Season 9/Series Finale SPOILER ALERT

[JClabaugh@aol.com]

I know the final season of the show/the series finale is a hot topic for most people and depending on who you ask depends on what explanation you will get! Thanks to the help of Wikipedia we finally have a clear and what I consider concise version surrounding the mystery of the final season/finale.

Final Season (1996-1997)
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The final season marked a complete departure from the rest of the series - the formerly working-class Conner family wins the lottery and begins living an extravagant lifestyle. Additionally, the series became quite surreal, with an abundance of fantasy sequences and celebrity guests. This change in tone fared poorly with critics and viewers, but has been staunchly defended by Barr. She felt that Roseanne Conner winning the lottery was similar to her landing a sitcom deal, and thus helped the series to parallel her life. [[1] Also, the season's detachment from reality was somewhat explained in the last moments of the series finale.

For the first time in the history of the series, the introductory music for the final season featured lyrics, sung by John Popper of Blues Traveler.

Series finale
The final episode ended on an unusual note, with a 15-minute closing monologue by Roseanne revealing that after she was given a writing room (referencing a story thread from a few seasons beforehand), the entire series was merely a fictional story written by the character of Roseanne Conner and based on her family life and experiences. She also revealed that whatever she hadn't liked about her real life, she'd changed in the story; for instance, it was her sister Jackie - not her mother - that had come out as a lesbian.

Becky and Darlene actually ended up with the opposite Healy brother (Becky with David and Darlene with Mark). And following his massive heart-attack at the end of season eight, Dan had actually died.

Also, it was revealed that Arnie was not abducted by aliens, but just rather disappeared.

The surrealism of season nine was explained as the "real" Roseanne Conner's way of dealing with the tragedy, which she snapped out of as a result of Darlene giving birth. The Conners living room then returns to the way it was for the first eight seasons of the show (as they had never won any lottery), and Roseanne embarks on a career as a writer. The episode ends with a wide aerial shot of Roseanne sitting on the living room sofa, and text is displayed on the screen:

"Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
T.E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia)
Roseanne's trademark laugh is then heard, in a manner similar to the opening of nearly every episode, and the scene fades to black.

It is actually said by Roseanne in the finale that the entire series was just part of her book. What's meant is that many parts of the series from seasons 3-9 were just fantasy and a part of her book that she had started to write in the end of season 2. You can tell this because Mark makes his first appearance in season 3. The last season and the last episode of season 8 was entirely fantasy based and none of it happened.

Much of this is because the series was supposedly going to be cancelled after the eighth season due to falling drastically in the ratings that eighth year, but ABC decided to renew the show based on Roseanne's wish of having a ninth season but having major pay roll cuts, however nothing could disguise the sinking quality of the once great series, which had simply run on too long.
Dan's heart attack was supposed to be the finale (the second to last season 8 episode) but after the show was picked up for one last season they introduced a plot revolving around Dan not taking the hospital's orders after the heart attack and Roseanne and Dan having their worst fight yet, the second part to the episode being the first episode of the ninth season.

This episode was never intended to be part of the series, nor was the ninth season. This episode was set half in the eighth season and half in the ninth, in the hope of carrying viewers into the final season.

In fact, the last season stayed around #35 in the ratings the entire year. The series finale came in around #9, helping the season stay in the #30's and not the #40's.

Storyline of the season/ Roseanne Conner's "real life"
Dan Conner survived his heart attack/ Dan Conner died after his heart attack at Darlene's wedding
Darlene married David/ Darlene married Mark
Becky married Mark Becky/ married David
Roseanne's mother, Bev, was a lesbian/ Roseanne's sister, Jackie, was a lesbian
The Conner family won the lottery/ The Conner family did not win the lottery
Arnie was abducted by aliens Arnie mysteriously disappeared

I hope this clears up ANY AND ALL remaining mystery for the die hard Roseanne fan and also I hope that this gives you new appriciation for the final season/finale although each are entitled to their own!

[Ireneparalegal]

When was the finale????


What mystery? I don't think there has been a mystery...what people have said is that they either liked the finale or they didn't. What is this spoiler stuff?

[Sharop]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

What mystery? I don't think there has been a mystery...What is this spoiler stuff?

Many people have been confused over the final episode of Roseanne, as she revealed that most of the series was just a story she had been writing, which was based on herself and her family, and that quite a few of the major plotlines in the series were different in reality.

As is says in JClabaugh's post above, the storylines that were different were:

1: Darlene was actually together with Mark and Becky was with David.

2: It was Jackie who came out as a lesbian, not their mother.

3: Dan died from his heart attack.

