Roseanne The Complete Second Season :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

And the best sitcom in TV history is....

2008-03-24
Ahh Roseanne, quite easily the greatest sitcom in TV history (sorry Seinfeld [overrated and repetitive] and move over MASH). For a great many Americans, Roseanne was the ONLY sitcom depicting house life that even remotely approached ringing true. My wife and I are both such big fans that we periodically watch the show from beginning to end (yes, all the episodes), something made easy by the fact that we never watch TV, only DVDs (greater freedom, no commercials). As I do in many of my reviews I will try to offer a few observations that other reviews haven't already made.

The show was serendipitously blessed by its cast, the best any sitcom has ever enjoyed. The comic timing between Roseanne and John Goodman was not only flawless, but their chemistry rang so true that they really did seem like they were married. The show was lucky to cast both Goodman and Metcalf, two actors whose performances really raised the entire show up another level.

The show starts off wonderfully, portraying a blue-collar family that not only seems real, but is real funny (and that says a lot--most sitcoms are not actually all that funny, and, believe it or not, studies show that people are not actually laughing at the jokes [which suck] but because they hear the sound of other people laughing). This in-and-of-itself had a lot to do with the show's immediate appeal: finally here was a family most Americans could actually relate to. Forget the Cosby family (the No. 1 show at the time).

Though the scenes at the plastic factory are pretty flat (which Roseanne was aware of--she joked that the set was built over a burial ground and cursed), the rest of season one is dynamite. In season two the show peters out with a few episodes that are actually quite boring and stupid. Many people say the show got worse in later seasons, I actually think (excepting the last season) that some of season two's episodes are the worst the show ever saw. In fact, in my opinion, the season two episode Sweet Dreams is the worst episode in the entire show's run. Other than this it's still excellent. Seasons three, four, and five are all great, maintaining the show's high standard. At times more episodes focus on incidences outside the Conner residence, which to me is unfortunate as the shows staying inside the house (especially the kitchen) and focusing on the whole family together are the ones that really shine. Thus, when a season focused too much on Roseanne at work (such as endlessly boring scenes of Roseanne at the beauty salon or in the mall's café) it really detracted from the humor.

With season six Sarah Chalke was devastatingly miscast as Becky. It really didn't matter that she didn't at all look like Lecy Goranson, the problem was that the performance she turned in was of an entirely different character (and it was quite a bad performance at that). Sure, other characters changed as the show progressed, but this was ridiculous. Roseanne, for instance, becomes more sarcastic and bitchy as the show progresses, but as my wife pointed out to me, if you revisit season one you'll see that she didn't at all start out that way (in fact she was quite the loving mother at first). And yes, her appearance constantly changed as she lost weight, tanned and had surgeries. Jackie's character changes too, dramatically, as many others have noted here. Many here say that season seven or eight is the beginning of the end of the show. I however think that the beginning of the end was Roseanne's real-life marriage to show producer Tom Arnold. After that fiasco, if I recall, Roseanne went kind of nuts in real life, becoming all new agey and crap, and it started to show in the show. Though the show's very last episode tried to bring things home a little bit, the debacle that was season nine needs a lot of explaining. How did they EVER think that having the Conners win the lottery was in ANY WAY a good idea? Was Roseanne trying to give a comic blue-collar commentary on the wealthy? I don't know, but that simply didn't work.

Some trivia and observations (and feel free to discuss some of this by leaving comments, and by all means, explain the reasoning behind season nine): Lanford Illinois does not really exist. The footage is from Evansville Indiana. Most if not all of Dan's comic mannerisms John Goodman seems to have borrowed from Curly (The Three Stooges), which he justified by making the character of Dan a big fan. When the Conners are watching TV, from the sound of it they are usually watching old movies, especially old B horror movies, sci fi and westerns. The coffee table is almost always covered with comic books. Season one disappointingly does not have a Halloween episode, but Nightmare on Oak Street kind of counts, starting off with a great Halloween feel to it. There are, throughout the first three or four seasons, a great many references to corn and creamed corn (can somebody please explain the significance of this in-joke?) In the pilot Dan tries to make a giant can of corn for dinner. In other episodes Roseanne is called the corn goddess, we see decorative corn hanging on the wall, Dan jokes that he's afraid that aliens are after their creamed corn, and, in the worst episode in the history of Roseanne, Dan's method of execution is to be boiled in creamed corn.

