Roseanne
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[edit] Cast and characters
[edit] Conner Family
- Roseanne (Harris) Conner (played by Roseanne) - Roseanne, in a take off of her stand up comedic persona and presumed real-life persona, is a bossy, loud, caustic, and dominant woman. She frequently meddles and tries to control the lives of her husband, daughters, son, sister and friends. Despite her dominating 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 the new egotistical domineering boss, Mr. Faber; she led a walkout that included most of her friends. She had several periods of unemployment and held jobs as a fast food employee, a waitress at the local bar (the Lobo Lounge), a telemarketer and a shampoo woman/hair sweeper at a beauty salon. Subsequently, she worked for several years as a waitress in the luncheonette at Rodbell's Department Store (much to the chagrin of daughters Becky and Darlene, who regularly hung out there). She eventually co-owned a successful restaurant called the Lanford Lunch Box with Jackie and Nancy (as well as nemesis Leon, her boss from the luncheonette, who assumed partial ownership of the restaurant after mother Bev sold her share to him). In the (fictional) ninth season, Roseanne (along with her sister, Jackie) gave up her control of the restaurant to Leon and her friend Nancy after winning the lottery.
- Dan Conner (played by John Goodman) - Dan is a genial, easygoing man who loves the gregarious, bossy, loud Roseanne as she is. He appears to be dominated by her, but has his own strong personality also that keeps the boundaries clear. He has a very good sense of humor, often making jokes about his wife's bossiness (once joking "I'm not Mrs. Connor, I'm a normal human being.") Other than his poker buddies (Dan bonding with them paralles the bonding his wife does with Jackie and her other female friends) ,Dan seems to bond very well with the men in his daughters lives, particularly Mark and David. Both men end up seeing Dan as a father figure, and he in turn dotes on them like sons. 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. In the (fictional) final season, he briefly moved to California to take care of his mentally ill mother. While there he becomes involved in an affair with one of his mother's nurses, which he soon ended. In the last episode it is discovered that Dan had died of the heart attack at the end of the eighth season, and that the ninth season was fictional.
- Jackie Harris (played by Laurie Metcalf) - Jackie is Roseanne's younger sister. Jackie is very intelligent, but has very low-self esteem and lacks faith in herself and is rather disorganized; as a result, she often underachieves in life. Roseanne seems to be in charge of Jackie's life, which is a frequent cause of conflict between the two; however, Jackie sometimes enjoys having Roseanne mother her, especially when Jackie is wounded. Jackie's character seems to become more animated and colorful as the series progresses. Jackie has held numerous jobs; she was working in the Wellman Plastics factory for several years until the walkout, then became a police officer until she was injured on the job, and later was a truck driver, and then opened the Lanford Lunch Box with Roseanne and Nancy. Jackie often comes up with seemingly off-the-wall "crazy" ideas, but it turns out that many of her unconventional ideas actually work. Her romantic relationships were frequently unstable, including one where she dated a man named Fisher and became the victim of domestic violence. However, she did eventually marry Dan's co-worker Fred, who impregnated her after a one-night stand and who 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. Jackie gave birth to their son, Andrew, two months before she married Fred. The marriage would prove to be short lived due to Fred's jealousy and Jackie's independence. Jackie is crushed by the divorce at first, but then moves on to become a successful single mom to Andy and continues running the diner with Roseanne, Nancy, and Leon. She was partly the beneficiary of the winning lottery ticket in the (fictional) final season. Jackie's full name is revealed to be Marjorie by Beverly (her and Roseanne's mother); however, older sister Roseanne supposedly pronounced Marjorie as "My Jackie", and the nickname Jackie stuck. Despite Jackie's apparent flightiness in the early episodes, Jackie is actually the backbone of the Conner/Harris family in many ways, as Roseanne admits in the last episode. In the last episode, it is discovered that Jackie was a lesbian, Roseanne penned her as heterosexual because she always imagined her with men.
