Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Oh Roseanne...

Roseanne first aired when I was six years old.  When it finally got canceled in 1997, I was fifteen. 

My parents were big fans so I basically grew up with the series. 

Now, thirteen years later, I find myself flipping through the holiday episodes for Halloween and Thanksgiving and I gotta say, it brings me back to childhood in a really weird way.

Like the phone attatched to the wall in the kitchen. 

No matter how short the telephone cord was when we bought it- my mother would be able to stretch the thing from the kitchen all the way down to the hallway bedrooms when she did her cleaning.   Cordless phones were only a novelty back then.

And the big scruffy plaid furniture with hand-made Afghans thrown over the back cushions?  They could be found at pretty much every one of my aunt and uncle’s houses.  Along with plastic runners over the carpets.

It was a time when family gatherings were filled with beer, big hair, and raunchy jokes.

Those were the days.

It’s amazing that so much can change in a matter of two decades.  I’m only 28 for crying out loud!  But when I was born, there was no internet.  No cell phones. 

 The only interaction I had with a computer in elementary school was playing Oregon Trail on thin floppy disks with holes in the middle.  We had to shoot animals to survive and family members would drop like flies.  “Sorry, your daughter has died of the measles and your father shot himself in the eye.”--  I mean, that game really taught a child values.

So I guess this is a post about homesickness around the holidays.  Not necessarily for my family, friends, or my country.  The internet helps me stay close in a way I never would have been able to if this were twenty years ago… I’m talking about homesickness for those happy, simpler times when we were all together around a table, eating smartfood and laughing at shows like Roseanne that reflected the best of life as we knew it right then and there.


31 comments:

Renae said...

My husband has become addicted to the reruns of Roseanne. It does bring back memories and remind me how much things have changed!

My mother used to be the same way with the phone cord. I was always waiting for the phone to unhitch itself from the wall.

Jessica Bell said...

I grew up with Rosanne too. Man, those were the days ...

Amber at The Musings of ALMYBNENR said...

I totally get you with this. I'm only three years younger than you, but I remember watching this and other shows like it all the time. The phones with cords. Elementary school and The Oregon Trail on a green computer screen. It was always that on the floppy or another floppy that taught you how to type. I love a lot of the gadgets of today but there are definitely moments of nostalgia for how simple things were before.

Nick said...

One of Rosanne's lines I remember from her stand-up routines was when she talked about house cleaning and how she used a riding vacuum cleaner. If only, right?

Laura Pauling said...

I didn't watch Roseann much, but I understand about remembering when life was simple. I tried to explain that too my daughter - to appreciate growing up instead of rushing through it - she didn't quite believe me. I think that's something learned only in hindsight.

Unknown said...

I love seeing what we used to watch and just enjoying the film along with the family memories!

Stina said...

LOL. I still don't have a cordless phone. Hmmm. I really need one of those. Heck, I need a cell phone (I have one but it's not great).

Laura Maylene said...

I always loved Darlene. She was so depressed and cynical and sarcastic and she wrote melodramatic poetry. Darlene forever!

Matthew MacNish said...

Oh man, this post is awesome. Very nostalgic. I love Rosanne and I loved the 80s!

If you like Oregon Trail you have to try this:

Organ Trail.

Cherie Reich said...

I loved watching Roseanne. And really, nothing is better than Oregon Trail. I even have Oregon Trail on my cell phone. Those were the days. :)

Old Kitty said...

I loved the early serieses (plural of series!) of Roseanne - it got a bit weird towards the end when they won the lottery!!

Awww it's great to have such fab memories to fall back on wistfully!! Here's to creating more of these for the future! Take care
x

Lindsay said...

I remember watching Roseanne when I was younger as well.

Elena Solodow said...

Oregon and Amazaon Trail. If my daughter wasn't dyin' of cholera, my canoe was capsizing.

Sigh.

I do miss the days in the wild, when all that stood between you and exploration was a disc the size of a tire.

Summer Frey said...

