FAQ for
"Roseanne" (1988)

DJ stands for David Jacob, only mentioned in two episodes.

Lanford is indeed a fictional city. All the exterior shots are from locations in Evansville, Indiana.

Lanford is a fictional city located in Illionis, United States. It is not known where in Illionis Lanford in located. However the real cities of DeKalb and Elgin are often implied to only be an hour or two drive away so this gives us a rough idea. Also David and Darlene make it to Chicago and back in the time they were supposed to be in school. These two things can give us a good idea of Lanfords location, probably North-Central Illinois.

If what doesn't kill us is makin' us stronger, we're gonna last longer than that greatest wall in China, or that rabbit with a drum. If there's one thing that I've learned while waiting for my turn, it's that in each lifetime some rain falls but you also get some sun. And we'll make out better than okay, hear what I say. Yeah, any day. (The lyrical version of the theme song was used in Season 9)

Johnny Galecki was first introduced as "Kevin Healy", but immediately became "David" from his second appearance on. The reason for this was that Johnny was appearing on another show at the time with the character name of "David", which is what Roseanne Barr wanted to call him. Broadcasting rules at the time prevented an actor from appearing on two different, non-related shows using the same name (unless it was their real/stage name). By the time Johnny made his second appearance on the show, his other job had ended, and they were free to call his character "David Healy", as originally intended.

Roseanne later makes an in-joke in reference to this situation, when she is arguing with Dan and says, "David's not even his real name! Darlene made it up!" This also represents a small continuity glitch, as Johnny introduces himself as "Kevin, Mark's brother" to (in order): Roseanne first, then Darlene, and finally, Dan, who drives him home after seeing Darlene is instantly smitten and learning he is Mark's brother.

Since he says he was asked to babysit DJ by Mark and Becky (Lecy), we can obviously assume that Becky and DJ have already met him, off-camera, before we see him, especially since he tells Roseanne he sent DJ to bed.