Roseanne

Seasons 1 - 7: 9/10

Seasons 8 - 9: 4/10

The attempted reboot: 1/10

The first handful of seasons of this show are truly classic television. This was probably the first show I ever watched that could be construed as a "Dramedy" show. Sure, there are laughs around every corner, but the Conner family is very obviously lower-class and we get a lot of realistic insight into their struggles. People who've been poor will relate to some of the storylines in this show A LOT.

John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf are the true stars here, as is the case with a lot of sitcoms. Roseanne is the main character, yes; she's the rock, the glue, but she isn't the funniest or most interesting of the bunch. Without her, though, it wouldn't be the same (the reboot makes this painfully obvious, but any seasoned viewer of television can tell you with from the start).

I wish there were shows like this around today. There are still a lot of poor folks out there struggling to get by, and today's television shows aren't providing the same kind of relatable escapism that Roseanne did.

"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 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.

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.

A terrifically intense dramedy which features possibly the most realistic familial unit in TV sitcoms, not to mention a marriage between Roseanne and Dan Connor (Roseanne Barr and John Goodman) which is pin-point exact, warm and right--and feels lived in. All non-believers have to do is watch a few episodes: the timing is deceptively shaggy yet perfect, the characters believable, their predicaments immediate. Fully realized by Roseanne herself, who never let her real-life chronicles get in the way of the show. The writing is continually sharp, with dialogue that frequently evokes whole lives, such as in the episode where Roseanne sits in a coffee house after hours talking to a tired waitress who confides about her late husband, "I miss him. It's so quiet. Sometimes I'll turn a football game on, turn it up real loud...and I hate sports. But what'ya gonna do?" Tender moments like this, seemingly throwaway bits, elude some viewers looking for a fast laughter fix; "Roseanne" was always something more, and it aches in laughter and in life's woes.