OK, now you’ve really piqued my curiosity. I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes trying to Google a shot of that damn chicken & egg shirt, with no luck. Can anybody help out?
Favorite moments:
Roseanne thinks Becky’s up to something because she keeps sneaking out of the house. Roseanne follows her and Darlene to the bowling alley. Darlene is playing a video game and Roseanne demands she tells her what Becky’s up to. Darlene tells her she can’t, because Becky made her promise not to tell. Roseanne puts her hands on her hips on snarls, “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to start *singing *and *dancing *and *embarrass *you in front of all your friends!” Darlene still keeps mum, so Roseanne starts to shake her copious moneymaker and sing at the top of her lungs, and Darlene quickly caves.
Jackie is overly obsessed with her new baby boy, and dresses him in girl’s clothing. She smiles like the borderline insane and tells him “and Mommy doesn’t care if he turns gay, because she’s going to march in those gay pride parades right along with him!”
Dan always has the most salient snippets of wisdom. When it’s revealed that DJ has been going to church and wants to experience more religion, he asks Dan about his cousin who’s a preacher. He then asks Dan if he has his address so he can write to him. Dan says No. DJ asks Why Not? Dan replies “Because he might come here.”
I think your best bet is going to be to look at YouTube for episode clips. I wasn’t able to find a still on Google Images with any combination of terms. I know Roseanne wore it in the episode “Daughters and Other Strangers” because I ran across a continuity discussion of that episode that mentioned it.
I was about the same age as Darlene when the show aired, and I remember the episode when she got her period. I must have known the plot beforehand because I distinctly remember hiding out in the bathroom while the rest of the family watched the show. I was horrified that someone would turn to me and say “do YOU want to talk about YOUR period?” 
Sort of a hijack but does anyone watch the show Everybody Hates Chris (on “The CW”)? I think the show is much like Roseanne as it depicts a lower-to-middle-class family with strong parents, fighting siblings and top-notch second string characters. According to TV Guide it’ll be on Nick at Nite starting this fall - you should check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.
One of the all time great shows and perhaps the greatest ensemble cast ever. John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf especially.
I think Laurie Metcalf was the funniest second banana since Don Knotts as Barney Fife.
I still love Roseanne and watch it whenever its on Oxygen. I watched it growing up and to this day, it’s still one of the few sitcoms that can actually make me laugh (I’m a comedy snob).
But I still can’t tell the difference between the two Beckys and which is which (unless they’re on-screen at the same time).
I’ve posted before about how Roseanne spotted young talent. In addition to above actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a guest star right before he starred on Third Rock from the Sun.
Two favorite Dan (the Man) moments:
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The episode where DJ plays hockey, and he lets him taste his beer, and he gets busted by Roseanne. She says something like “You were just so proud of your son, you had to give him his first taste of beer.” And he looks at Jackie and says, “I had to, the hooker made him nervous.”
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When they do a scene with the credits rolling and Roseanne beans Dan in the kitchen with a frying pain. The absolutely purity of the acting in the way he passes out, right down to the way he lets go fo the beer can he’s holding.*
- Does anybody notice a recurring theme here.
I believe it is the same scene, the second one with the frying pan is an outtake or blooper
As far as the chicken shirt, I think the shirt only shows up after they buy the diner. IIRC, there is one episode when every character wears the shirt, all in different scenes.
“He’s passed on.”
(pause)
“He’s dead.”
(pause)
“DEAD. DAD’S DEAD!”
(pause)
“He’s fine, he sends his love.” (click)
Cracks me up every time.
IIRC, Becky II wore her hair longer.
My favorite moment: The power company shuts off the electricity. There’s a brief pause and then in the dark Roseanne says “Well, middle-class was fun.”
In that same episode, I died laughing at the amount of time it took Jackie to glom onto the fact that the blender(?) wasn’t going to work because there’s no electricity (and, if I remember correctly, they’re obviously in the dark already).*
Darlene was my favorite character of them all and, along with Dan and Jackie, the backbone of the show. She also usually had my favorite lines – dark, witty, expressive, nihilistic and on-point.
Another favoriate episode was when Bev and Fred started hanging out. Nobody could figure out why, I couldn’t either. Then, at the very end, Jackie goes to bed and Bev drops the extra-annoying voice and she and Fred relax with good cigars, a coupla brewskies and a sports show on television.
- Up until yesterday, I almost got my electricity shut off. So much for middle class!
I haven’t watched it recently enough to come up with any scenes of my own, but I’ve watched so much of it in the past that I can see every scene mentioned here in my head.
I’m as Comic-Book-Guy as anyone on the Internet, and as such I disliked the last year-plus (starting when Jackie acted stoned in every episode) but the rest of it was so good I hesitate to even bring it up.
Also, Sara Gilbert, who is several years older than me, provided the first evidence of my heterosexuality. Still have a soft spot for her to this day, even though the last thing I saw her in was 24 years ago.
My favorite Dan moment was in the episode where Becky & Darlene bought Roseanne a day at a spa for Mother’s Day. Roseanne is overwhelmed by the thoughtful gift from her daughters, only to find they got her that to butter her up so she’d let them go to a concert in Chicago. She’s crying in her room afterwards, and Dan comes storming out to tell Becky & Darlene just how evil they’ve been to her. He got the whole “yes, you’re my children, but she’s my wife, and you just broke her heart” attitude perfect.
And of course, at the end of the episode, we find that they’ve sent Becky & Darlene to stay with Bev for a week. Dan’s on the phone with Bev: “Oh, is your bridge club there today? Do any of them play the piano? Wonderful. You know, Darlene loves to sing show tunes. If she says she won’t, make her - she’s just shy.”
Joanne & Jackie are in the bathroom with a pregnancy test kit. Dan comes in.
Dan: What, did you forget there’s about 500 kinds of birth control, Jackie. Just tell him straight out: I"m pregnant, Gary.
Roseanne: Dan
Dan: Well, Gary
Roseanne (emphatically): Dan
Dan just as emphatic, : GARY
Roseanne, screaming: DAN!
I’ve got the dope on this. I saw a little behind-the-scenes promo years ago that addressed it. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t satisfying: it was an item from wardrobe that just caught on. They re-wore their clothes anyhow, and someone (the cast might not even know who) decided that the chicken and egg shirt would be a community shirt.
Unrelated, someone mentioned a reunion - well check out this picture featured at photoshop disasters. Everyone looks like they were photographed separately and pasted into a group photo.
Mrs. Conner, we’ve found your stolen car. Some people saw someone drive it into a tree and then take off on foot. They said he looked to be about 12 years old, stands about four feet six inches, has dark hair…and looks like Eddie Munster.
(Yeah, I probably got the whole first part wrong, but I always like the Eddie Munster part).
I really liked the scene between Jackie and Dan where it comes out that he had actually liked her- not Roseanne. The night he called their house he thought he was making a date with her, not realizing that he was talking to Rosie. When he showed up to pick her up and Roseanne came out, he didn’t want to look like jerk so he just went with it.
Also, when Dan punches out Jackie’s boyfriend when it comes out that he’s been hitting her.
What about the one where Dan punches out the guy in the bar, after encountering his bullying of Dan on another occasion and Roseanne wouldn’t let Dan fight?
After decking the guy, they run out – and take the beer hat. I love it?
One line I use all the time that’s from the show where Bev sells her share of the restaurant: Now I guess I’ll just go home and sit down in a chair until it’s time to go out in a box.