The Good
Once again, the Conner Family presents a real look at American life.
The Bad
No Special Features.
In Roseanne: The Complete Sixth Season, we once again get to see Roseanne, Dan, Becky, Darlene, D.J. and Jackie go through the growing pains that never seem to end even when you're grown up. Change continues to abound as we move through this 25 episode set. Opening with "Two Down, One to Go" Darlene moves out but not in the way we're used to seeing children leave the nest. Thankfully, there's a "Halloween" episode, a "Thanksgiving 1993" episode, and the "White Trash Christmas" episode to take care of all your holiday needs. Some of my other favorite episodes where "Everyone Comes to Jackie's" in which warring members of the Conner family all end up under the Harris roof, and "Lies My Father Told Me" simply because of the subject matter of the episode.
All in all, though it may be a little lighter (contentwise) than other releases of this show, Roseanne: The Complete Sixth Season never misses a beat on having that good, old fashioned, down home feeling.
Features
No extras came with this release.
Video
Full Screen. These shows looked nicely compressed in this 4 disc set. There wasn't anything that really jumped out and grabbed me, but thus far, in all the seasons that Anchor Bay has put out, I really haven't noticed any glaring problems on any of the discs. We are looking at 25 episodes that comprise 575 minutes, but based on what I saw there were no problems with Roseanne: The Complete Sixth Season's visual presentation.
Audio
Dolby Digital Stereo. This is going to sound redundant because I always seem to talk about this when I review these DVDs, but focusing on the dialogue makes me really understand just how great the writing on Roseanne was. These actors have such strong comic timing and wit, and I was happy that I didn't have to turn my set up that loud to hear anything. In fact, once I got things leveled it played the same for all the discs.
Package
Dan and Roseanne kground and I think that this is the first season that Roseanne really changed up her look. Her hair is almost glam styled and she looks different (maybe this was the first sign that the real Roseanne had fully left the domestic goddess role behind her?). Underneath them are some shots from the show and this motif carries over onto the back cover. There are pictures from the show, a description of what Roseanne: The Complete Sixth Season is about, and some minor technical specs. All four discs are stored in two slim cases which feature more images from the episodes on their covers, and the back portions list out the episodes and even provide a small description.
Final Word
As happy as I was to have Roseanne: The Complete Sixth Season, I was a little saddened that it didn't contain any extras. At least an interview, or maybe even a commentary track by some of the people involved would have quenched my appetite. I have just gotten so used to having them on these releases, that when I looked at the back of the box and didn't see any extras, I honestly felt like I was missing something. Aside from that, this Sixth Season seems to have done it's best to expand and add characters. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't but all in all I think that David (Johnny Galecki) really came into his own this season. There were also a lot of genuinely tender moments between the Conner family and rarely did it seem like a false note was rung.