be secretly burnt out from the cast but don’t want to admit it because this collection of characters is so tightly connected to feelings of nostalgia from thinking back to the days when I watch the show enough to wear me out on it in the first place.

Oh well, as I keep saying it was still a pretty good episode. Now that I’m done bouncing back and forth over my appraisal of this episode, it’s now time to move on and share what I saw as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with John Bobbitt On Court TV which parodied the trail of this case where Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis. During the sketch, Tonya Harding got involved and beat John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with an iron rod which then led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
Sara Gilbert then officially opened the show with a monolog about how she has to be quick and to the point because she’s afraid that she might get caught hosting by one of her college professors, considering that she left Roseanne to take a break from acting while she attended college. She then made several jokes about how Roseanne had no idea that she left the show for school and that her real mom had no idea about any aspect of her life so she asked the audience to keep this appearance a secret.
This was followed by a repeat of the HiberNol ad from a couple seasons ago which was a parody of a Nyquil ad only their over the counter aid was so strong that it put you down for the entire flu season in order for you to avoid feeling the sickness as many come and go while you hibernate.
Roommates was a sketch that took place during the first day of school where Sara Gilbert and the girls scoped out their brand new dorm. Rob Schneider eventually joined the group where he tried to live up to the administration’s mistake by pretending to be a girl without putting in any effort to look like one. Throughout the sketch, he kept trying to convince everyone in the room to join him in the shower.
Simon returned for another installment where this time the British bathtub boy was joined by Sara Gilbert and the two shared their drawings of the views that they’ve seen from their tubs as they travel.
The Gap Girls also returned for some new youth/retail bashing only this time they were at the Food Court instead of the store but the routine was still pretty much the same. This one is my favorite from the series because it’s the one where Chris Farley who while playing one of the girls used his manly voice to yell, “Lay off me, I’m starving,” when the other girls question his diet.
Counting Crows then took to the stage to perform 'Round Here.
Once again, Kevin Nealon gave us the news. This week, Norm MacDonald got a segment to talk about the Tonya Harding controversy while questioning whether or not anyone even watches figure skating to make the story worth following at all. Sarah Silverman also got a segment to talk about her sister’s wedding with a few jokes that felt like they were out of her stand-up routine from the time.
We then got a parody of Blossom that made fun of the “Very Special Episode” sit-com trope that was overused at the time. Rather than having anything to do with comedy, these special episodes are filled with melodramatic acting while everything that can go wrong does. The matter at hand during this special episode, Blossom decided to have sex with her boyfriend for the fourth time.
This was followed by the classic performance of the Lunch Lady Land song where Adam Sandler sang while Chris Farley acted out the Lunch Lady’s actions from the song.
We then went to Disneyland where Sara Gilbert played a grumpy teen who just wasn’t having it at all. We then went on an African Safari for the family’s next vacation where once again, Sara Gilbert played a jerk of a teen. This led the family to let Sara Gilbert plan the next trip where they ended up in a hip drug den where everyone was making out everyone else loved it but Sara Gilbert was still not a fan. Finally, the family went to EuroDisney which was still a failure of an amusement park at the time but it was the only place that Sara Gilbert actually enjoyed.
Rob Schneider's Girlfriend Theater was a sketch where Kevin Nealon and Sara Gilbert acted out one of Rob Schneider’s horrible relationships while the real Rob introduced each scene.
Counting Crows then returned to the stage to perform Mr. Jones.
This was followed by a parody of 20 Questions With Bryant Gumbel where this week Bryant interviewed Sara Gilbert as herself and asked her one opening question about the show hen said why nineteen times following every one of her answers.
Rob Schneider then got a quick end of the night sketch where he apologized for the things that came up during Rob Schneider's Girlfriend while hinting that his ex was super litigious.
Finally, Sara Gilbert closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Even though the above review might not be my best effort in sharing that it was actually good, it was nice that this was a night that these three favorite moments of mine were all super easy to find which is another sign of success. First, I loved the Lunch Lady Land song because I loved the song enough on its own from Sandler’s old album but I’ve always loved it even more with the actions being acted out. Next, I really liked the Roommates sketch because it always cracked me up the way that Rob Schneider said shower. Finally, I was a fan of this week’s Gap Girls sketch because again, I’ve always loved the delivery of Chris Farley’s line, “Lay off me, I’m starving.”