"We're In The Same Boat On The Same Sea" (First Impressions - 'Blasts From The Past" - Season 10, Episode 12)

I feel like I should just cut and paste my comments from last week's post about the press release for "A Moving Day", since the press release for the following episode sounds awfully familiar.

No, the stories are definitely different, but, once again 1) no sign of Alex (or Bill), again, and 2) the focus in the Dunphy house is again on Haley and Dylan.  I get it that that story's a big deal, but are they throwing all their eggs into that basket the rest of the season and completely forgetting about Alex?  Will she even get even one more story this season?

Maybe I'm just doubling down on my disappointment and pessimism because I was really hoping this episode would at least mention Alex's 21st birthday (it airs on 1/16, the day before her likely birth date),  but instead it seems more likely we won't see her at all (again?).

And with that, we're on to 2019.  Hopefully I'll be able to look back at this last 2018 post and laugh about how stupid it wound up being, but...

"It's So Hard Waiting" (First Impressions - "A Moving Day" - Season 10, Episode 11)

This press release (and photos) for the first episode of 2019 actually came out a couple of days ago, but my work schedule this weekend (and through mid-week, actually) is so back and forth (evening one shift, morning the next day, etc.) that I really didn't have much time to get to it until now.

Not that it matters much -- there's no sign of Alex in any of this, and I'm already getting a feeling we may not even see her that night.

And the following week's episode title, "Blasts From The Past", doesn't give me much confidence either, barring a highly unlikely return of Sanjay.

Sorry for the Scrooge-like post going into the holiday.

“It's Not Christmas Without Grandma” (“Stuck In A Moment” Recap)

And the family came too close to comfort to finding out what Christmas without Alex would be like.  A little too much hyperbole?  Yes, but...

“A Baby Changes Everything”

There's a sneak preview for tonight's Christmas episode (“Stuck In The Moment”) on People Magazine's website that brings Alex deeper into Haley's story.

It seems that poor Alex having to keep the secret about Haley's pregnancy has caused her to become a nervous wreck, to the point that some of her hair is already turning gray.   (It's not a lot though and frankly I could barely notice it.)  She's keeping that a secret for now by wearing a hat.   Right now it looks like they're playing that part of the story for laughs - we already have a serious (pun not intended) contender for line of the night at the end of that preview.   But will it stay that way?

“'Cause You Had A Bad Day” (“Putting Down Roots” Recap)

It wasn't quite as much so as I hoped (a lengthy hug would have been nice), but I am glad that overall Alex was supportive of Haley tonight (especially given her mood towards her other sibling, which I'll get to in a moment).

“Like Trees Exposed By Fall, Time Reveals It All”

For some reason, last week they changed the title of tonight's episode to “Putting Down Roots”.  No idea why, and it really wasn't significant enough to merit mentioning until now.

On the other hand, the promo for the episode which I saw last night (unfortunately I can't find it online yet) [2:00 PM UPDATE:  I found it - I've posted it after the page jump], well that's another story: