Roseanne: Fights & Stuff

Roseanne: Fights & Stuff
ABC
May 21, 1996
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Eric Gilliland story is a sad way to end a tumultuous season, but it is for the most part well-written, and well-acted by Barr and Goodman.  Dan comes home from the hospital and tries to follow a healthier diet, with Roseanne's support, but he's soon cheating.  (Crystal is referred to as having called about seeing him eat junk food in public, but I'm not sure if this is the very last mention of her.)  Roseanne and Dan get into a huge argument, one with long-standing grievances, all established on previous episodes.  (Roseanne's line about Dan having fixed dinner only eleven years ago is a deliberate echo of the pilot episode, "Life & Stuff," where he'd fixed it only three years earlier.)  The tag shows the house that they've trashed.

I do wonder if at this point plans for Season Nine had been formed, or if this devastation, surpassed in TV comedy only by the likes of Blackadder, was how the series itself was supposed to end.  Whether I'd prefer it to the ending of Season Nine is something I can't yet say, but the ninth season would certainly be even more of a roller-coaster ride.

As for the eighth season, it ranges from D to B+ and averages out to a B-, the grade that ten of the episodes earn.  That's perfectly respectable, but this show used to do be more than pretty good.  Whether I'll find Season Nine as bad as its reputation, or as bad as I recall, will be interesting to see.

And this is Roseanne Barr's 200th appearance on one my shows, thanks to Siskel & Ebert and Saturday Night Live.  Her eponymous series would soon catch up, as would some of the cast.