- Rebecca 'Becky' (Conner) Healy (played by Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke) - Becky, the oldest of Roseanne and Dan's kids, is quite bright and is an overachiever, but she is also somewhat quick-tempered and often angry with her parents and younger sister Darlene. She dates her rebellious biker boyfriend Mark Healy against her parents' wishes and then, at age 17, leaves home to marry him. Later, Becky and Mark return home to live with Roseanne and Dan, and then move out again into a trailer. Her birthday is given as March 15, 1975. In the final episode, it is revealed that she is pregnant, and that David, not Mark, is her significant other, this is due to Roseanne feeling that Mark was a better fit.
- Darlene (Conner) Healy (played by Sara Gilbert) - Darlene in the early years was a "tomboy" who loved sports, but at puberty she became moody, artistic, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian to more closely match the real-life views and personality of Sara Gilbert. (However, despite being an animal-rights activist, Darlene asked for a leather jacket for both her 15th and 16th birthdays.) During her freshman year of high school, she begins dating David, and later has sex with him. David is the brother of Becky's husband Mark. She possesses the same domineering attitude as her mother, often causing the two to clash. Her bossy nature is best seen with David, who usually gives in to her will. Darlene is a very talented writer. Along with David's artistic talents, they began working seriously on a graphic novel, and Darlene eventually applies for and is awarded early admission and a scholarship to an exclusive art school in Chicago before she finishes high school, which Roseanne allows her to attend after realizing it is her only chance to get out of Lanford and make a better life for herself. She later became pregnant by David and soon married him. She eventually finished art school and later gave birth to her daughter, Harris. Harris is born very prematurely and almost doesn't survive, but by the support of her family and her own endurance, she does and becomes a healthy little girl by the series' end. Darlene's exact birthday is not disclosed; however, it is very likely in the fall of 1976, judging from her sweet sixteenth birthday party in late 1992. In the final episode, it is revealed that Mark, not David, is her significant other, this is due to Roseanne feeling that David was a better fit.
- David Jacob "DJ" Conner (played by Sal Barone in the pilot, and Michael Fishman for the remainder of the series-apparently Sara Gilbert didn't get along with Sal) - DJ was a lonely, bizarre, and unpopular child who was frequently taunted by his sisters and peers. 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 well as the time Becky found dismembered Barbie dolls under his bed. As a teenager, he showed interest in filmmaking and eventually found a girlfriend sharing his interests. One episode dealt with DJ's relationship in a mature way, showing their decision not to rush into a deep commitment too soon. His full name, David Jacob, was mentioned only two times during the show's entire run. He is said to have been born in 1982.
- Jerry Garcia Conner (played by Cole Roberts) - Jerry was the family's baby, born to Roseanne and Dan while they were in their 40s. His name is a tribute to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Roseanne's pregnancy in the seventh season was to coincide with her real-life pregnancy, made possible via fertility drugs and methods in a clinic (which Roseanne even explained in great detail at the end of an episode she did not appear in, because of her pregnancy). Also, as explained by Roseanne at the end of the season 8 Halloween episode, Roseanne's character became pregnant 3 months before the actress Roseanne did. In addition, Roseanne's labor was to occur during a Grateful Dead concert; however, because of Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, that was changed. Jerry is a boy and not a girl like originally stated on the show because the amnio was wrong and Roseanne wanted the show to mirror her real life.
Extended Family
- Mark Healy (played by Glenn Quinn) - Mark is a dimwitted, rather immature "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 one incident where Mark was intoxicated at the Lobo, a local bar, and punched through the glass of the bar's jukebox, and another when he punched out Becky's emotionally violent boss at the Buy and Bag. Mark is strongly disliked by Roseanne for his condescending attitude toward her. Dan initially dislikes Mark also, but respects Mark's work ethic and hires him as a mechanic both at his bike shop and his truck-inspection business. Mark later proves himself to be a responsible husband and earns Roseanne's and the family's grudging respect. In the finale it is revealed that Mark is the significant other of Darlene, not David.
- David Healy (played by Johnny Galecki) - David is Mark's brother, but very much his opposite. David is soft-spoken, 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. Despite his constant off and on relationship with Darlene, he eventually fathers her 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. In the finale it is revealed that David is the significant other of Becky, not Mark.
