Roseanne/jackys dad

[coffield3]

Ive always thought that why didnt roseanne tell her dad when he was alive at thanksgivings and other times he visited about how she felt towards him? This bothers me because in alot of episodes she states that she hated him for beating up on her and jacky and not giving them enough love. She felt strongly about this but was so nice to him when he visited, although she was horrible to bev who was the one that cared and was always there for her?
I wished they put in an episode where she confronted her father for her and jackys terrible childhood.

[Ireneparalegal]

Ive always thought that why didnt roseanne tell her dad when he was alive at thanksgivings and other times he visited about how she felt towards him? This bothers me because in alot of episodes she states that she hated him for beating up on her and jacky and not giving them enough love. She felt strongly about this but was so nice to him when he visited, although she was horrible to bev who was the one that cared and was always there for her?
I wished they put in an episode where she confronted her father for her and jackys terrible childhood.
I always felt Roseanne had turned her anger on Bev unfairly. Bev herself was a victim of their father's emotional and mental abuse. We see later on that she has an alcoholic problem. No doubt from her husband's philandering ways and hurting their daughters. Bev was obviously afraid to confront her husband abt his behavior. As for Roseanne and Jackie not confronting their dad, I guess holidays are not the best time to do that. But you could easily see when they did get together it wasn't very happy or cozy, not really a loving family. Jackie went to therapy and it was always talked abt how Jackie was in therapy because of Bev. Why not their father as well? In Jackie's eyes he was "good" in some ways. That alone is pretty obvious why Jackie needed therapy, she had love and sympathy for her abuser (her dad) and treated her mother harshly. Bev only wanted the best for her girls, just like Roseanne wanted for hers. They each wanted a better life than they had. What mother in her right mind wouldn't want that for their children?

I too would have liked to see at least Roseanne confront her dad, but I guess she never could do that. She finally said it to him when he was dead in his coffin.

[ThomasE]

Well you know the writing changed up in the later seasons because in the earliers seasons, it looked like that they were somewhat a content family. All of the sudden, we have an abusive father in the picture. I loved the confrontation between Bev and the mistress:

Bev: How I wish we had some wonderful flavored coffee to celebrate this moment in our lives!

[Dusk Angel]

Ive always thought that why didnt roseanne tell her dad when he was alive at thanksgivings and other times he visited about how she felt towards him? This bothers me because in alot of episodes she states that she hated him for beating up on her and jacky and not giving them enough love. She felt strongly about this but was so nice to him when he visited, although she was horrible to bev who was the one that cared and was always there for her?
I wished they put in an episode where she confronted her father for her and jackys terrible childhood.


I think "Roseanne" went from being just another campy family sitcom to a show which wanted to cover deeper issues such as childhood abuse. Roseanne and the writers must have figured the best way to do that was suddenly have it that Roseanne's father was abusive.

I think that history was rewritten many times during the course of the show.

First, it was claimed that Dan and Roseanne married righ after high school. Then it was claimed that they eloped when each was sixteen. After, that it was claimed that Roseanne married Dan after he got her pregnant when she was eighteen. Make up your minds, writers!

Back in the '60's, they were supposed to be biker rebel types, then in the Pot in the Basement episode, Dan talked about them like they had been Vietnam protesting hippies. :rock:

There was an episode where Roseanne was freaked out about possibly being pregnant, then a couple of seasons later she and Dan were struggling to conceive. This sounds cold, but was there a need for little Jerry Garcia? We'd seen Dan and Roseanne raise three other kids. And was it just me, or did we NEVER see Dan cuddling or showing any interest in Jerry? Maybe he was busy making time with his mother's nurse in California. :rotflmao:

[coffield3]

I agree with you all, i guess the writing changed in later seasons to deal with these issues. At least they did an episode where roseanne did tell her father how she felt even though he was dead it was a release for her and the audience.

[TJAMES03]

I think the reason why Roseanne's attitude towards her dad changed is because of the fact that in the two times he appeared (at the time in our society) mention and/or blame of emotional/physical abuse was still a rather taboo subject to mention. As the years went on, this type of discussion was more and more accepted. Had Roseanne's dad made an appearance any time after Season 03 or 04, maybe Roseanne's attitude would have been WAY different (I think that this is why Dan seemed to forgive his father when he made his first appearance only to blame him even more in his later appearances).