Grannies Gone Wild #8

Sunny has watched "Grannies Gone Wild" four times so far this summer. Read about this project HERE. Watch the episode HERE.

I am doing the lazy man's version of Joe’s crazy idea. (lazy x crazy = ??). My lightly edited thoughts about Reba S5E08 are below

1. I have now watched Reba one time. I am unsure why I thought this project made sense. I actually thought I knew more about Reba from my youth. I vaguely remember watching re-runs after school, but I cannot remember for the life of me any of the plot or characters. I have read JMK's posts, and I am comforted that his reading of the plot with no foreknowledge is fairly close to mine. And I didn't have to look up the name of the judge actor. I think this will be an incredibly stupid summer project. One of the worst ideas I've ever heard by far. Somehow this particularly episode of this particular sitcom on this particular network during this particular era of pop culture feels particularly baffling. Maybe any Reba episode would feel the same with 20 years of hindsight. I'll probably never know—I doubt I'll ever watch any other REBA again.

2. You ready for a healthy breakfast Mrs. H? Egg whites, plain wheat toast, assortment of fruit. Sounds like a pretty lame breakfast. Also, Van threw it away because he sneezed on it? Why didn't you eat it, Van? Cause it's a lame breakfast? We'll also note Cheyenne makes herself lunch—a, uh, single piece of wheat toast with a bit of peanut butter, folded over itself, wrapped in a piece of wax/parchment paper. I assume in the Reba canon Cheyenne doesn't eat a lot. Why didn't Van make breakfast for anyone else? I'll also note this is the last time food is shown, except the cupcake during the 80th birthday stinger. As JMK rightly noted, this stinger is completely insane with several layers to consider, despite its two-minute runtime. If Reba is taking place in the mid-naughts, and Van looks 20 or so today, then this is set in 2060-something. Yet everything looks exactly the same except the advanced ages, including the use of slang phrase "workin' it." And I guess Jake just became a NEET and has been living at home since. Also, Brock lived to be ~100 or something but no sign of Reba? "Why am I the only one making this face?"

3. I realize I haven't listened to any Reba songs except the theme song to this show before (if that counts). I listened to one earlier, "Fancy" with 52M views on YouTube. It's alright, I can see why Reba is a big country hit. The theme song of Reba is completely serviceable—describes the show's basic plot/situation, credits the main cast, and is sung by Reba herself. What also popped out to me was the score, heard mostly as interstitial scene change stuff—something about the sort of sling-pop nature of the guitar felt familiar. Supposedly, the composer is none other than Jonathan Wolff of Seinfeld fame. Props to Reba. I'm a survivoooooooooooor.

4. Questions I assume are answered by the entire series of Reba, but I may never know locked into S5E08. I'll likely just make up answers as the summer goes along.

    a. What's the deal with the middle child of Reba, seen only in the intro? Or even what's the deal with Jake, I guess, other than hating school?

    b. Is "the hurricane" Cheyenne refers to Katrina? Did she really want to be a dentist before this?

    c. What does BJ do for work? Why is she so into being a juror? Is she just generally into stuff or is this special?

    d. What does Van do for work? How can he be so mad about money/future/career when he seems like a total burnout? Is he shown as any more sympathetic during the rest of the series? Why is Reba so nice to him?

    e. Is Reba H a successful country singer in this world? If not, does Reba M and her successful career exist in this world?