Roseanne

Roseanne was an American sitcom which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997, starring the stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr. The show's working title, and the title of its pilot episode, was Life and Stuff.

Related Topics:
Sitcom - ABC - 1988 - 1997 - Roseanne Barr

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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, sex, masturbation, obesity, 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 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. There was constant turnover of writers and producers through the course of the series, including her second husband, Tom Arnold, and the show drifted away from its original storyline. During the seventh season, the show dropped sharply in the ratings, and by the final season (1996-1997), it had fallen out of the top thirty.

Related Topics:
Illinois - Poverty - Alcoholism - Sex - Masturbation - Obesity - Homosexuality - Tom Arnold - 1996 - 1997

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One of the most documented moments of the series occurred in the 5th season when Lecy Goranson (Becky) left the series to attend college. Instead of writing Becky out, the character was recast with actress Sarah Chalke sometime in the middle of season 6. Wary of the potential backlash to reshaping a longtime role, producers sought to defuse 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 Darren Stevens. Chalke smiled and said she'd always liked the second Darren best. Gorenson returned to the role two seasons later only to leave again and to be replaced by Chalke in season 9. The eighth season opening credits (a morph of cast photos over the years) alternated shots of both women for Becky. The 9th season had just Sarah Chalke's face being shown. Both appeared in some episodes during the 8th season (including alternating playing the role of Becky during the episode with Darlene and David's wedding), and the changes became a running gag. In the 8th season premiere, Lecy returns as Becky, and Roseanne and Darlene say things like "Where the hell have you been? It feels like you've been gone for 3 years" as a joke. Lecy acts like she has no idea what they're talking about.

Related Topics:
Lecy Goranson - Sarah Chalke - Bewitched - Darren Stevens

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The complete first season was released on DVD on August 30, 2005, and the 2nd season is to be released on December 6, 2005.

Related Topics:
August 30 - 2005 - December 6

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On October 7th, 2005, the entire cast was featured on Larry King Live for the first time since the series ended.

Related Topics:
October 7th - 2005 - Larry King Live

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