My favourite variation of the opening credits and theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj2-ctjIW18

I always felt like the transition from season 4 to season 5 was quite different. Still great quality from season to season (unlike the decline in season 7), but something about the show was different. I think you hit it on the mark by saying it got a little bit more "adult". Not only were the kids growing, but the topics got more serious, and the overall innocence of the early years had faded. Also, I think the lighting changed (darker), plus other aesthetic changes like Roseanne's hair grown out, her skin looking a little rougher, she finally settled in to her final job that we saw her at (owning the diner), all made for a different feeling for the show when Season 5 started.

I always find it funny that season 5 begins with both Dan and Roseanne broke, unemployed, and struggling to pay their electricity bill. Yet, the cosmetic surgery Roseanne Barr had between seasons 4 and 5 was so noticeable, you would assume she (the character) blew all of her money on that.

I always felt like the lighting got darker in season 6 (before lighting up again in season 8), and while I love season 6 overall, Roseanne (character again) started becoming more bitter and pissed off for almost no reason in that season. It just got worse in season 7, where it seemed like both Roseanne and Darlene were just rude, nasty, and mean just for the sake of being so.

Edited February 3, 201312 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

For instance, I don't think you would've seen a scene like this in the earlier seasons. I still laugh every time at Roseanne's delivery.

Jackie: Hey, ready to go!?

Roseanne: Yeah, soon as I finish with this mom crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u69YMUJ6X9M

Edited February 2, 201312 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

What Roseanne seemed to forget was that the early seasons had a great deal of heart. The heart and friendship and family, mixed with some bite, made me feel more for all the characters, including characters I otherwise would have disliked (I really never liked Dan all that much).

I think Roseanne lost her natural touch as a comedienne and a person after about 4-5 years and I don't quite think she's ever gotten it back. In one sense, it's not fair to expect a woman who lived a horrible life until she found success through her comedy to not change her style and humor based on that success. But something was just never the same and has often smacked of trying too hard to prove a point.

The Roseanne house is up for sale!

http://fox59.com/2013/02/04/evansville-home-from-sitcom-roseanne-up-for-sale/#axzz2KDMMOXJ9

We is playing season 9 right now and I gotta say, except for the Rambo episode, I really do not think it is that bad. It might even be better than seasons 7 and 8. The one thing about it, though, is that while the rest of the series seems fairly timeless to me, season 9 is horribly and fantastically dated. Could not be anything except the late 90s. Interesting that when they were poor it still seems exactly the same today but when they are rich and have the latest technology and the latest fashions it suddenly becomes dated as hell. You'd think it would be the opposite.

But really, I think having a season-long storyline with a certain arc and message she wanted to convey (that money truly does not buy happiness) was pretty progressive for the time and something that has done by many shows since. And no, it's not funny like the early seasons are, but Roseanne to me is so much more than a sitcom. I'm actually thrilled she had the balls to do this and I don't consider it a mistake at all.

What Roseanne seemed to forget was that the early seasons had a great deal of heart. The heart and friendship and family, mixed with some bite, made me feel more for all the characters, including characters I otherwise would have disliked (I really never liked Dan all that much).

I think Roseanne lost her natural touch as a comedienne and a person after about 4-5 years and I don't quite think she's ever gotten it back. In one sense, it's not fair to expect a woman who lived a horrible life until she found success through her comedy to not change her style and humor based on that success. But something was just never the same and has often smacked of trying too hard to prove a point.

To me the heart to the show does return in the final season. Yes there are more superficial moments in the final season than the previous 8 combined, but there is definitely a heart that was lost in the middle seasons IMO.

To me the heart to the show does return in the final season. Yes there are more superficial moments in the final season than the previous 8 combined, but there is definitely a heart that was lost in the middle seasons IMO.

I do agree that the heart of the show does return once Darlene announces she's pregnant, and Dan is upset that she's ruining her life (much like he feared Becky was ruining her life when she ran off and got married). It's funny how there's a lot of serious storyline that comes afterward (Dan's heart attack, Roseanne & Dan's break-up, Darlene's premature labor, etc.), you forget that it's supposed to be a situation comedy. But it works.

This is from the last episode of season 8, and IMO rivals anything from the show's glory years from seasons 2-6 (to me, at least). It's perhaps the most painful scene of the series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNlHIHuqnzk

This is from the last episode of season 8, and IMO rivals anything from the show's glory years from seasons 2-6 (to me, at least).

And the funny thing is, those were the seasons Tom Arnold was most involved creatively with the show. Roseanne and Tom may have been toxic and pissed tons of people off, but creatively, they seemed to soar together and the show benefited.

The show was never the same after Roseanne and Tom divorced, and she fired him.

Edited April 24, 201312 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

The show was never the same after Roseanne and Tom divorced, and she fired him.

YES.

It was between seasons 6 and 7, and it was season 7 where the funny wasn't funny, but rather just bitter (with Roseanne and Darlene getting the strong majority of the bitter jokes... while Jackie became Barney Fife)

I was always curious about the sudden tonal change from season 6 to 7. Roseanne became mean-spirited, Darlene became too sardonic, and Jackie became a Barney Fife type on overdrive.

Seeing that Tom Arnold and Roseanne filed in April/May 1994.. right at the end of season 6, it explains why the show changed gears quite a bit. Did the show become a little less mean spirited after she hooked up with the limo driver and had his baby? Or was that after the show ended?

The show became lighter and fluffier in season 8 (especially those Disney World episodes), but was really nasty and mean spirited in season 7 for a few reasons, namely Roseanne's divorce and her troubled pregnancy during that time.

Edited April 25, 201312 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I think seasons 8 and 9 overall just aren't funny. I don't count the serious shows, but rather the ones that were genuinely supposed to be funny... it just fell flat. Sometimes, it felt like listening to a family's inside jokes that the rest of the world weren't supposed to get.

They really should have wrapped the show up (as intended) at the end of season 8, like most sitcoms, it had already way over-lived its shelf life by that point.

Congrats to Laurie Metcalf on her Tony nomination! She's considered a strong contender for the award too.

Congrats to Laurie! Is that the show she and her daughter are in together?