ENDED TV SERIES

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Roseanne is a comedy about the Conner family, a working-class clan who uses wisecracks and laughter to disguise their feelings. The series centers around the controlling – but caring – matriarch, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr).

Roseanne and her husband Dan (John Goodman) have two daughters, Becky (Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke) and Darlene (Sarah Gilbert), and two sons D.J. (Michael Fishman) and Jerry Garcia (Cole Roberts). The family is in a constant state of financial worry and family drama.

Hard-working Roseanne Conner is funny, smart and bossy. She is outspoken and always stands her ground. She and her husband have been together since high school, and despite their loud, opinionated and occasionally rowdy fights, they are happily married. Roseanne’s sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) is her best friend and confidante.

Dan Conner (John Goodman) is the big, kind and hard-working patriarch of the family. He loves his wife, enjoys drinking beer and goes to great lengths to make his children happy. Despite their financial problems, Dan lifts his wife and children up with his humor.

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Roseanne’s younger sister, Jackie Conner (Laurie Metcalf) is a caring, sensitive and attractive woman. An underachiever with low self-esteem, Jackie faults Roseanne for trying to control her life, but despite their bickering, the two are best friends. Unlucky in love, Jackie doesn’t have a family of her own but is extremely close to the Conner family.

Becky Conner (Lecy Goranson & Sarah Chalke) is the oldest child. Blonde, pretty and popular, she enjoys school and gets along with both of her parents, except for the occasional teenage backtalk. Becky also gets along with her siblings but tends to antagonize Darlene.

Darlene Conner (Sarah Gilbert) is a tomboy with her mother’s attitude and sarcasm. While she tends to clash with her mother and sister, she is very close to her father and Aunt Jackie.

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D.J. Conner (Michael Fishman) is constantly teased and picked on by his sisters and classmates. While he doesn’t have many friends, he is generally portrayed as an average adolescent boy.

Mark Healy (Glenn Quinn), Becky’s boyfriend and eventual husband, comes across as a token bad boy but proves to be a supportive and hardworking partner.

David Healy (Johnny Galecki) is Mark’s younger, smarter and more artistic brother. The perfect foil for Darlene, David becomes part of the Conner family, even after he and Darlene stop dating. Well behaved and kind, David moves into the Conner house after Roseanne (a victim of child abuse) sees how he is treated by his mother. Sensitive and caring, David provides Darlene with strong support when she needs it most.

Nancy Bartlett (Sandra Bernhard) is introduced as a love interest for Dan’s friend, Arnie (Tom Arnold) but she eventually comes out as bisexual, shocking everyone around her. Self-assured and promiscuous, Nancy is one of Jackie and Roseanne’s closest friends and eventual business partner.

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Crystal Anderson (Natalie West) is close childhood friend of Roseanne and Jackie. Though extremely helpful and kind-hearted, she is a pushover when it comes to friends and men. Despite growing up in Lanford, Illinois, she speaks with a southern accent that she claims resulted from father’s Arkansas upbringing. She has a son named Lonnie (Kristopher Kent Hill) from her first marriage to a construction worker named Sonny, who died only a year later after falling into a piling mold of a bridge as that the cement was being poured.

Leon Carp (Martin Mull) is Roseanne’s antagonistic gay boss who later becomes her friend and business partner. Leon is Republican who enjoys Broadway musicals and is a huge fan of Liza Minelli and George Bush.

Ed Conner (Ned Beatty) is Dan’s father. A traveling salesman who claims he can sell anything, he is the favorite grandparent and almost always smiling. Though Dan and his father rarely get along because Dan blames him for his mother’s mental illness, he is very well-liked otherwise.

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Beverly Harris (Estelle Parsons) is Roseanne and Jackie’s shrill-voiced, overbearing mother. While Roseanne can tolerate her, Jackie cannot and the rest of the family avoids her. She divorces Roseanne and Jackie’s father, Al, (John Randolph) early on, after discovering his infidelity.

Nana Mary (Shelley Winters) is Roseanne and Jackie’s adoring grandmother. She likes reminiscing about her wild, younger days, drinking, calling into radio sex shows and gambling with her grandchildren. She is well-loved by all, except for Beverly, as she and her daughter have never really gotten along.

Arnie Thomas (Tom Arnold) is a friend of Dan’s, although later in the series was written as a high school friend of Dan, Roseanne, Jackie and Crystal. He is bad-mannered and overly cheery. He cheats on the women he dates, but ends up marrying Nancy. Despite his quirks, he is a good friend to Dan.

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Main Cast

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Additional Cast

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Trivia

Roseanne Barr gave birth to her first child, a girl, during in her late teens but gave her up for adoption. Her name is Brandi Brown and she and Roseanne have since reunited.

