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Roseanne
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Roseanne was the biggest new hit on TV during the late 1980s. A blue-collar family in Landford, Illinois, mom, not dad was the center of the household; both were hefty people (and always in the kitchen), not TV-handsome; both worked; and when mom got home, she never failed to have a foul word for her kids. Chronically short on money, with employment precarious, the Connors needed to keep laughing. Dan was an intermittently employed small-time contractor, who eventually opened a motorcycle shop. Roseanne and her sister, Jackie, at first worked at a plastics plant. Later they had various other jobs, eventually opening their own business, the Landford Lunch Box.
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Many of the sketches were original material, although Bill Cosby, Roseanne, Steve Urkel, Ross Perot, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush were impersonated by Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Angelique Bates, Johnson, Gabriel Iglesias, and an adult, respectively. The humor was very pre-teen-oriented, such as Josh Server eating his own dandruff, or appearing on stage wearing only his underwear, or a cereal called Lucky Germs or Fruit Poots. From Season 7 onward, the humor was geared more toward younger viewers than the first six seasons.
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The second season of Roseanne has a similar tone to the first, but the writers push themes of being relatively poor, overworked, and approaching middle age into slightly darker territory. The main events are still the everyday trials and tribulations of working class families, focusing particularly on the lack of fulfilling jobs available to women like Roseanne. Despite being the unopposed queen bee at home, when Roseanne walks back into the world of employment, she is just a frazzled mom with a high school education who doesn't know how to work a computer. Seeing her try to sell magazine subscriptions over the phone while her kids are screaming in the background, or drag herself to shifts at Chicken Delite or The Lobo Lounge, is pretty bold and depressing material for a sitcom. The same can be said for Dan's storylines, especially in "Born To Be Wild." Viewers are used to seeing him in the role of the comic relief, the one who does a funny impression or tells a joke to cheer up a family member and lighten the mood. But in this episode he is beaten down by life, missing the "chug on through and laugh along the way" attitude he usually embodies.
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In the 200th episode of the series, Roseanne has daydreams about her new wealthy life after winning the lottery. Hugh Hefner and Jerry Springer appear as themselves. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
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Roseanne turned her experiences as a wife and mother into a stand-up comedy act and began performing at local clubs. Audiences responded to her “domestic goddess” routine and she got bigger gigs and made friends such as comics as Sam Kenison. She started making appearances on The Tonight Show in the mid-1980s. In 1988, Roseanne became a television star with her self-titled show. Her realistic depiction of a tough, but tender, wise-cracking mom struck a cord with viewers. Roseanne received three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, before finally winning the award in 1995.
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Roseanne's published self-disclosures provide a detailed public record of her life. She grew up in Salt Lake City in a working class Jewish family she has defined as "dysfunctional," a description that includes assertions of having been sexually molested by family members. A high school dropout, she reports getting married while still in her teens in order to get away from her family. She worked as a waitress and according to People magazine, began her comedy by being rude to her customers. Her career as a standup comic began in Denver, where her club appearances gained a following among the local feminist and gay communities. She toured nationally on the comedy club circuit and made well-received appearances on late night talk shows before starring in her own comedy specials on HBO.
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