Roseanne

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This article refers to the sitcom "Roseanne". For the actress/comedian, see Roseanne Barr. For the talk show, see The Roseanne Show.

Roseanne was an American sitcom which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997, starring the stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr. The show's working title, and the title of its pilot episode, was Life and Stuff.

The show portrayed a working-class family living in fictional Lanford, Illinois, and struggling to get by on a limited income. For many years, Roseanne was, in contrast to many of the most popular shows at the time, honest in its depiction of family life, tackling subjects of poverty, alcoholism, sex, first periods, masturbation, obesity, spousal abuse, and homosexuality in ways unlike other shows. Another theme of the show was Roseanne's dominance in raising the children, with her husband Dan feeling that he doesn't have a voice in what happens in the family, and is not well informed of what happens in his household. The show was hugely successful from its beginning, spending its first six seasons in the top five and inspiring a rash of stand-ups getting their own sitcom deals (a practice that continued for years afterwards). By the mid-'90s, however, the series began to be known more for the public and backstage scandals of Barr. There was constant turnover of writers and producers through the course of the series, including her second husband, Tom Arnold. During its final season, the show drifted away from its original storyline. During the seventh season, the show dropped sharply in the ratings, and by the final season (1996-1997), it had fallen out of the top thirty.

Contents

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Characters

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Conner Family

  • Roseanne Conner (played by Roseanne Barr Arnold) Roseanne, in a take off of her stand up comedic persona and presumed real-life persona, is a bossy, loud, bitingly sarcastic and dominant woman. She frequently meddles and tries to control the lives of her husband, daughters, son, sister and friends. Despite her bossy nature, Roseanne is a loving mother who works hard and makes as much time for her kids as possible. She, like her family, deals with the many hardships of poverty and domestic troubles with humor. She worked at the Wellman Plastics Factory at the beginning of the show's run and quit that job after conflict with a lying domineering boss; she led a walkout that included most of her friends. She had many periods of unemployment and held jobs as a fast food employee, a telemarketer and a hair sweeper at a beauty salon. She worked for several years as a waitress in the diner at Rodbell's Department Store. She eventually ran a successful restaurant called the Lanford Lunch Box with Jackie and Nancy; Roseanne (along with her sister, Jackie) gave up her control of the restaurant to her former boss Leon and her friend Nancy after winning the lottery.
  • Dan Conner (played by John Goodman) Dan is a genial easygoing man who often finds himself pushed around by his wife Roseanne. He is frequently unemployed, but a very hard worker when he is on the job. Throughout the run of the show, he does drywall, construction, owns a failing bike shop, works as a bus inspector for the city government, then retires upon hitting the lottery. He briefly moved to California to take care of his mentally ill mother. While there he becomes involved in an emotional affair with one of his mother's nurses.
  • Rebecca 'Becky' Conner-Healy (played by Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke) Becky is quite bright and an overachiever, but also a brat and very rude to her parents. She secretly dates her boyfriend Mark against her parents' wishes and then leaves home to marry him at 17. Becky ends up in a life of semi-poverty against her wishes until the family wins the lottery. Her birthday is given as March 15, 1975.
  • Darlene Conner-Healy (played by Sara Gilbert) Darlene in the early years was a sarcastic tomboy who loved sports, but at puberty, became moody, artistic and an animal rights activist. During school she begins dating the brother of Becky's husband, David. She possesses the same domineering attitude as her mother, often causing conflict between the two. Her bossy nature is best seen with David, who often gives in to her will. Darlene is a talented writer and David a talented artist. Together they began working seriously on a comic book/graphic novel and Darlene eventually gets into an exclusive art school in Chicago before she finishes high school, which Roseanne reluctantly allowed her to attend. She later became pregnant by David and soon married him. She did not finish art school, but the lottery winnings provided for her family.
  • David Jacob "D. J." Conner (played by Sal Barone in the pilot, Michael Fishman for the remainder of the series) DJ was a lonely, bizarre and unpopular child who was frequently taunted by his sisters. He is portrayed as being something of a simpleton in school and abnormally weird, as in the time he peeked at both Darlene and Becky naked at different times. As a teenager he showed interest in film making and eventually found a girlfriend sharing his interests. One episode dealt with DJ's relationship in a mature way, showing their decision not to have premarital sex, and promoted safe sex in the same instance. His real name is rarely mentioned, particularly after David (see below) was made a permanent character.
  • Jerry Garcia Conner (played by Cole Roberts) Jerry was the family's baby, born to Roseanne and Dan in their 40s. His name is a tribute to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.
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Extended Family

  • Jackie Harris (played by Laurie Metcalf) - Jackie is Roseanne's sister. Roseanne seems to be in charge of Jackie's life, the frequent cause of conflict between the two. Jackie has held numerous jobs; she started off working in the factory until the walkout, then became a police officer, a truck driver, and then opened the Lanford Lunch Box with Roseanne. Her romantic relationships were frequently unstable, but she married Dan's co-worker Fred, who impregnated her after a one-night stand and only got the idea to propose to her in the "perfect way" by taking notes from Jackie's favorite soap opera, One Life to Live. She was partly the beneficiary of the winning lottery ticket.
  • Mark Healy (played by Glenn Quinn) Mark is a dimwitted, "rebel without a cause"-type, who dated and later eloped with Becky, much to the Conners' consternation. Despite Mark's image, he is rarely seen to engage in criminal activity, except for once when Mark was intoxicated at the Lobo, a local bar, and punched through the glass of the bar's jukebox. Mark is strongly disliked by Roseanne for his condescending attitude toward her but ends up being befriended by Dan later in the series. Dan respects Mark's work ethic and hires him as a mechanic both at his bike shop and truck inspection. Mark later proves himself to be a responsible husband and earns Roseanne and the family's grudging respect.
  • David Healy (played by Johnny Galecki) - David is Mark's brother, but very much his opposite. David is timid, artistic and intelligent, and was in a relationship with Darlene during much of the series. He is a talented artist and drew comic books that Darlene wrote, and his well-behaved manner endears him to the Conner family, who think of him as part of the family. He moved in with the Conners after Roseanne saw how verbally and physically abusive his mother was. He eventually fathers Darlene's child. David often finds himself dominated by Darlene's powerful personality. David was meant to be his name on the series for the entire series. However, at the time of his introduction, Johnny was already playing a character named David on another show so the producers changed his name to Kevin so that there would be no confusion. By the time of his second appearance on "Roseanne," his other show was canceled so he was given the name David again. The line said by Roseanne in season 6 about David not being his real name was a joke, and only a joke.
  • Beverly Harris (played by Estelle Parsons) Bev is the mother of Roseanne and Jackie and wife of Al. She is overbearing and shrill and is avoided by all members of her family. She nags them with her atypically whiny voice, often with good intentions (in a discussion with fred at the end of an episode, she revealed her attitude to be an act). She has proven herself generous with the wealth she received from her husband's alimony, constantly giving financial gifts to the family to bail them out. She even provided the seed money for the Lanford Lunch Box and was later forced out because they did not like her. During the show's final season, she came out as a lesbian. Beverly is a Lutheran.
  • Al Harris (played by John Randolph) - Al is Roseanne and Jackie's abusive father. In the few appearances he made on the show, he was always seen as kind and popular with his grandchildren, but it was later revealed that he was abusive toward his children and had a mistress. Upon his death, Roseanne met with his mistress. It was also revealed that Al is Jewish.
  • Crystal Anderson-Conner (played by Natalie West) - Crystal is a friend of Roseanne and Jackie from childhood and later became Dan's stepmother. Crystal lost her first husband, Sonny, in a construction accident and had a son, Lonnie, with him. Crystal worked at the factory with Roseanne and quit in order to start a successful cosmetics sales career. She married Dan's father Ed and bore his children. Their marriage was perceived to be happy, with Ed's absences creating most of their conflict. After part-way through Season 5, Crystal mysteriously disappears from the show except for brief appearances in a season 6 episode and the season 8 premiere, plus a few mentions.
  • Fred (played by Michael O'Keefe) - Fred is a mechanic who worked at the truck inspection with Dan and was introduced to Jackie, leading to a one night stand, accidental impregnation, and marriage. Fred is a hardworking, kind man who was responsible, but Jackie found him too boring and left him.
  • Andy Harris (played by Garrett Hazen and Kent Hazen) - Andy is Jackie and Fred's son, born slightly before Jerry. In a segment set in the future, Andy is seen resembling an attractive female cheerleader. This is due to the fact that Jackie has been dressing baby Andy up in frilly outfits.
  • Nana Mary (played by Shelley Winters) - Nana Mary is Beverly's mother. She is a brash, outspoken, and lovable woman who gambles with her grandchildren. Unlike Bev, she is popular with the family. She was promiscuous in her younger days and claimed to have dated Pablo Picasso and Louis Armstrong.
  • Audrey Conner (played by Ann Wedgeworth and Debbie Reynolds) - Audrey is Dan's mother. She is described to have been friendly and a great mother, but had serious mental problems. She was later institutionalized, which Dan blamed on his father's neglect, but turned out to be just a preexisting mental illness. She was released from the mental hospital once and attempted to kill Dan. Audrey is Pentecostal.
  • Ed Conner (played by Ned Beatty) - Ed is Dan's father, a charming struggling traveling novelty salesman. Dan dislikes his father, but he is well-liked by everyone else. He is portrayed as irresponsible and neglectful of his family. He marries and has a baby with Crystal, even though she is much younger than he is. Ed is a Baptist.
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Other recurring characters

  • Leon Carp (played by Martin Mull) Leon plays the sarcastic urbane foil to Roseanne as her put-upon boss at the Rodbell's. Leon is gay and is seen dating many men and having romantic troubles. He later married his boyfriend Scott (played by Fred Willard) in a very public ceremony. He and Roseanne had a contentious relationship as her boss. He later purchased Beverly's share in the Lanford Lunch Box, much to Roseanne's chagrin. He was especially upset when Roseanne won the lottery.
  • Arnie Thomas (played by Tom Arnold) Arnie is the overweight, boorish constantly jovial friend of Dan. He frequently cheats on the women he dates and is very ill-mannered. However, Arnie always tries to be a good friend to Dan. He married Nancy, but left her claiming to be abducted by aliens (later played upon in one of the show's end-credit sketches, where he was seen conversing with aliens on a spaceship).
  • Nancy Bartlett (played by Sandra Bernhard) Nancy is the part owner of the Lanford Lunch Box. She was married to Arnie, but later came out as a lesbian after he left her. She frequently was seen dating very attractive women. Unlike Jackie, Nancy is never ashamed of her promiscuity, nor does she ever show any self-consciousness of her bizarre behavior.
  • Booker Brooks (played by George Clooney) Booker is the handsome foreman at Wellman Plastics who is the object of affection for many of the factory's predominately female workforce. He briefly dated Jackie.
  • Bonnie Watkins (played by Bonnie Bramlett) Bonnie is a waitress at Rodbell's Diner. She is considerably more polite and hard-working than Roseanne at the diner and frequently covers for her. Bonnie also has a beautiful singing voice and often performs country music at social gatherings.
  • Fisher (played by Matt Roth) Fisher dated Jackie. Dan beat him up after it was found out that he abused Jackie while they were dating. In real life, Matt Roth is married to Laurie Metcalf (Jackie Harris).
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Two actresses, same role

One of the most documented moments of the series occurred in the 5th season when Lecy Goranson (Becky) left the series to attend Vassar College. The character was absent for the second part of the season five and the first part of season six with the explanation that she was living with her husband, Mark Healy. Instead of writing Becky out, the character was recast with actress Sarah Chalke (now of Scrubs fame). Wary of the potential backlash to reshaping a longtime role, producers sought to defuse the criticism. At the end of Chalke's first episode, the Conner family watched a Bewitched episode and several characters complained about the recast of Darrin Stephens. Chalke smiled and said she'd always liked the second Darrin best. Goranson returned to the role two seasons later only to leave again and to be replaced by Chalke in season 9. The eighth season opening credits (a morph of cast photos over the years) alternated shots of both women for Becky. The 9th season had just Sarah Chalke's face being shown. Both appeared in some episodes during the 8th season (including alternating playing the role of Becky during the episode with Darlene and David's wedding), and the changes became a running gag. In the 8th season premiere, Lecy returns as Becky, and Roseanne and Darlene say things like "Where the hell have you been? It feels like you've been gone for 3 years" as a joke. Lecy acts like she has no idea what they're talking about. Likewise, in one episode after ABC was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, the show, like many others on the channel, did an episode where the cast visits Disney World. Chalke played Becky during the episode and tells Roseanne how excited she is to be going to Disney World when the announcement is made in the family living room, leaving Roseanne to comment, "Aren't you glad you were here this week?"

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Final Season (1996-1997)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The final season marked a complete departure from the rest of the series - the formerly working-class Conner family wins the lottery and begins living an extravagant lifestyle. Additionally, the series became quite surreal, with an abundance of fantasy sequences and celebrity guests. This change in tone fared poorly with critics and viewers, but has been staunchly defended by Barr. She felt that Roseanne Conner winning the lottery was similar to her landing a sitcom deal, and thus helped the series to parallel her life. [[1] Also, the season's detachment from reality was somewhat explained in the last moments of the series finale.

For the first time in the history of the series, the introductory music for the final season featured lyrics, sung by John Popper of Blues Traveler.

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Series finale

The final episode ended on an unusual note, with a 15-minute closing monologue by Roseanne revealing that after she was given a writing room (referencing a story thread from a few seasons beforehand), the entire series was merely a fictional story written by the character of Roseanne Conner and based on her family life and experiences. She also revealed that whatever she hadn't liked about her real life, she'd changed in the story; for instance, it was her sister Jackie - not her mother - that had come out as a lesbian.

