Roseanne

I realized why this show was such a success. Roseanne was so darn cute, and John was a great portrayal of a good husband and father. It's a realistic portrayal of the lower middle class, I knew a few families like this growing up, but the Connors were the Cleavers compared to most of the others I knew.

Roseanne is the most dramatic comedy, without the bugging educating stuff. All the actors are great. Dialogues are real. Sure, the first seasons are better than the newer ones, but you still should see every episode with this fab family who likes to win first prize as "white trash". One of the only shows with the woman-wife at the center, Roseanne portrays one of the best and true mothers in tv- ever. Ever-changing, always in control Roseanne the woman has a great deal to be proud of this 9 seasons running wonderful tv sitcom.

"Roseanne" is a milestone in TV sitcoms. It shows a lower class family realistically and the problems and issues they face. It dealt with (for the time) risky issues that you didn't see on TV often. I still remember quite a stir when two separate episodes dealt with one of the girls "becoming" a woman and the son of the family discovering how to "pleasure" himself. Also it had episodes dealing with abortion, gay characters, alcoholism, drug abuse, premarital sex, workplace and sexual harassment, how to deal with elderly parents... None of the characters were squeaky clean or perfect...they all had huge flaws and faults. But all of this was done with realism, great acting and a strong (if sometimes caustic) sense of humor. You saw the characters grow and change over the course of the 9 years it was on the air. It totally fell apart during the last season (egos were going out of control on the set) and ended horribly but the previous eight seasons were just fantastic. And the Halloween episodes were among the funniest ever done for a TV series. Just great all around. If you've never seen it, catch an episode or two--it's worth the effort.

Roseanne reminds me of simpler times. I miss her. I'm sorry things didn't work out with her and the reboot. I didn't approve of the Tweet (and I do believe her remorse was sincere), but I also stopped watching the show when they kicked her off.

Roseanne was one of the funniest, most original programs on television for a long time. I recommend avoiding the last few years of the show; they're so maudlin and idiotic that they seem more like a (boring/stupid/insulting--take your pick!)parody of themselves than anything else. The actors sleepwalk through their lines as if they're fully aware of how stupid and poorly-written they are, and the last episode is ironically one of the WORST half-hours on TV! (Sort of mirrors the downfall of the Simpsons, really--why can't these wonderful shows just quit while they're ahead?) For a long time, Roseanne was a sweet and realistic portrayal of many American families--fraught with strife and struggle but loving all the same.