Also, the Conners never won the lottery either.

The final episode was aired in 1997, I believe.

[troopoleon8897]

Originally Posted by Sharop

Many people have been confused over the final episode of Roseanne, as she revealed that most of the series was just a story she had been writing, which was based on herself and her family, and that quite a few of the major plotlines in the series were different in reality.

As is says in JClabaugh's post above, the storylines that were different were:

1: Darlene was actually together with Mark and Becky was with David.

2: It was Jackie who came out as a lesbian, not their mother.

3: Dan died from his heart attack.

Also, the Conners never won the lottery either.

The final episode was aired in 1997, I believe.

Yeah but Whay Irene was saying is it's not very hard to understand, Roseanne explained the whole in the last 15 minutes, pretty much any fan of Roseanne should understand the final episode... and yes it did air in May 1997...

[HuntingtonM15]

Originally Posted by troopoleon8897

Roseanne explained the whole in the last 15 minutes, pretty much any fan of Roseanne should understand the final episode... and yes it did air in May 1997...

Yeah, I don't think a spoiler alert is required 9 years later.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by troopoleon8897

Yeah but Whay Irene was saying is it's not very hard to understand, Roseanne explained the whole in the last 15 minutes, pretty much any fan of Roseanne should understand the final episode... and yes it did air in May 1997...

Exactly. Thank you. and SPOILER ALERTS are for shows that are current...you don't want to spoil a surprise on the show for those who haven't seen it yet. There was nothing confusing abt the finale. Like troop said, it was all explained. We know that David was really with Becky, etc. etc. etc. So what is there to explain?

[Sharop]

Oh, I see what you guys are saying...

I haven't seen the episode myself, but from what I can gather, Roseanne did explain everything well. However, I do know that there are still quite a lot of people who found the episode confusing, and I think JC was just posting this to clear things up for people who were puzzled by the whole thing. I think it's a good thing he posted it; there are bound to be some people who come here who are a little perplexed about the final episode of Roseanne.

As for SPOILER alerts...well, there may be some people who come to this board who haven't seen the final episode yet, and don't know what it's about...maybe JC just didn't want to ruin it for them.

[Ireneparalegal]

the only thing people were confused abt is WHY did Roseanne choose to end the show like this? It isn't hard to understand when Roseanne explained the whole thing. Or for people who didn't watch the whole series, probably missed out on the episode where Roseanne wanted to become a writer. That would be confusing for those people. But the thread implied that all the viewers were confused. No we aren't.

[Sharop]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

the only thing people were confused abt is WHY did Roseanne choose to end the show like this? It isn't hard to understand when Roseanne explained the whole thing. Or for people who didn't watch the whole series, probably missed out on the episode where Roseanne wanted to become a writer. That would be confusing for those people. But the thread implied that all the viewers were confused. No we aren't.

Yes, clearly no one here is confused about it, but JC was probably unaware of that. I think he posted it with good intentions, and it would probably be useful to have if people come to the board in future, who are confused about the final episode, or who just want to know what happens - they could be pointed to this thread, which explains very well what happened.

[FactsofLifeRulz]

Originally Posted by JClabaugh@aol.com

It is actually said by Roseanne in the finale that the entire series was just part of her book. What's meant is that many parts of the series from seasons 3-9 were just fantasy and a part of her book that she had started to write in the end of season 2. You can tell this because Mark makes his first appearance in season 3. The last season and the last episode of season 8 was entirely fantasy based and none of it happened.

If that is trying to say that the first two seasons were the "real" Conner family, that couldn't have been because Jackie was still straight. It wouldn't make sense to her coming out after Season 3 (or when Bev did in season..8/9? ), because Roseanne said that Jackie always told her she was gay, but she pictued her with a man.

for instance, it was her sister Jackie - not her mother - that had come out as a lesbian.

Might be the wording, but Jackie couldn't have came out at thanksgiving (like bev did) because Roseanne said, "My sister always told me she was gay, but I pictured her with a man" (as said before :P)

The mother was gay to give her sense of herself as a woman, as stated. I don't think she was gay to counter Jackie's straightness in the book.

[Sharop]

Originally Posted by FactsofLifeRulz

If that is trying to say that the first two seasons were the "real" Conner family, that couldn't have been because Jackie was still straight.

Some people believe that the entire series, including the first two seasons, was part of the book, so Jackie being straight in those two seasons would make sense if one agrees with this theory.

Others think that the series became fictional after Roseanne was giving the writing room at end of season two. Personally, I'm not sure which one I go with. I'd prefer to think that at least some of the series was real, so I tend to go with the series becoming fictional after season two.