Roseanne and Stuff…

As you all know, Roseanne is my all time favorite TV show. As a kid I remember watching it but obviously many of the jokes are too mature for a kid so I didn’t really get too into it but I do remember watching it more than once. During the beginning of 2006 I started to watch Roseanne every night before bed when reruns aired on Nick @ Nite. It was during this time that my overwhelming love for the sitcom erupted. For those of you (and there are a very good number of you..) who like to poke fun at me for proclaiming my love for Roseanne, I am here to give you 5 reasons as to why Roseanne is the best Sitcom to ever air.

1. Roseanne broke television barriers…

Roseanne first aired its pilot in 1988, during this time there was no television show remotely similar to it. Roseanne is a sitcom starring an overweight, controlling, economically struggling and sarcastic wife/mother. Shows during this time weren’t showing families that average America could relate to, they were showing families from their dreams. This family was female dominated and the females were given voices without being talked down upon. As Roseanne progressed and matured as a show it would deal with issues that a lot of shows didn’t dare think to discuss; homosexuality, menstruation, teenage sex, puberty, domestic abuse, and alcoholism. The thing that set apart Roseanne even more was that when these issues and other brought up were dealt with in a comical manner.

2. Inside Jokes

There are two catagories of inside jokes that occured within the dialogue on Roseanne. The first being for the religious viewer… If you were to watch the entire series of the sitcom from seasons 1-9 you will notice several inside jokes from season to season; however, if you were to only watch a few seasons you wouldn’t notice them. For example, the character of Darlenes boyfriend and later husband David was originally named Kevin due to the fact that he was playing a ‘David’ on a different show. During his second episode he is named David and remained as David throughout the show. During a later season, Roseanne makes a side comment about how David’s name isn’t even David, Darlene changed it because she has so much control over him. Now someone who just watched a few episodes wouldn’t catch that inside joke.

The Second Catagory of inside jokes is for the viewer who pays attention to the world outside of Roseanne. Roseanne added several different inside jokes that related to her outside real life and also to the outside lives of other characters or even just events occuring in the news. For example, there are several references and jokes to Tom Arnold after his divorce from Roseanne. There is also a joke relating to the infamous singing of the National Anthem by Roseanne.

3. The Characters

I don’t think there could possibly be better characters on a TV show nor could there be better actors playing these roles. Everything is perfect. Dan Connor (played by John Goodman) is the most loveable, yet average man. I officially wish that Dan Connor was my father, hands down. JACKIE. Jackie is the best character to ever grace a television show. Her jokes are timed to perfection and they couldn’t have picked a better actress than Laure Metcalf to play her. Darlene (played by Sara Gilbert) is the most sarcastic and oddly humored character on Roseanne. Her character did change quite a bit throughout the series but it was done in a really understandable manner. As a kid she was a real tomboy and was always watching games and playing basketball with Dan. Once she enters high school she goes through this really depressed, loner stage and quits the basketball team to lay on the couch in all black clothing all day. It is from this point that she develops the persona that she will remain as through the series; an artsy girl, who still wears dark clothes and doesn’t have much friends besides her boyfriend David. David is a recurring guest star (not so recurring he starred in 91 episodes) played by Johnny Galecki. I love this character because he is another reason as to why Roseanne was so different from other shows. David dates Darlene for quite a while and while they’re still in high school Roseanne finds out that David’s mother treats him very pourly and invites him to move in with them as long as he doesn’t sleep in Darlene’s room or vice versa. David becomes just another member of the family once he lives with the Connors. Becky, the oldest daughter is played by 2 actresses during the series. The first being Lecy Goranson who played Becky until season 5 when she left to attend college. Stepping in to play Becky was Sarah Chalke (you may know her as Elliot from Scrubs). The best thing about these two actresses playing Becky is that whenever Lecy was available after season 5 she would play the character. Therefore some episodes you will see Lecy and the next could be Sarah. The show was very open about the two actresses playing Becky and there are several inside jokes to go with this. Sarah Chalke ends up playing Becky the entire last season because Roseanne was supposed to end with 8 seasons and ended up going for one more. DJ… DJ is the youngest son played by Michael Fishman (except for the pilot episode). DJ’s character is slightly odd because he is surrounded by all females. He is picked on a lot, especially by Darlene. A lot of the episodes with issues involve DJ; for example, during an episode Darlene figures out that DJ discovers masturbation and tells the whole family about it and Roseanne and Dan have to figure out what to do to talk to him about it. There is also an episode where DJ must kiss a girl in a school play and the Connors later find out that the girl is black and that is the reason he won’t kiss her. Bev! Roseanne and Jackie’s mother whom they hate but she always shows up to surprise them, she is wacky and dilusional and later realizes that she is an alcoholic. Estelle Parsons, who plays Bev is original from Marblehead, MA so she automatically gets extra points. Mark, played by Glen Quinn is Becky’s boyfriend and later husband. He is picked on by everyone except Becky for his lack of common sense and smarts but he is a great worker and later becomes highly respected by Dan. I love to watch his character because not many people know that he was born in Ireland and if you listen closely you can catch his accent. Unfortunately Glen overdosed in 2002, I think he had a lot of potential to be a great actor. Last but certainly not least is Roseanne, played by Roseanne Barr. I could go on for days about her character so I’m going to choose to not even get started; however, I will say that Roseanne Barr did an overly amazing job writing this show and making it truly unique and hilarious.