On a side note, it's amusing that Anchor Bay's disclaimer of the "Roseanne trivia" that laces the inside of every jacket reads that they in no way guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. It's a good thing too, because quite a few of their answers are wrong! Examples: In the fourth Halloween episode Roseanne does not dress up as "the goddess of gore," but as the Statue of Liberty. It's not Roseanne who refuses to serve Loretta Lynn, but Darlene.

Roseanne Strikes Again!

2007-11-05
Keeping in touch with the Roseanne family parenting methods, she doesn't let us down in this Season Two Super pack of "How to best manage a family".

Complete with great extras and commentary, you've got hours of fun in store for you with this great set of DVD's. I don't know if I can pick a favorite episode, but the Halloween episodes are always a favorite, and Season Two is a zinger!

Extra's include: The Best Of Jackie or "Wacky Jackie", The season one launch party, John Goodman's ORIGINAL audition, several cast interviews, and Season Two Highlights.

After you enjoy this set, get READY for Season 3!!

An overall review of the series Roseanne...

2007-04-21
I usually don't like American sitcoms, but Roseanne is not only a great sitcom, but one of the greatest sitcoms ever made. It is due to many factors. The writing was first rate on this show. It was one of the most realistic depictions of a middle class family in the history of television. It was bracingly honest, and it tackled controversial topics (such as birth control, gay marriage, and lesbianism) with candor and realism. It was done matter of factly, not as a "very special episode". The series didn't really start to get old until the last season, but that's a hell of a run. The second reason this series was so good was Roseanne herself. Many female comics talked about weight issues (Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, and Roseanne), but Roseanne was the only one who didn't care that she was "fat". She never slimmed down for her sitcom, and she wore her curvy figure with pride. Roseanne really revolutionized female standup and sitcoms by sticking true to herself. Sure, she was a pain in the a** on the set, rewrote a lot of episodes, ordered a few people around, and like all long running sitcoms, the cast hated each other by the time it finished. But Roseanne still remains one of the greatest sitcoms ever produced, and one that will stand the test of time...

very good

2007-01-18
my wife absolutely loved it and it came just in time thanks.

The Early Seasons are the Best

2006-11-10
We watched these episodes rather quickly and are looking forward to the next season. This collection included the first Halloween special - by far the best reason to watch Roseanne. The timing of each scene is uncanny as well as the cast and how they relate together in the second season. This family is disturbed and lovable.

AAAA PLUS!!

2006-08-25
In its prime, Roseanne was the most honest reflection of American life ever shown on television--and also one of the funniest. The second season of this essential sitcom, built around former standup comedian Roseanne Barr, was perhaps its best. The sterling cast--which featured John Goodman (Raising Arizona, Matinee) as Roseanne's husband Dan; Laurie Metcalf (Dear God) as her sister Jackie; and Lecy Goranson, Sara Gilbert, and Michael Fishman as Becky, Darlene, and D.J., her three kids--were confident and eagerly stretching themselves. The writers (including Joss Whedon, later to create Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) knew how to write smart but credible dialogue and stories; in one episode, Darlene writes a poem that sounds exactly like a 13 year old girl's poetry, yet squeezes your heart. Watch almost any other sitcom and then watch Roseanne; it's startling how much more natural Roseanne feels.

In the season opener, Becky passes gas in front her classmates at school; but that in itself isn't half as funny as the glee that Darlene takes in describing the event--the kind of viciousness that only real families can cultivate. That's the key to Roseanne's success: The utter believability of the relationships. Dan and Roseanne are a loving couple, but their affection works because their fights are just as potent as their flirting. The relationship between Roseanne and Jackie became particularly strong in this season, as Roseanne fought against Jackie's desire to become a cop and meddled in her relationship with her short-lived fiance Gary (Brian Kerwin); Roseanne and Metcalf developed an interplay that could be caring, playful, and bitterly jealous--and sometimes all three at once. The daily urge of parents to both coddle and strangle their kids was thoroughly explored, as was the fusion of need and contempt children feel for their parents. There is one misstep: A dream episode in which Roseanne goes on trial smacks of star ego in a way the show is normally careful to avoid--and makes clear how sharp the other episodes are. The extras are paltry, but this isn't a collection you get for the frills; the show itself lives up to its reputation. --Bret Fetzer

First season of the "golden age" of Roseanne 2006-08-10
To me, this second season of Roseanne marks the first of the very best seasons of the series, which includes seasons two through four, ending with Becky's marriage to Mark at the beginning of season five and the exit of her character from the show.