- Beverly Harris (played by Estelle Parsons) - Bev is the mother of Roseanne and Jackie and the wife of Al. She is overbearing and shrill and is avoided by all members of her family. She nags them with her shockingly whiny voice, often with good intentions but coming off the wrong way (in a discussion with Fred at the end of an episode, she revealed her attitude to be an act). The family (especially sensitive Jackie) is always taking measures to avoid having to spend any extended time with Beverly as she is quick to inadvertently overly-criticize how people live their lives (after going back and forth playing tricks on each other in one Halloween episode, Roseanne ultimately got the upper hand by having a fake conversation with her mom in front of Dan where she agreed to let her mother stay for 2 months). 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 insisted to stay on as a partner, but was later forced out because Roseanne and Jackie did not want to work with her. As revenge, she sold her share of the restaurant to Roseanne's ex-boss and rival, Leon Carp, effectively making him their new partner. During the show's final season, she came out as a lesbian (according to one of Roseanne's fictional twists on her family, along with winning the lottery), this is revealed in the finale in which Roseanne states that her mother is not a lesbian, but her sister however, is.
- Al Harris (played by John Randolph) - Al is Roseanne and Jackie's abusive father, and had a mistress for over twenty years. Upon his death, Roseanne met with his mistress, Joan. It was also revealed that Al is Jewish.
- Crystal (Anderson) Conner (played by Natalie West) - Crystal is a neurotic, uptight friend of Roseanne's and Jackie's from childhood and later became Dan's stepmother. She talks with a southern accent despite having grown up in Lanford (because her father was from Arkansas as she once explained). Crystal lost her first husband, Sonny, in a construction accident, but had a son, Lonnie, with him. Crystal worked at the Wellman Plastics factory with Roseanne and Jackie, and quit in order to start a successful cosmetics sales career. Crystal went on to marry two more times (all before the series started), before she married Dan's father, Ed (against Dan's strong disapproval), and bore two children with Ed. Their marriage was perceived to be happy, with Ed's absences creating most of their conflict. After part-way through Season 5, Crystal mostly 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. It sure took a lot of encouragement for Jackie to eventually warm up and face the fact that Fred is the father of her child (in the beginning, Jackie was still healing from her trauma with Fisher and fearful of getting too close to another man again). Fred initially advertised himself to be a family man, but once he married Jackie, he contantly complained about the rest of Jackie's family, mostly wanted to sit and watch TV and Jackie to give up her varied interests and join him in front of the tube. Fred is a rather average couch potato person with not too many activities or interests. Jackie and Fred break up when they discover how incompatible they are.
- 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 "feminine" (mostly loose red shirts and little skirts) outfits, which sent Fred into glandular upheaval. Andy is a little overprotected by his nervous mother. In most episodes that revolve around Andy, Jackie is fearful about being a new mother and constantly worries about the wellbeing of her child. Examples include her wanting to have the baby sleep in the same bed with her and Fred (while Fred wanted Andy completely down the hall), her becoming uptight when allowing Becky to use Andy to learn the proper way to hold a baby, and becoming irate at Roseanne for feeding him Oreo cookies.
- 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 and great-grandchildren. Unlike Bev, she is popular with the family. She can (and does) outsmart and drive Bev crazy, much to the amusement of Roseanne and Jackie. Her character is used often as a comic relief to the family, as well as offering a balance between Roseanne and Jackie's relationship with their mother, and Bev's relationship with Nana Mary. She was promiscuous in her younger days and claimed to have dated Pablo Picasso and Louis Armstrong. She is a big fan of a local radio call-in show that revolves around sex, as she stated in one episode that If I don't call, they worry. It was hinted in one episode that every time Nana Mary comes to town, it is tradition for her to reject the offer from Roseanne and Dan to make room for her to move to Lanford. However, this reoccurring theme was never repeated.
- 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 (She claimed that he took away her life by locking her in the hospital, so she had to take away his). Audrey is Pentecostal.
- Ed Conner (played by Ned Beatty) - Ed is Dan's father, a charming struggling traveling novelty salesman who always brings presents for the grandchildren. Dan dislikes his father, but he is well-liked by everyone else. Ed never makes any blatant attempt on the show to anger Dan on purpose, but it usually doesn't take long for Dan to become annoyed at his father's presence. He is portrayed as irresponsible and neglectful of his family. He marries and has two children with Crystal, even though she is much younger than he is.