I tried to ford the river, but my freakin' oxen died.

:)

We had a computer when I was like 5, but my dad worked in the industry at the time. But the internet was definitely a part of my late childhood. I remember writing a 84-page novel on the computer when I was about 12.

Holiday season is a powderkeg for me.

randine said...

I remember when we got our first cordless phone. It was about the size of a football with a huge antennae. Back in the day though, it seemed very sleek and modern.

Nicole Zoltack said...

Oregon Trail! I haven't thought about that game in years. Wow. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Unknown said...

Roseanne was banned in our house. Needless to say I watched it whenever my parents weren't home!

Hart Johnson said...

Beer, big hair and raunchy jokes? Holy crap-were you in MY family!? It was so much mroe fun before everybody quit drinking, wasn't it?

I miss the family holidays because there is a dynamic of 'allness' that isn't there one at a time, which is how i keep up from across the country. Really, my only REGULAR family contact is my cousin's wife, and that is because she is on Facebook...

*sigh* Okay, so now I'm a little homesick...

Colene Murphy said...

O.M.G. I love Rosanne! My mom was big into it when I was a kid and I hated it then (because I didn't get the jokes I guess) But we started watching it on the internet a few months ago and I never knew how amazingly hilarious that show was! Ah...the handmade afghans... had sooo many of those...

Tracy said...

I watched Roseanne too. Although the show that really makes me remember the good ole days is Full House. I wsa the same age as DJ and I was always jealous that she got to live in the same house as Uncle Jesse. *sigh*

It is strange to think how much things have changed. I remember when in order to get on the internet you had to pay AOL, by the HOUR!!

Anne R. Allen said...

I'm with Stina. I still have a wall phone with a long cord that gets all twisted up. But you know what? During the last earthquake, I was the only person on my block with a working phone. People lined up to call their families on that old-timey phone. Some things don't actually get better.

Rosanne was so brilliant at the beginning--and John Goodman was fantastic. But the show did jump the lottery shark there at the end. Stooopid.

Nicole L Rivera said...

Amen. I'm 25 and know exactly what you're talking about. While I wouldn't give up my iPhone or Internet it would be nice to transport back to the 90's for one day and relive the simplicity of that world. Tear. Remember EG socks? Shirts tied to the side with scrunchies? Scrunchies? Slap on bracelets? Madonna pre-plastic surgery? Okay. I have to stop or I'm gonna cry. Ciao.

Janet Johnson said...

Seriously, we aren't that old, but so much has changed. I'm homesick for all that homey, happy simpler times too.

Joanna St. James said...

aaww you poor dear, maybe have a costume party and make everyone dress up like a character from Roseanne. Good luck with that in your side of the world

Jeff Beesler said...

You have raised so many wonderful points about nostalgia. Roseanne was an awesome television show, and Oregon Trail rocked computers back then. We've come a long way in the past two decades, but I think it's just as important not to forget our past, lest we be doomed to repeat it.

Vicki Rocho said...

OMG! I remember Oregon Trail and I'm way older than you are! We had to sign up to play it on the school's ONE computer after school got out. I lost interest after I successfully made it all the way across the trail. WOO HOO.

Samantha Vérant said...

AHHHHHHH! You're only 28! I feel so old. Old. old. old. Crawling into a hole now. Just kidding. Ahh, the good ol' days when life was simple! When we weren't querying our novels!!!

Carolyn V. said...

Sorry about the homesickness for the past. I know what you mean. It was so much easier when I was young and Roseanne was just hilarious!

Dominic de Mattos said...

I feel all old now! I grew up with Rhoda ... which stopped airing before you were born! ouch!
When Roseanne was on we had babes in arms and I don't think television existed for us!
Nice to meet you!

Tina Lynn said...

I remember that show! Good times!

Anonymous said...

I absolutely understand where you're coming from. Watching sitcoms and movies from the late 80's/early 90's makes me nostalgic for that time -not long ago at all- and how much simpler it seemed.

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