Movie Review: "Roseanne The Complete 2nd Season"

Thanks to TV on DVD I can discover new shows I missed the first time around. I don't really like the later seasons of Roseanne. I felt it got too crass and extremely edgy as the years went by. I never really watched the show but I do remember that I didn't really like what I saw. But in the first few seasons with the children being younger, the show is really quite funny and touching. So I decided to go back and watched what I had missed.

There are some really laugh out loud moments with this show. The Halloween episode is a riot, with both Dan and Roseanne trying to fake each other out. The decapitated thumb scene is really gross. The episode also when they're trying to lose weight is a hoot as well as they both keep trying to sneak food. I do like Roseanne's personality, at least in these earlier seasons. She cares a lot about her family but she doesn't want her life to be too serious. There are times when it seems that they don't care about their children, but in other episodes it is clear that they love them and will do anything for them. The episodes when Becky rebels and gets drunk were a very good episodes because I felt they were realistic. Other TV shows would have had everyone hugging in the end with sappy music played. This show allowed the characters to behave the way real people would.

I always like episodes when the characters become serious. I don't mean when someone dies and everyone has to act sad. But when there are touching family moments that come out unexpectedly. One episode that stuck out the most to me was when Darlene read out loud a poem she had written during a PTA meeting. Because Darlene is such a sarcastic character, for her to read something that showed her true feelings was very emotional. I even got a bit teary eyed myself.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep watching the series with the other seasons. I think as the kids grew, the topics got more risque. At least with the earlier seasons, I think it's more family friendly as everyone can relate to the Connor family.