Roseanne: The Complete Seventh Season

Still good viewing, but definitely the beginning of the end
Season 7 still has enough good episodes and even some great ones for it to be worthwhile viewing, but it is definitely the beginning of the end. The season opener isn't a standout as is normally the case, but it is good enough. Dan is tired of not having any privacy, and tells Roseanne that Mark and Becky have to go, having been in the house since the previous Thanksgiving. At the end of the episode she tells Dan that she has told Mark and Becky that they have until May to find new living quarters, and by the way, she's pregnant. Thus begins one of the longest pregnancies in the history of television - thirteen months plus the time Roseanne has been pregnant before she announces the news. The next bit of life changing information comes when Jackie discovers Darlene at a motel in the middle of the day. It seemed a bit strange that Jackie was "telling on" a girl that the Conners had basically emancipated the year before when the whole incident of Darlene and David actually living...

The "middle" of the end
A couple reviews have called this season the beginning of the end. As I see it, however, it's more like the middle. The "beginning" of the end came about halfway through season five when Lecy Goranson hit the road, Roseanne's ego started to surface more persistently, and the Conner family dynamic began changing. The show started its decline back then, and with season seven there was unfortunately no turning back to the glory days of the show's first four years.

Season seven had its share of problems, but the biggest of them may have been the star herself. The lines between Roseanne Barr and Roseanne Conner were terribly blurred by this point. The working class heroine from the show's early years had vanished. Barr was harsh, abrasive, and always screaming this season. That stuff worked fine early on because it wasn't constant, and she managed to play Roseanne Conner with heart and a bit of humility (qualities that weren't so apparent later on).

Meanwhile,...

LOVE SEASON 7
Ive said it before and I'd say it 100 times, ROSEANNE ROCKS!!!
I LOVED LOVED LOVED season 7. Its one of my favorites. I know alot of people say its the end and what not, but if you look at where the characters were at this point in the 9 year story, you can see that the characters are growing. Darlene wants to explore other relationships. DJ learns the value of standing up for yourself, Dan learns how to handle things when Roseanne is away, Jackie realizes she really does have it in her to be a mom, and also that she rushed into marrying Fred. Fred, for all his efforts finally comes to terms with Jackies feelings of not loving him the way he wanted her to. David learns how to stand up and be himself after the pain of losing Darlene subsides, and realizes hes still standing!! And Becky FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY does something WITHOUT Mark, and goes back to school, and continues her education. And I loved Sarah Chalke as Becky too,, she acted just like Becky always did, an...

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