4. The Chicken Shirt

To this day there are no exact reasons as to what the chicken shirt meant but there are tons of speculation. On some of the DVDs you can choose to watch an episode with commentary from Roseanne and Michael Fishman. In one episode Roseanne is wearing the shirt and in the commentary it is brought up as to why the shirt was worn. They claim to not remember exactly why or if there was even any real reason but they do believe that crazy things would happen in the show when it was worn so they would always have it out or be worn when some hilarious or crazy would occur. During this commentary it is pretty visible that Michael brings up the tshirt and Roseanne shoots it down quickly and this makes me believe that what some websites believe are true… Some websites believe that the chicken shirt was worn during episodes when Tom Arnold would be brought up in some sort of joke after the divorce. The world may never know exactly why the chicken shirt was worn but it did add some curiosity and comedy to the show’s religious viewers.

…and while on the subject of clothing, another reason I love Roseanne is that the characters often repeat their clothes just like normal people do. Roseanne wears the same purple jacket when she goes out of the house in a later season and several shirts and other items are worn repeatedly, which shows that they’re just a normal American family and not some crazy family made up for Tv. (Well technically made up, but you get my point.)

5. The Ninth Season

This may shock a religious Roseanne fan because I know there are handfuls of Roseanne fans who absolutely hate what Roseanne did with the final season. I happen to praise her for it. It is evident that she lost a ton of fans by doing what she did with the last season. The shows only season not in the Nielson Ratings top 30 shows was the final season, which dropped to number 37. By the year 1997 when the show entered its final season there were a ton of changes in what was on tv. When Roseanne began it was the only show dominating that was led by a comedian. After Roseanne’s success several comedians were offered their own shows. In order for Roseanne to remain a show that was unlike any other show on television Roseanne had to end it in a totally shocking manner. Roseanne’s final two episodes are connected into one episode and the last 15 minutes of the final episode is soley a monologue by Roseanne that explains the truth behind everything that ever occured on the show. I refuse to discuss the details of the final season on here in hopes of generating curiosity out of you, whomever you may be that is reading this. Because Roseanne is the greatest television show to ever air.

If you made it through I congratulate you because it was quite lengthy. But I hope that because of this entry I will no longer be mocked for my love of this television show and I hope that I get at least one person to go watch some episodes and see for yourself how hilarious and amazing this show really is. And for the record the title of this entry is my own attempt at a Roseanne style inside joke, so now I bet you really want to watch the show.

Any sources come from my general and amazing Roseanne knowledge I have gained through the years and dates and spelling came from me googling some information.

Peace out home skillets and Viva La Roseanne!

Brianna