Thursday, August 17, 2006

For the Curious: Roseanne & Me

I don’t know or care much about Roseanne the person, but the television show was the first one to really click with me. Instead of spending thirty minutes with people I admired and/or wanted to hang out with or trade or trade places with, I spent thirty minutes each week with people I already knew. My mother wasn’t heavy, but she was bitter, hard-working, loving, and funny. The furniture was always ratty. Our house was often a mess. My grandmother (maternal—my mom’s own mother) gave one of those spoon-shaped trays for holding used stirring spoons on the stove top that said, “Come in, sit down, relax, converse. Our house doesn’t always look like this—sometimes it’s even worse.”

My parents drove old cars that my dad fixed. My dad wore trucker hats and flannel. There was always an afghan thrown over the couch, and the TV was almost always on. My sister and I fought like cats and dogs. There was yelling. There was beer drunk from cans. There was pizza straight from the box. There was never enough money. The extended family was as crazy as the immediate. All in al, though, we were happy and we loved each other.

The Connors were people I knew, and the storylines and dialog rang so true for me that I was often left in tears. The good kind of tears, that is.

And that’s why I love Roseanne.

8 comments:

Joke said...

The only show that ever "rang" with me was It's Your Move and that lasted 13 episodes. In 1986.

-J.

BabelBabe said...

I (admittedly sometimes uncomfortably) recognized my fanily in Roseanne's, as well.

But I WANTED to be Lindsey, in Freaks and Geeks.

Oh well.

Sarah Louise said...

I loved that show too. I LOVED the Sarah Gilbert character.

I envied the truth spoken on that show, and the humor. Things were quieter at the SL home.

Sarah Louise said...

oh, and F&G was off air before I EVER saw even one episode. Is it on DVD, she wonders?

SL, who will google it NOW.

Peg said...

Funny you mention Freaks and Geeks when we just finished watching Disc 1 of the set -- Netflix has it! SL go reserve it right away. I know that they'll have a Disc 1 waiting for you.

I forgot how spot-on Freaks & Geeks was, and how really bummed I was when it was cancelled. Hope was rekindled, briefly, with "Undeclared," but that didn't quite measure up.

I think anyone with remotely working class roots, such as myself, loved Roseanne. They jumped the shark with the whole winning-the-lottery thing, but that's to be forgiven because it was the fantasy of EVERYone who has no money and plays the lottery.

Gina said...

Exactly, Peg. Exactly.

lazy cow said...

I wanted a husband like Dan.

Gina said...

I've had a crush on John Goodman for years. :-)