[edit] 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 luncheonette. 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. They actually are friends, although neither of them will admit it.
- Arnie Thomas (played by Tom Arnold) - Arnie is the overweight, 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 the fourth-season finale's end-credit sketch, where he was seen conversing with aliens on a spaceship). While engaged to Nancy, he had a one-night stand with a drunk Jackie. Arnie is often seen wearing a yellow University of Iowa sweatshirt (actor Tom Arnold attended the University of Iowa in real life).
- 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; her first girlfriend is played by Morgan Fairchild. Nancy is never ashamed of her promiscuity, nor does she ever show any self-consciousness of her bizarre behavior. Nancy turns out to be a loyal and good friend to both Roseanne and Jackie throughout the series.
- 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 predominantly 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. At one point in the series, Bonnie admitted that she and her husband (played by David Crosby) once robbed a liquor store in desperation for money. That point was soon viewed as insignificant when Jackie admitted that she had a one-night stand with Arnie.
- Anne Marie Mitchell (played by Adilah Barnes) - One of the few black characters on Roseanne, Anne Marie was a former high school classmate of Roseanne's. They meet again when both of their children are suspended from school. Anne Marie quickly becomes a part of the "girl group," going on nights out with Roseanne, Jackie, Crystal and Bonnie. She is married to Chuck, Dan's poker buddy.
- Kathy Bowman (played by Meagen Fay) - Roseanne's neighbor in Seasons 3 and 4. She moves to Lanford after her husband Jerry accepts a high-paying job with Wellman Plastics. Born and raised in Chicago, Kathy is appalled by what she perceives Lanford to be — full of classless people living uneventful lives. She takes out her frustrations on Roseanne, who she believes to be the worst of all. Roseanne refers to her as "the Ice Pop Woman — frozen solid with a big ol' stick up her butt." She moves away after Wellman goes bust, and halfheartedly apologizes to Roseanne for her behavior.
- Fisher (played by Matt Roth) - Fisher dated Jackie and was DJ's hockey tutor in the fifth season of Roseanne. 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 (who played Jackie) and is the father of the child she was pregnant with when her character was pregnant on the show.
[edit] Two actresses, same role
One of the most documented moments of the series occurred in the fifth 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 diffuse 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 said she'd always liked the second Darrin best and smiled. Goranson returned to the role two seasons later only to leave again and to be replaced by Chalke in season nine. The eighth season opening credits (a morph of cast photos over the years) alternated shots of both women for Becky (though only Goranson's name was displayed on-screen). The ninth season returned Chalke to the role full-time, as Goranson had signed on only for the eighth season in the belief that it would be the show's last. Both appeared in some episodes during the eighth season (including alternating playing the role of Becky during the episode with Darlene and David's wedding), and the changes became a running gag.
When Lecy first returns as Becky in the eighth season premiere, Roseanne and Darlene say things like "Where the hell have you been? It feels like you've been gone for three years." Becky responds, "Why does everyone keep saying that?" The episode concludes with Goranson and Chalke dancing as if they were each other's reflection in a black-and-white parody of the closing credits of The Patty Duke Show, where Patty Duke played two identical cousins. The song, "Nearly Identical Beckys," is set to the tune of The Patty Duke Show, featuring altered lyrics. William Schallert, who played Patty's father on the series, appears with Dan in a cameo at the end of the parody.
In one episode after ABC was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, the show, like many others on the channel, created a plot about the characters visiting 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?"
In an episode that pretends to glimpse into the future, Jackie, dressed very much like her television mother Bev, is apparently DJ Conner's guardian and only living relative. During a visit to a psychiatrist with an adult DJ, played by John Goodman, she asks why DJ keeps muttering "They say she's the same, but she isn't the same." At the end of the episode, snippets of the series alternating between the two actresses playing Becky are shown with a voiceover of the adult DJ's 'mantra.'
[edit] Plot
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, narcotics, 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 of the Nielsen Ratings 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.
[edit] Setting
[edit] Episode List
[edit] Reviews
[edit] Notes
[edit] External Links
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