In our latest, we get reflective thanks to The Conners season 6 episode “Smash and Grab and Happy Death Day,” which touches on the death of Mark Healy, husband to Becky, brother to David, and regular on the original series of Roseanne. The episode reveals Becky’s still-raw grief over losing her husband in a motorcycle accident years earlier, though we find it odd that she tells Beverly Rose he was her “special friend” rather than just level with the kid – you were married, and he was the love of your life, Becky! The frustrating shallowness of this episode’s discussion of Mark’s place in Becky’s life prompted us to go back in time to consider who Mark Healy (played by the late Glenn Quinn) really was. We’ve discussed his and Becky’s relationship and their elopement, but we’ve never really paused to study the man himself. Through a review of original series episodes “Her Boyfriend’s Back” (season 3), “Secrets” (season 4), “Busted,” (season 6), and “Becky Howser, M.D.” (season 8), we learn that Mark was—despite the bad-boy, dim-bulb personas he occasionally inhabited—an earnest, hardworking and sincere person dedicated to building a life with Becky, of whom he thought the world.

Join us for this discussion plus riffs on singing competition shows, Under the Bridge, car wash jigsaw puzzles (??), chatting with strangers, Children of the Corn, and Baby Reindeer. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts!