 Roseanne
1 9 8 8 - 1 9 9 7 (USA)
222 x 30 minute episodes
 Roseanne
was the biggest new hit on TV during the late 1980s and evolved
from the stand-up comedy act and HBO special of its star and
executive producer, Roseanne Barr.
In the act, this self-styled "domestic goddess"
dispensed mock cynical advice about child-rearing: "I figure
by the time my husband comes home at night, if those kids are
still alive, I've done my job."
The TV program, built a blue-collar family in Landford,
Illinois around this matriarchal figure and became an
instantaneous hit when it premiered in 1988 on ABC.
The Conner family included Roseanne, her husband Dan (John
Goodman), sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), daughters Darlene (Sara
Gilbert - sister of Melissa Gilbert) and Becky (Lecy Goranson,
replaced in 1993 by Sarah Chalke), and son D.J. (Michael Fishman).
Both Roseanne and her co-star John Goodman were 'larger' people
and did not have the traditional TV looks or glamour, but it
worked extremely well.
The Conner family were chronically short of money, and had a
large family to feed and mortgage payments to keep up. Their
fortunes wavered constantly as Dan was an intermittently employed
small-time contractor (until he eventually opened a motorcycle
shop).
 Roseanne
and her sister, Jackie, initially worked at a plastics plant but
moved on to various other jobs (including a stint for Jackie as a
police officer). Eventually the sisters opened their own diner,
the Landford Lunch Box.
The Conner children were all refreshingly dysfunctional in some
way - Becky was the boy-crazed oldest child, Darlene, the tomboy,
and DJ, a six-year-old who idolised his dad.
Roseanne was a loving mother, though certainly no soft touch -
when she got home from work each day, she never failed to have a
foul word for her kids.
Over the years the household expanded to include Becky's
husband Mark (Glenn Quinn) and Darlene's boyfriend David (Johnny
Galecki) and, in 1995, a new infant for Roseanne and Dan.
Roseanne and Dan's parenting style was often sarcastic,
bordering on scornful. Once, when the kids left for school,
Roseanne commented, "Quick. They're gone. Change the
locks."
With employment precarious, the Conners needed to keep
laughing. Fortunately they took us along for the laughs.
The program also featured gay and lesbian characters, which
made ABC nervous - especially when a lesbian character kissed
Roseanne. The network initially refused to air that episode until
Roseanne, the producer, demanded they do so.
By 1995 Roseanne had become the most powerful woman on
US television, earning an estimated $1 million per episode.
TRIVIA NOTES
Roseanne was originally titled Life and Stuff by
series creator Matt Williams.
The word "corn" was supposed to be mentioned in every
episode of Roseanne, it was mentioned in about the first 15
episodes.
D.J.'s full name, David Jacob, is mentioned in only two
episodes.
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