Roseanne: Daughters and Other Strangers

Roseanne: Daughters and Other Strangers
ABC
May 18, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Eric Gilliland wrote this season closer, where Roseanne thinks Darlene is going to run off to Chicago, until her daughter takes $300 out of her account to spend it on a CD player for David.   Darlene now has a job at Buy & Bag, yes, like Becky.  Roseanne doesn't want Darlene to waste her life in Lanford, and she mentions wanting to write children's books.  Dan points out she never did anything with the writing room he built for her in the basement (now David's room).  Roseanne and Dan agree that Darlene should go to Chicago, but she doesn't want to.  Roseanne thinks it's because of David, who admits he told Darlene he'd break up with her if she did.  It turns out that Darlene is afraid of failure, but Roseanne encourages her to try.  We don't see Darlene's talk with David, but I imagine it was difficult.  There are funny moments mixed in with the drama of course, like "BitchFest '93" and the chicken shirt that gets passed around to every family member.  In the tag we find out that DJ touched a girl's "boob" and she's now his girlfriend.  And, yes, that's twelve-year-old Joseph Gordon-Levitt making his debut as DJ's boring new "friend" George, three years before Third Rock from the Sun.

Roseanne in its middle season ranges from C+ to A- (and three of those), averaging out to an amazing B.  The writing, direction, and of course cast, including regulars, semi-regulars, and guests (with the exception of Joan Collins), are at their peak.  Even the addition of the Tildens doesn't do serious damage to the show, and at least it does nudge Darlene to acknowledge her feelings for David.  As far as that peak goes, I said earlier that I recall the Roseanne seasons as having a triangle for quality, so Season Six will probably be a decline, although not a dramatic one and maybe only to the level of Season Four.  We're still a long way off from the batshittery of Season Nine, and for now this remains a very real, if sometimes silly, series.