The season opener, "Inherit the Wind", is one of the series' best episodes as Becky attempts to recover from an embarrassing accident in front of the student council. Her mother and aunt try to convince her that what happened is not important by bringing up embarrassing moments in their own teen years, which only seems to confirm to Becky that years from now people will still remember what happened to her. "One for the Road" also focuses on Becky, who decides to make mixed drinks with her friend when her parents are away only to come away from the ordeal with a horrendous hangover and a lack of trust from her parents when she is found out.

A big theme in this year's show is Roseanne trying to find stable employment after she walked off of her factory job at the conclusion of the first season. At first she is only able to get a job selling magazines by phone, with the recipients of her calls showing all of the enthusiasm for her products that you would expect. Revolving around this theme is the episode "Guilt by Disassociation", in which Roseanne appears to have landed a good job with a solid company, but when the woman who hired her learns she has no experience working with a personal computer, she retracts her offer. To make Roseanne feel worse, her friends are waiting at home to give her a surprise party over landing the job, with each of her former colleagues having a tale of how quitting the factory job was the best thing that ever happened to them. "Lobocop" and "Hair" are other good episodes revolving around this season-long theme of Roseanne's attempt to find stable employment. In "Lobocop" Roseanne takes a night job at the local bar, and she and Dan's love life suffers because of their opposite work schedules. In "Hair" she has a job at a hair salon doing much the same thing she does at home, but receives far better treatment at work for these efforts than she does from her family.

Finally, "Boo!" is the first of what became a tradition on Roseanne, which was the Halloween special that occurred every year from this point through the duration of the show. I really thought this first Halloween show was the funniest one, though.

None of the episodes in this season are klunkers, and the acting and writing are top-notch. I especially like how this season handled the real-life issue of what happens to a person like Roseanne who has only a high school education when she lose a factory job that, although adequately-paying, does not provide any experience in doing anything that another employer would find valuable. Other sit-coms of the period had their heroines immaculately dressed and living in well-kept homes with good educations, wonderful careers, and children that seemed to take care of themselves. "Roseanne" actually dealt with the reality of the long hours, low pay, and lack of career satisfaction blue collar workers actually have to deal with, along with the accompanying problems of couples not having any time for each other or themselves and their children having to deal with the consequences of not being entirely adequately supervised.

Finally, for you Joss Whedon fans out there, you may notice that this second season of Roseanne has seven episodes penned by the creator of the Buffyverse. This is also the first season that has episodes penned by Tom Arnold, Roseanne's second husband. For all the things you can say about the man's lack of acting abilities, he seemed to have a very positive impact on the creative aspect of the show, and his collaboration with Roseanne seemed to ground her and kept the show from straying off course as it seemed to do after their separation and divorce in 1994.

I really liked the first season of "Roseanne", but I think that you'll find that this second season is where the show really began to find itself, and I highly recommend it.

"Welcome to the Tunnel of Terror..." 2006-07-04
Seems like Amazon didn't take the time to list the episode titles for us, so I'll take a crack at it. "BOO!", being the most dimented and memorable episode for me & my sister, wins the title spot for my "review". p.s. Most TV shows can be found on imdb.com, though beware of occasional glitches in the descriptions (mainly die-hard fans notice these errors and are able to report them for correction).

"Inherit the Wind" - Becky "lays down the law" in front of the whole student council, including the boy she has a date with that night, Jimmy Meltrigger.

"Little Sister" - Jackie defends her decision to enroll in the police academy.

"Guilt by Disassociation" - Roseanne gets a job "psych" when the job offer she thought she had is quickly revoked because she lacks computer skills.

"Somebody Stole My Gal" - While doing some office work at Dan's construction site, Roseanne impresses the architect who turns out to be a needy, yet generous loner latching onto the Conner family.

"House of Grown-Ups" - Jackie prepares for 6 weeks at the police academy while Becky takes Darlene - or shall I say Vivienne - to her first co-ed party.

"Five of a Kind" - Arnie plants a kiss on Roseanne leaving her to wonder what it could mean.

"BOO!" - DJ welcomes trick-or-treaters to the Conner's "tunnel of terror", while Dan and Roseanne try to "out trick" each other.

"Sweet Dreams" - Roseanne's first attempt at a fantasy episode as she tries to get a few minutes of peace in the tub.

"We Gather Together" - Another dysfunctional Thanksgiving on Delaware St. as Roseanne tries to find a way to tell her parents she prefers they stay at a motel.

