Day 11 - Roseanne's Halloween Episodes

     There was a magical time, called the 90s, when every moderately successful standup comedian was granted their own sitcom. Roseanne was one such comedian.The hook of her show was that the Conners were a typical blue collar family like many in America and dealt with real world issues like raising kids and struggling with money. And also they loved Halloween.

     Beginning in the second season, the Halloween episodes were some of the most anticipated episodes of the season. Much like The Simpsons' Treehouses of Horror(foreshadowing, foreshadowing...), they became a part of people's Halloween traditions, joining the likes of popular Halloween movies or specials like "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!". The episodes were a fun departure from some of the usual rigors of the show and mostly put dealing with issues or tackling something controversial on the backburner.

     They weren't entirely non-canon, the way Treehouse of Horror is, but the writers were a bit slippery with the logic and made some allowances for the sake of spooky good times. An episode a week prior might have been heavy, something like Dan gets laid off just a week before the family was about to make the last payment on a case of ramen noodles, and then in the Halloween episode they could somehow afford to make a haunted house in the living room complete with sound effects, lights, animated props and plenty of fake blood. Or make an elaborate decapitated Marie Antoinette costume with a huge period-looking dress and blood spurting neck stump. But we could give the show a pass one week of the year.

    Like the show in general, the Halloween episodes kinda sucked in the last couple seasons, but that's a small complaint...when that means we ONLY have five or six excellent holiday episodes that are great to rewatch. I'm looking forward to doing my marathon very soon.