Becky and Darlene actually ended up with the opposite Healy brother (Becky with David and Darlene with Mark). And following his massive heart-attack (due to his morbid obesity) at the end of season eight, Dan had actually died.

Also, it was revealed that Arnie was not abducted by aliens, but just rather disappeared.

The surrealism of season nine was explained as the "real" Roseanne Conner's way of dealing with the tragedy, which she snapped out of as a result of Darlene giving birth. The Conners living room then returns to the way it was for the first eight seasons of the show (as they had never won any lottery), and Roseanne embarks on a career as a writer. The episode ends with a wide aerial shot of Roseanne sitting on the living room sofa, and text is displayed on the screen:

"Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
T.E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia)

Roseanne's trademark laugh is then heard, in a manner similar to the opening of nearly every episode, and the scene fades to black.

It is actually said by Roseanne in the finale that the entire series was just part of her book. What's meant is that many parts of the series from seasons 3-9 were just fantasy and a part of her book that she had started to write in the end of season 2. You can tell this because Mark makes his first appearance in season 3. The last season and the last episode of season 8 was entirely fantasy based and none of it happened.

Much of this is because the series was supposedly going to be cancelled after the eighth season due to falling drastically in the ratings that eighth year, but ABC decided to renew the show based on Roseanne's wish of having a ninth season but having major pay roll cuts, however nothing could disguise the sinking quality of the once great series, which had simply run on too long, a mistake Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart did not make with their respective series.

Dan's heart attack was supposed to be the finale (the second to last season 8 episode) but after the show was picked up for one last season they introduced a plot revolving around Dan not taking the hospital's orders after the heart attack and Roseanne and Dan having their worst fight yet, the second part to the episode being the first episode of the ninth season.

This episode was never intended to be part of the series, nor was the ninth season. This episode was set half in the eighth season and half in the ninth, in the hope of carrying viewers into the final season.

In fact, the last season stayed around #35 in the ratings the entire year. The series finale came in around #9, helping the season stay in the #30's and not the #40's.

Storyline of the season Roseanne Conner's "real life"
Dan Conner survived his heart attack Dan Conner died after his heart attack at Darlene's wedding
Darlene married David Darlene married Mark
Becky married Mark Becky married David
Roseanne's mother, Bev, was a lesbian Roseanne's sister, Jackie, was a lesbian
The Conner family won the lottery The Conner family did not win the lottery
Arnie was abducted by aliens Arnie mysteriously disappeared
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Awards & Nominations

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Awards Won

Emmy Awards:

  • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Roseanne (1993)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Laurie Metcalf (1992-1994)

Golden Globe Awards:

  • Best TV Series-Comedy/Musical (1993)
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy/Musical (1993)
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Awards Nominated

Emmy Awards:

  • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Roseanne (1992, 1994-1995)
  • Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series John Goodman (1989-1995)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Laurie Metcalf (1995)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Sara Gilbert (1993)

Golden Globe Awards:

  • Best TV Series-Comedy/Musical (1989, 1994)
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series-Comedy/Musical Roseanne (1989, 1991-1992, 1994)
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy/Musical John Goodman (1989-1991)
  • Best Performance by a TV Supporting Actress Laurie Metcalf (1993, 1995)

Screen Actors Guild:

  • Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Roseanne (1995)
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series John Goodman (1995)

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards:

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Trivia

  • Although Lanford is a fictional town, Roseanne and Jackie's parents, Al and Beverly, were from Moline, Illinois. It is rumored that Jackie's idea to open up a "loose meat" sandwich shop came after she visited a Maid-Rite restaurant in Moline.
  • Their address was 714 Delaware. ("PMS, I Love You" Episode #9008)
  • Glenn Quinn died on December 3, 2002, aged 32. Police and autopsy reports revealed the cause of death to be a heroin overdose. Glenn's body was found on the couch of a friend he was staying with in North Hollywood, California.
  • When the show was first conceived the title was "Life and Stuff". Roseanne disliked it and the show was later retitled Roseanne. Her ex-husband Bill Pentland later wrote an episode titled "Death and Stuff".
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DVD release

Roseanne is currently being released on DVD by Anchor Bay. The first three seasons are now available, with the fourth season due on June 27th, 2006. The DVD release of the series has so far proved to be somewhat controversial as the first season was issued with cut, syndicated versions of the episodes. From the second season onwards, the DVDs should contain the original, unedited episodes.

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External links

nl:Roseanne (TV-serie) sk:Roseanne

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