'Roseanne' Cast Reunites at Bowling Alley

LOS ANGELES – It's taken eight years for a Conner family reunion. But, at long last, Roseanne, Dan and the gang came together at ... where else? A Hollywood bowling alley.

For the first time since "Roseanne (search)" ended its prime-time run in 1997, the entire original cast gathered Monday evening at the Lucky Strike Bowling Center. The occasion: Their working-class sitcom's Aug. 30 DVD debut.

"It's taken a long time to get it out," Roseanne told AP Television News. "I'm happy that it's going for sale, 'cause maybe I can pay my bills. That would be cool."

Roseanne was joined by co-stars John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf, as well as the three original actors to play the Conner kids: Alicia Goranson (search), Sara Gilbert (search) and Michael Fishman (search).

"Honestly, this has already surpassed everything I kind of hoped for tonight," noted Fishman, who played the young son D.J. and now, at age 23, has two children of his own.

"Just being together, the time that we got to kind of spend waiting to do this, and walking down together," he continued. "I mean, this fills a little void that I had for a while and that I probably couldn't put my finger on. It's been amazing."

Sara Gilbert, who played daughter Darlene, noted, "It's unbelievable to see everybody. I mean, I'm so excited. I can't wait to get in there and start talking. It's a really unreal feeling cause we just haven't been together in so many years."

Gilbert is preparing for a new sitcom with Melanie Griffith and Mark Linn-Baker, "Twins," to debut this fall on The WB network.

Roseanne, 52, said she keeps in touch with the individual cast members, but was eager to see everyone in the same place. She also was excited about "bowling and having a beer. Having fun."

The four-disk "Roseanne: The Complete First Season" contains 23 episodes plus a bounty of extras, including bloopers, season highlights and other features. Roseanne contributed a new interview to the DVD set, as did Goodman, who reminisced with AP about the series' out-of-the-gate success.

"It just kind of took off," he recalled. "It felt right. It was fun. And that was that. I said, 'You know, I'm having all this fun and getting paid for it.'"

The series is widely regarded as a classic, redefining the way working-class families were portrayed on television and breaking many sitcom boundaries.

"I think it changed the landscape of, you know, the country, too," Roseanne observed. "It changed a lot the way people see themselves and how they make choices."

Even though Roseanne usually had a job outside of the home, she could be considered contemporary TV's original desperate housewife.

Replied Roseanne: "I think you stole my joke ... In fact, that's how I open my standup show: Original Desperate Housewife."