"Brain-Dead Poets Society" - Darlene's insightful poem brings Roseanne and Jackie to tears at the middle school's talent night.

"Lobocop" - Roseanne's 2nd job as a Lobo bartender takes a toll on her lovelife until Dan comes in & picks her up.

"No Talking" - Classic teen daughter/mom rivalry with a little "good cop (Dan), bad cop (Roseanne) mixed in.

"Chicken Hearts" - Roseanne finds herself cow-towing to her teenaged boss (the "little maggot") in order to get weekends off.

"One for the Road" - When the folks are away...Becky plays bartender for her friend, mixing up a recipe for two wicked hangovers.

"An Officer and a Gentleman" - With Roseanne out of town, Jackie steps in to help Dan with the kids. Shades of "Leave it to Beaver"...(a la Roseanne, of course)

"Born to be Wild" - Dan & Roseanne's old buddy Ziggy rides into town, bringing nostalgia, revealing Dan's nickname, and restoring Dan's hog to its former glory.

"Hair" - Roseanne takes a job in a hair salon full of characters including the owner of the factory most of the town once worked in.

"I'm Hungry" - Tempted by Mallomars and Bucky Burger commercials, Roseanne diets to get her pants to fit better.

"All of Me" - Jackie is crazy about her new man, but Roseanne is worried that she's losing herself in the deal.

"To Tell the Truth" - Dan convinces Jackie to make up with Roseanne but on her way over to apologize, she gets a proposition from Gary.

"Fender Bender" - Roseanne's feelings are hurt as well as her neck when Mrs. Wellman rear-ends her and doesn't apologize until she is threatened by the Conner's lawsuit.

"April Fool's Day" - The procrastinating "Wagners" must go down to the IRS office on April 15th to ask a question about their return.

"Fathers and Daughters" - To prove they relate to both children equally, Roseanne bonds with Darlene while Dan takes Becky to the mall.

"Happy Birthday" - Missing her creative side, Roseanne gets a great gift from Dan - the basement is converted into her own private writing studio.

Most of the funniest episodes are on here 2006-06-25
They didn't edit it! YAY!!! This season contains some of the funniest episodes of "Roseanne" ever, like "April Fool's Day", "Valentine's Day", and "Chicken Hearts". "April Fool's Day" stands as a personal fave of mine. Example:
Jackie: Okay, so what if Roseanne DID get a 1099, and it got lost in the mail? The IRS is gonna check her on it, and you guys'll have to have an audit.
(Dun dun DUN, Roseanne looks around)
Jackie: Then if you don't pay, your house could get repossessed!
(Dun dun DUN, Roseanne leaves the room and goes into the hall, still searching)
Jackie: And to make sure you pay, they can freeze your bank account, or even auction off your furniture!
Roseanne: Auction our furniture? Let's not file for sure!
Dan: What are we gonna do? I'm not in the mood for an audit!
(Dun dun DUN)
(Short pause)
Roseanne: I think we should get out of this house!
Buy Season 2 today!

Best Season Of "Roseanne" 2006-06-24
First of all... it is really great to see that they stopped putting the cut version's of each show on the DVD, I think there was alot of really ticked off fans that had something to do with that... also from what I can see this really is the best season of Roseanne, though the first season was very good I thought that in this second season all of the screenwriting came together and the screenwriters put in a few really exceptional shows, the actors (especially the 3 children), really started to feel confident about there roles and shined alot more in this season.

This is one of the few series that have ever been on air that seemed very realistic to me, I live in Texas and in Texas alot of people are that way the towns, life styles and everything else. The Roseanne show really did portray a funny but great visualization of the modern american family. It is just a pur joy to watch, actually it was alot of fun to watch right up until the time where the family won the lottery, from there it went way downhill.

I am only 16 years old and so when this how was actaully on air I was pretty young, I think it must have gotten off the air when I was about 7, so I was watching Cartoon network trust me when I say that Roseanne Barr and her Television show was the furthest or last thing on my mind.

I just started watching Roseanne on Nick at Night and honestly it is usually on all of the time there, it is basically that, the Cosby Show or The Fresh Prince Of Bellare ... For some reason there is just alot of enjoyment in it for me to watch the family. At some points I feel really attatched to some of the charactors during some shows, back in it's day it really was the show to watch though, Roseanne is a spitting image of my grandmother and she easily pulled off being a White Trashy woman.

Grade: A