Sara Gilbert told her mother she wanted to become an actress at six years of age, after seeing her older sister, Melissa Gilbert, (Little House on the Prairie) receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Laurie Metcalf received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theater from Illinois State University in 1977. Joan Allen, Glenne Headly and John Malkovich were in her class.

Sarah Chalke is fluent in both the French and German.

Lecy Goranson left Roseanne to attend Vassar College.

Michel Fishman is not only an actor, but also credited with set design, props, assistant directing and camera operating.

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John Goodman has been married to his wife, Annabeth Hartzog, for 25 years. They have one child.

The episode “Stash from the Past” was ranked 21 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.”

Glenn Quinn died in 2002 of a heroin overdose.

Both of Roseanne’s real life siblings are gay, which prompted her to push for gay characters on the series.

Sandra Bernhard posed nude for Playboy magazine.

Martin Mull loves art and his work has been showcased in galleries around the world.

The show was ranked 35 on on TV Guide’s “50 Greatest Shows of All Time.”

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Sara Gilbert is ranked at 38 on VH1’s list of “100 Greatest Kid Stars.”

David never calls Roseanne by her first name during the series.

John Goodman is a favorite host of Saturday Night Live.

On Roseanne’s talk show, Debbie Reynolds announced Roseanne broke one of her ribs (unknowingly) during a wrestling scene they did while filming.

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Laurie Metcalf has three children. The last, a daughter, was born via a surrogate when Metcalf was 50 years old.

Roseanne Barr divorced her first husband of sixteen years, with whom she had three children. Four days later, she married co-star Tom Arnold.

Sara Gilbert briefly dated Johnny Galecki as a teenager, but then realized she was gay. They remain close friends to this day.

Estelle Parsons originally went to school to become a lawyer.

During the show, Lecy Goranson request to cut her hair short was denied by producers. When she confided in Roseanne for help, Roseanne picked up scissors and cut her hair.

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Michael Fishman coached high school baseball for four years and won league titles four years in a row. His fastball has been clocked at 91 MPH.

Glenn Quinn was co-owner of a club called “Goldfingers”, in Hollywood.

Dan Conner was ranked at 13 on TV Guide’s list of “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time.”

At one time, all three of Roseanne’s husbands appeared on the show. Tom Arnold, of course, had the most appearances as Arnie Thomas.

John Goodman is known for playing more roles in animated films than any other actor in movie history. He’s played in Frosty Returns, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, Clifford’s Really Big Movie, The Jungle Book 2 and Monsters Inc..

Sarah Chalke starred in the television series Scrubs.

George Clooney, who later starred in the popular series, E.R. as Dr. Doug Ross, played Roseanne and Jackie’s boss in the first series of the show.

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In 2014, Sara Gilbert married her girlfriend of two years.

Roseanne Barr was offered the role of Peggy Bundy on the series Married with Children, but turned it down.

Laurie Metcalf and Matt Roth broke up on the show, but were married in real life until Roth filed for divorce in 2011.

John Goodman slapped himself in the Skin Bracer for Mennen commercial and said, “Thanks, I needed that!”

When Roseanne Barr was in her mid-teens she was hit by a car; she sustained brain injuries and experienced memory loss and nightmares. She was institutionalized at the Utah State Hospital for eight months due to the behavioral changes she exhibited.

Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf also worked together on the very popular series The Big Bang Theory.

John Goodman drank for 30 years but got sober in 2007. He now tries to attend to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every morning and says that he doesn’t miss “that life.”

Glenn Quinn grew up in Ireland.

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Laurie Metcalf has made guest appearances on Desperate Housewives, The Big Bang Theory, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Monk and Grey’s Anatomy.

Sandra Bernhard is bisexual.

Sara Gilbert’s character was so important to the show that the producers moved taping schedules and juggled storylines so she could study at Yale University and remain on the show.

Lecy Goranson plays both the guitar and the mandolin.

Michael Fishman visits sick children at UCLA’s Children’s hospital on a regular basis as an Rx Laughter foundation ambassador.

Although Roseanne was popular series and secured the top spot in the Nielsen ratings during its second season, the show was never nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy Series.

Sarah Chalke can write with her toes.

Laurie Metcalf won three consecutive Emmy awards for her performance as Jackie Harris.

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Estelle Parsons was a childhood friend of actor Jack Lemmon.

After ABC merged with the Walt Disney Company in 1995, Roseanne filmed two filmed at Disneyland or Disney World. Other ABC shows, including Full House, Step by Step, Boy Meets World and Family Matters did too.

John Goodman was inducted as a Disney legend in 2010.

Roseanne Barr purchased a 46-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii in 2007 for $1.78 million.

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Glenn Quinn’s appearance on Roseanne was only supposed to be for one episode but it turned into a seven-year job.

Sara Gilbert has two children.