Roseanne Rant

[Overdose]

It really bugs me that Roseanne had a 9th season. If Roseanne had ended after 8 seasons, all the seasons would have been placed in the Top 20 most watched shows during their run.

Roseanne would also be remembered far better. Instead of people saying, "Roseanne was pretty good all the way through, except the last season, which sucked!" they would simply say, "Roseanne was pretty good all the way through, but the first 5 or 6 seasons were AMAZING." This would have allowed Roseanne to be remembered better and it would have given the show more credit as to being one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

What I don't get is that shows that were only around for 5 or so seasons total (but all of the seasons were good) are thus ranked better than Roseanne, even though Roseanne had just as many good seasons, but just happened to have a few poor seasons towards the end of its run. Which makes me sad that the last seasons, mostly the very last season, have damaged the reputation of Roseanne and how it fars in television history.

Whenever I see organizations release lists such as, “The Greatest TV Shows of All Time” it seems Roseanne does not fare well. It usually ends up behind shows like Fresh Prince, Home Improvement and Married With Children and sometimes does not even hit the Top 50 greatest shows of all time. Apparently TV critics forget that Roseanne spent its first 6 seasons in the top 5 rated shows on television. That Roseanne brought up issues no other sitcom was willing to talk about and that Roseanne paved the way for shows like Seinfeld (Roseanne made it common practice for standup comics to get their own TV shows) and Will and Grace (Roseanne made it OK to have gay characters on TV). These are just a few prime examples of how without Roseanne some of the most beloved TV shows may not have hit the airwaves.

Roseanne made it OK to talk about the darker side of the American family, bring up touchy subjects such as spouse abuse, substance abuse and money issues that everyone deals with and brought gay characters to the forefront of American television. It did all this while having one of the greatest television casts of all time. Roseanne Barr won an Emmy for her acting as Roseanne, John Goodman was nominated 6 times for best actor as Dan, Laurie Metcalf won 3 Emmys and was nominated a total of 4 times for her role as Jackie and Sara Gilbert was nominated twice for best supporting actress as Darlene.

Roseanne clearly deserves more respect. It seems as if TV critics feel it is beneath them to give this show credit. Just as the Emmys never gave Roseanne a best comedy series award, critics today refuse to look at how Roseanne changed television forever.

[Heist81]

Well said, but I want to point something out. True, the last season was a departure from the quality of the earlier seasons, but it still had funny episodes.

Regardless, had they chose to end the show at the 8th season, it would have had to be written a different way. If the last episode of Season 8 was the series finale, it would have been just as bad. I still think them winning the lottery would have been a decent series finale, just turn it into an hour long episode.

But, that's IF I would choose to end the show early. I personally love all of Roseanne, some episodes less than others, but it's still my favorite show of all time. I thought season 9 had some very funny moments, and I don't think they made a huge mistake.

Who cares what TV critics say anyway? They are one person's opinion. If you like Roseanne, then that's all that matters.

[Overdose]

I liked the last episode of season 8. If it had been the last episode I think it would have left the family right where they always were, in a constant state of crisis and chaos.

If that had been the final episode I would have gone, "Roseanne and Dan will go on living their lives the way they always have and Dan and Roseanne WILL get through this tough time with laughter and love."

I dunno. I really dislike season 9.

[Jerlene]

I loved season 9. What was the season 8 finale about?

[An 80s Guy]

Season 9 is one of the best seasons in my opinion.I hate the way it ended though.

[Overdose]

Originally Posted by Jerlene

I loved season 9. What was the season 8 finale about?

Roseanne and Dan getting into a huge fight about each other's health, mainly Dan's since he had that heart-attack and then destorying/trashing the house, ending in Roseanne leaving and going to Jackie's.