DVD Review: Roseanne: The Complete Fourth Season

I recently received a copy of the new DVD Roseanne: The Complete Fourth Season to review.

One of the funniest longer running comedy shows, Roseanne followed Roseanne Connor, her husband Dan, three kids Becky, Darlene, and DJ, and an assortment of supporting cast like her sister Jackie as they survive suburban life. The DVD contains all 25 episodes from this season. In season four, Becky asks for birth control causing Roseanne to panic, Dan's motorcycle business takes off, Jackie in all her career identity crisis-es decides to become a trucker, and Darlene deals with depression as she becomes a teenager and all the things that come with it.

Here's the complete episode list: "A Bitter Pill to Swallow", "Take My Bike ... Please!", "Why Jackie Becomes a Trucker", "Darlene Fades to Black", "Tolerate Thy Neighbor", "Trick Me Up, Trick Me Down", "Vegas, Vegas", "Stressed to Kill", "Thanksgiving 1991", "Kansas City, Here We Come", "Santa Claus", "Bingo", "The Bowling Show", "The Back Story", "Less is More", "Breakin' Up is Hard to Do", "This Old House", "The Commercial Show", "Therapy", "Lies", "Deliverance", "Secrets", "Don't Make Me Over", and "Aliens".

The three disc DVD set does include a few bonus features: "Life Imitating Art, Life Imitating Roseanne" with Roseanne herself, as well as interviews with Lecy Goranson (Becky) and Michael Fischman (DJ). (The latter two both featured on previous season DVDs) There is also some video commentary on the "Trick Me Up, Trick Me Down" and "Thanksgiving 1991" episodes.

Back when a lot of shows had more upper class families (The Cosbys, Growing Pains, even The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), it was nice to have a show with your average middle class family on the TV that showed folks didn't always have the money to pay their bills on time, the house was not always perfectly clean, and kids really got into trouble. Most folks could identify with the Connor family - either back then when the show originally aired, or even these days. That's the great part about Roseanne - the situations portrayed are pretty much timeless. While there are moments I personally cringed at the sarcastic words coming out of Roseanne's mouth, the rest of the time I am cheering because she's spot on.

If you're interested in adding this DVD to your DVD collection, check out TV Flashbacks where you can receive an additional 25% off your purchase, now through May 15th, 2012 using promo code PRIMETV25

Roseanne: The Complete Fourth Season is available now wherever DVD's are sold. Rated PG (some crass humor and adult situations), the total running time is 10 hours and 41 minutes long. The suggested retail price is $14.98, but Amazon has it available for just $6.49 as of this posting. (Netflix folks: this show is not currently available for instant streaming, but you can add the DVD's to your DVD queue)

I received a copy of this DVD in order to view it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.