---
title: "Roseanne"
year: 1988
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/roseanne"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_reviews: 2
published: "2026-09-16T21:03:09.710153+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T21:03:10.216853+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Roseanne (1988)

Created by Matt Williams · 23m · MPA TV-PG · Comedy

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* The Conners could use more money and slightly less accuracy when describing one another

> *Roseanne* is sharp, warm and worth returning to for the performances, especially Sara Gilbert’s. Its family comedy takes financial pressure seriously, though the constant trading of sharp remarks can become wearing.

## Synopsis

In Illinois, Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) and Dan Conner (John Goodman) try to keep their working-class family going while money worries keep returning. Becky Conner (Alicia Goranson), Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert) and D.J. Conner (Michael Fishman) are part of the household, with Jackie Harris (Laurie Metcalf) also in the family circle. Everyday pressures become family arguments, and the arguments become jokes without necessarily settling anything. The Conners have to carry on living with one another after the sharp remarks, as affection and irritation compete with the demands of getting by.

## Review

Created by Matt Williams, *Roseanne* is a funny, prickly family comedy that earns its warmth, with one reservation: the constant readiness to wound can become tiring. Its working-class Illinois family has money problems, and the programme takes those problems seriously enough to let them remain inconvenient. Nobody needs to become gracious before we are allowed to like them. That gives the comedy room for bad behaviour without requiring us to pretend that every unpleasant remark is secretly an expression of love.

Roseanne Barr makes Roseanne Conner’s bluntness funny because she does not ask permission to be abrasive. She trusts a line to be funny without adding an apology afterwards, and that confidence gives the other performers something firm to resist. John Goodman gives Dan Conner enough weight as a separate personality to keep the partnership from feeling like a solo act with an accommodating audience. We believe these two can irritate each other and still want the other person around.

Sara Gilbert is the strongest reason to keep watching. As Darlene Conner, she makes sharpness feel like a habit that is useful until it prevents anything kinder from being said. We laughed at her barbs, then felt uneasy about how little comfort they offered her. The performance makes that reaction possible: her wit never quite conceals how unhappy she can be, and the programme gives her more to do than deliver the next insult.

Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie Harris brings a different comic energy, less settled and harder to contain. She helps prevent the family’s exchanges from falling into a simple contest over who gets the last word. Alicia Goranson and Michael Fishman, as Becky Conner and D.J. Conner, help make the household feel populated by people with competing claims on our attention. The acting captures the slightly exhausting pleasure of family company, including the effort of getting somebody else to listen.

The writing credits include Norma Safford Vela, Don Foster and Amy Sherman-Palladino, and the series has room for more than an efficient sequence of jokes. Money, mental illness, alcoholism and domestic violence belong to its account of family life. We value the willingness to bring those subjects into a comedy, though seriousness alone does not make a scene work. The writing is strongest when an uncomfortable subject changes how people treat one another; it is weaker when the sharp remark arrives so reliably that it begins to feel compulsory.

As a family sitcom, it asks us to tolerate more friction than a comforting evening’s viewing might promise. Its achievement is making affection credible among people who are not always easy company, with the actors allowing irritation to survive alongside it. The weakness follows closely behind: when everybody seems equipped with a cutting reply, the exchanges can become predictable. At 23 minutes, an episode is compact, but the amount of verbal sparring still makes itself felt.

Start at the beginning, with a couple of episodes rather than an evening’s supply. The humour works well in small doses, and the performances give us a reason to return. There is no obligation to spend longer with the Conners than we would with our own relatives.

*Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.*

### Reviews we read (2)

- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The ups and downs of a working-class Illinois family are radical, witty and full of excellent performances. The series depicted the struggles with money, mental illness, alcoholism and domestic violence with biting wit and radical content. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/dec/03/roseanne-your-next-box-set)
- **The Ringer**, Rob Harvilla (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the original series as a groundbreaking, warm-yet-searing portrayal of a working-class family that split the difference between wholesome and vicious sitcoms of its era. Darlene Conner is singled out as the richest and most complicated character, whose growth anchors the show and connects it to later TV archetypes. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2018/03/21/tv/revisiting-roseanne-thirty-years-later)

## Details

- **Created by:** Matt Williams
- **Creator:** Matt Williams
- **Director:** Andrew D. Weyman, Gail Mancuso, John Whitesell, Philip Charles MacKenzie, John Pasquin, Gary Halvorson, Mark K. Samuels
- **Writer:** Amy Sherman-Palladino, Chuck Lorre, Danny Jacobson, Eric Gilliland, Maxine Lapiduss, Joel Madison, Norma Safford Vela, Don Foster, Joss Whedon, Jennifer Heath, Grace McKeaney, Tom Arnold, Michael Borkow, Bob Nickman, Pat Bullard, Sy Dukane, Denise Moss, Daniel Palladino, Garland Testa, Richard Whitley, Janet Leahy, Stan Zimmerman, Norm Macdonald, James Berg, Nancy Steen, Dusty Kay, Steve Pepoon, Cathy Ladman, Matt Williams, Bruce Rasmussen, Debbie Kasper, Martin Pasko, Steve Paymer, Allan Katz, Michael Poryes, Carrie Fisher
- **Producer:** Chuck Lorre, James Berg, Tom Werner
- **Cast:** Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner; John Goodman as Dan Conner; Alicia Goranson as Becky Conner; Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner; Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner; Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris; Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy; Jayden Rey as Mary Conner
- **Runtime:** 23m
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-PG
- **Release (the US):** 18 October 1988
- **Genres:** Comedy

## Where to watch in the US

- Peacock: streaming, hd
- Peacock: free, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd
- Apple TV: buy, sd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Royle Family* (1998): Household inertia, sharp family jokes and affection nobody quite knows how to express.
- *Life Is Sweet* (1990), Fi1m 84: Another family whose financial worries leave plenty of room for bad jokes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/life-is-sweet.md)
- *Better Things* (2016): A mother’s exhaustion gets room to be funny, selfish and sometimes unfair.
- *The Castle* (1997): Australian family pride and stubborn affection, with little concern for good taste.
- *Derry Girls* (2018): A fiercely funny ensemble makes family loyalty feel both necessary and exhausting.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/roseanne