Roseanne
A sitcom about a working-class family in Lanford, Illinois.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Roseanne is an American television sitcom that first aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, with a short-lived revival from March 27 to May 22, 2018. The show stars Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner and follows her family in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois. It earned generally positive reviews for its realistic depiction of a working-class American family and hit No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings during its second season (1989–1990).
Across its original nine-season run, the series ranked in the top four for six seasons and in the top 20 for eight. The 2018 revival reached No. 3, averaging 18 million viewers per episode over its nine episodes. In 1993, the episode "A Stash from the Past" was ranked No. 21 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. In 2002, the show placed No. 35 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, and in 2013, it ranked No. 32 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time.
A revived 10th season aired in 2018 with the original cast. After a successful premiere, ABC renewed Roseanne for an 11th season of 13 episodes, but reversed that decision and canceled the show on May 29, 2018, following a series of tweets by Barr comparing former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett to Planet of the Apes. A spin-off continuation, The Conners, which focuses on the Conner family without Roseanne, premiered in October 2018 and ran until 2025.
The show was developed by Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner of Carsey-Werner Productions, who wanted to explore the working mother as a central figure. They offered Barr the role after seeing her on The Tonight Show, drawn to her "in your face" voice and her "domestic goddess" persona, which she transformed into the working-class heroine they envisioned. Many early scripts were written by women, including Grace McKeaney, Lauren Eve Anderson, and Laurie Gelman, and directed by Ellen Gittelsohn. Barr maintained that the characters were based on her own life and family, while original showrunner Matt Williams claimed the show was based on his family experiences. Under Writers Guild rules, Williams received sole creator credit for writing the pilot, with a subsidiary credit noting the work was based on Barr's stand-up comedy. In 1993, it was reported that Barr referred to her 19 writers by numbers, and the writers wore shirts with their assigned numbers.
Quick Facts
- Runtime
- 21–22 minutes
- Producer
- Matt Williams (season 1) / Al Lowenstein (seasons 2–9) / Sid Youngers (season 10)
- List Episodes
- List of Roseanne episodes
- Num Episodes
- 231
- Num Seasons
- 10
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Composer
- Dan Foliart / Howard Pearl
- Theme Music Composer
- Dan Foliart & Howard Pearl / W. G. Snuffy Walden
- Starring
- Roseanne Barr / John Goodman / Laurie Metcalf / Sara Gilbert / Lecy Goranson / Michael Fishman / Natalie West / Sarah Chalke / Emma Kenney / Ames McNamara / Jayden Rey
- Director
- John Pasquin (seasons 1–2 & 10) / Various (seasons 1 & 3–10)
- Creator
- Matt Williams
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The series was created by Matt Williams, who received sole creator credit under Writers Guild regulations for writing the pilot, though a subsidiary credit noted the work was based on Roseanne Barr's stand-up comedy. Barr maintained the characters were heavily based on herself and her children, while Williams said the show was based on his own family experiences. The show was produced by Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, who sought a working mother as a central voice and chose Barr after seeing her on The Tonight Show.
Reader's Guide
Roseanne was notable as one of the first sitcoms to realistically portray a blue-collar American family with two working parents and lead characters who were overweight without their weight being the target of jokes. The series remained in the top four for six of its nine original seasons and in the top 20 for eight. In 1993, the episode 'A Stash from the Past' was ranked No. 21 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. In 2002, the series was ranked No. 35 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, and in 2013, No. 32 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time. The 2018 revival reached No. 3 in ratings with an average of 18 million viewers per episode, but was canceled after Barr made controversial comments on Twitter. A spin-off, The Conners, premiered in October 2018 and ran until 2025.
Did You Know?
- The series was set in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois, which Barr stated in 2018 was based on Elgin.
- Exterior shots of the Conner household were based on a real home in Evansville, Indiana, the hometown of first-season producer Matt Williams.
- In 1993, Barr referred to each of her 19 writers by a number rather than their name, and writers wore shirts with their assigned number.
- Barr's real-life brother and sister are gay, which inspired her to push for introducing gay characters and issues into the show.
More in Nielsen ratings winners 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced