 "The best season... Period!!!" | 2008-07-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2PV6GK1HV54Y9 |
| Roseanne - The Complete Fifth Season is a slam dunk! I love, love, love every episode from season 5. The show really came into its own, the writing is stellar to say the least. Becky elopes with Mark, Darlene and David continue to date and he moves in with the Connor's after Roseanne finds out his mother is verbally and phyiscally abusive. Jackie falls for Fisher, a much younger guy who eventually hits her in the best episode of the entire series, Crime and Punishment Parts 1 and 2. Roseanne opens the Lunch Box, a loose meat restuarant and etc. I HIGHLY recommend this season, enjoy! |
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| "still another great season" | 2008-06-14 |
| - Reviewed By mmmduffster |
| Yet another great season of Roseanne-I just love this show and when the series took a turn and the family won the lottery, it all went downhill from there. So I will be stopping my collection at that point. However, this is a great season. |
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| "And the best sitcom in TV history is...." | 2008-03-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2Z6BXEMDDLJ5Z |
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.
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 "Great show but DVD skips" | 2007-05-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A13IQDVV2VV6QJ |
| I love this show, it's my favorite, so I normally would have given this a 5, but it skips in a few of the episodes and I just can't be bothered with returning it. Also I got it and then didn't watch it for about a week and never thought to keep my packing. Buy it though you have to have the entire collection. |
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| "You wanna laugh? This season of Roseanne is for you!" | 2007-04-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: AUGXOLVKPGPFU |
| I loved this season! It is actually one of my favorites! Alot of events occur in season 5 and the issues really reflect true life situations we all go through. I love how roseanne really captures experiences the audience can relate to. This season becky moves out, lanford custom cycles goes out of business, nancy announces she is gay, jackie has problems with fisher and dan goes to jail for beating him up, rosanne and jackie's father dies, the conners head to California with their next door neighbors, and much more! These episodes will make you laugh, cry, and show you why roseanne is one of tv's top classics!!! |
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| "A great season!" | 2007-03-19 |
| - Reviewed By bj_caulfield |
| This season starts out with a great episode that is life-changing for everyone! Becky elopes! Sorry, if this spoiler makes some mad but this season was made 15 years ago! Of course it all just goes from there! |
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| "Wonderful!" | 2007-02-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A20EBXTTM6IKOE |
Season 5 is my personal favorite season of Roseanne. I found the storylines to be the most interesting and the issues raised the most meaningful.
From the eldest daughter Becky running away and getting married to boyfriend Mark, Darlene loosing her virginity - while getting accepted to college, Dan going to jail - while also loosing his bike shop, Roseanne and Jackie opening the Lanford Lunchbox - while coming to terms with their childhood once their father passes away, DJ touching a boob - while also peeping at a naked neighbor, Jackie being in a physically and mentally abusive relationship and adding yet another gay character to the show - while showing the first lesbian kiss on television, this season was filled to the brim with a heavy and interesting plot that brought up some of the most controversial and meaningful issues in Roseanne's run on television.
Season 5 was the season in which scored both Roseanne Barr and Laurie Metcalf an Emmy for their outstanding acting on a hit-comedy series, went to #2 in the Nielson ratings and won the ever prestigious Peabody award!
Simply amazing season! |
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| "LOVEEEEEEE ROSEANNE" | 2007-02-06 |
| - Reviewed By lilbronxxxcutie |
| SEASONS 1-6 ARE THE BEST INVESTMENT I HAVE EVER MADE AS FAR AS DVD GOES. I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS SHOW. I WATCH IT ON NICK AT NIGHT, THE OXYGEN NETWORK AND A LOCAL STATION, BUT HAVING THEM ON DVD IS PRICELESS. |
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 "Rosey is real busy!" | 2007-01-23 |
| - Reviewed By coco436 |
| Roseanne has her plate full in this season and we aint talking about food. Dans bikeshop goes belly-up, Becky moves out, DJ is looking out at the sky( star consellations in the shape of the next door neighbors ) and the family finds a new way to entertain themselves with flashlights when their electricity is cut-off. This season is a full ride of ups and downs. Roseannes heart and wit keeps everyone together through the good and the bad... the very bad:( Ironically, one of the best seasons! |
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| "Roseanne - The Complete Fifth Season" | 2006-11-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A38VDD76S71UJP |
| A Must for the Roseanne Fan. Can't wait for Season 6 to be released !!! |
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