"Reading maps are more a guy's thing, I think. 'Cause only guys understand one inch equaling a hundred miles." - Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Connor
Roseanne: The Complete Second Season DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
By the end of its first season in 1988-89, the blue collar sitcom Roseanne was already a cultural phenomenon, zooming to second place in the overall ratings. Most entertainers would have sat back and watched the checks pour in. Not Roseanne Barr. Feeling that there was room for improvement in the series' somewhat routine scripts, she insisted on a change. Thanks to her insistence, the show had a slightly different attitude when it returned to ABC on September 12, 1989.
Barr and John Goodman star as Roseanne and Dan Connor, a Lanford, Illinois couple for whom happiness is in much greater supply than money. They're poor in material possessions, but rich in love. Dan is a contractor, but not a very successful one. Roseanne worked in a plastics factory with her younger sister Jackie Harris (Laurie Metcalf) and her best friend Crystal Anderson (Natalie West) during the first season, but is forced to take a string of menial jobs in season two after being laid off from the plant. The duo can barely support their three kids: boy-crazy Becky (Lecy Goranson), tomboy Darlene (Sara Gilbert), and runt-of-the-litter D.J. (Michael Fishman).
In season one, the series often relied on standard sitcom plotlines: changing grades on a report card, arguing over what to donate to a charity garage sale. Season two attempts to break out of this clichéd mold. Can you imagine an episode of Growing Pains in which Carol accidentally farts in front of the student council as Becky does in the season's first episode, "Inherit the Wind"?
Moms on most TV shows - even if they actually have professions - tend to stay around the home and look glamorous. Not Roseanne. In order to make ends meet after being laid off, she becomes the queen of low-paying, demeaning jobs. She soon finds herself selling magazines over the phone, working at a chicken joint for a dictatorial teen, serving drinks at Lobo Lounge, and shampooing customers (like Crystal) at a beauty salon.
Even Jackie finds herself looking for a new job. In "The Little Sister," she presents Roseanne with her plan to become a cop. Roseanne tries to discourage her, but to no avail. Is this a case of sibling rivalry, or is Roseanne genuinely concerned for her little sister's safety? This is the first in a series of episodes written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon to explore Jackie's new career.
By shifting the focus from sitcom hijinks to somewhat realistic themes, Roseanne sometimes has very few laughs. In "House of Grown-ups," for example, the emphasis is not on traditional jokes but on Roseanne's feelings of depression while suffering from empty nest syndrome. As Becky makes out with a boy for the first time, Darlene attends her first teen party, and Jackie heads off for six weeks of police training, Roseanne begins to feel.alone.
Two of the best episodes deal with holidays. "BOO!," the series' first annual Halloween-themed episode, centers on a game of one-upmanship between Dan and Roseanne as each tries their best to scare the other. The final twist is a classic. In "We Gather Together," the Connor and Harris clans celebrate a Thanksgiving that is more WWE than The Waltons.
Roseanne is impeccably acted. Barr may have had little formal training before the series, but she and Goodman make for one of the most believable, likeable couples ever on TV. The kids continue to grow as actors. Metcalf is the show's real hitter, spinning even ordinary lines into funny bon mots. Her drunk scene in "The Little Sister," for example, is so stream of conscious that it almost seems improvised. In "An Officer and a Gentleman," Jackie surprises everyone - including herself - by becoming the perfect housewife when she substitutes for a traveling Roseanne. Her dramatic moments are memorable, too, as when she wonders whether she's found love only because she gave up too much of herself ("All of Me").
Guests in season two include Stephen Dorff, Madge Sinclair (Trapper John, MD), Tom Arnold, Bert Parks, Estelle Parsons, Ned Beatty, Ann Wedgeworth, Dabbs Greer (Little House on the Prairie), Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), and Stephen Root (King of the Hill).
The twenty-four episodes that make up the second season are divided onto four discs. Each disc is decorated with portraits of cast members - Roseanne on disc one, Dan on disc two, Roseanne and Dan on disc three, and D.J., Becky, and Darlene on disc four. The discs are housed in two slim, clear keepcases. The front covers are decorated with a series of cast photos. The back covers include episode titles, plot synopses, and the original airdates. The double-sided coversheets show through to the insides of the cases. The interiors feature trivia questions about the second season and the series in general. The two keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which showcases a large portrait of Roseanne and Dan along with smaller production stills.
The menus are simple to navigate. The main menu features the same portrait of Roseanne and Dan found on the front of the box. A strip of windows in the background presents full-motion clips from the series. From this menu, viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or view the episodes menu. Choosing an individual episode brings up a plot synopsis and a production still from the episode.
