Ginger's headstrong grandmother visits - but may stay on permanently; Sonny wants to make a music video.
Ginger has been mostly used as background since Sheryl Lee Ralph joined the cast. The season is 75% over and this is her first A-story. We learn that Ginger's birth name is Virginia. There is a nice scene where "Nonna" confides in Ginger how bittersweet aging can be.
The B-plot is what really makes this episode memorable. Sonny recruits the girls to star in his music video. They do a great job on Huey Lewis' "The Heart of Rock & Roll", even using a heart-shaped Jello mold as a cheap special effect. Sonny is dressed like 1987-era Bon Jovi and the girls all wear Statue of Liberty costumes. We even see a brief cameo from Nancy and Howard with both sporting Devo glasses. It was a nice touch that they included Nonna in the video, which kind of tied the two plots together, but not really. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.
When Dot is taking the magazine quiz, the names of her future husbands she rhymes off "Tony, Paul or Gilbert" are an in-joke referencing producers Tony Thomas, Paul Junger Witt, and Gilbert Junger.
This is the second episode this season to reference The Lisa Bonet Show - they actually meant the COSBY SHOW spinoff A DIFFERENT WORLD, which was in its first season on NBC.
Ginger has been mostly used as background since Sheryl Lee Ralph joined the cast. The season is 75% over and this is her first A-story. We learn that Ginger's birth name is Virginia. There is a nice scene where "Nonna" confides in Ginger how bittersweet aging can be.
The B-plot is what really makes this episode memorable. Sonny recruits the girls to star in his music video. They do a great job on Huey Lewis' "The Heart of Rock & Roll", even using a heart-shaped Jello mold as a cheap special effect. Sonny is dressed like 1987-era Bon Jovi and the girls all wear Statue of Liberty costumes. We even see a brief cameo from Nancy and Howard with both sporting Devo glasses. It was a nice touch that they included Nonna in the video, which kind of tied the two plots together, but not really. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.
When Dot is taking the magazine quiz, the names of her future husbands she rhymes off "Tony, Paul or Gilbert" are an in-joke referencing producers Tony Thomas, Paul Junger Witt, and Gilbert Junger.
This is the second episode this season to reference The Lisa Bonet Show - they actually meant the COSBY SHOW spinoff A DIFFERENT WORLD, which was in its first season on NBC.