Roseanne

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.

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.

Having watched all seasons aired in the UK the first time round, this show became like having a surrogate family on tv. The characters are well rounded, some relatable, all entertaining. Like many sitcoms, it got a bit weird towards the end, as all shows are victim to the 'we're losing ratings so let's shake things up to get 'em back' ethos of panicking writers which eventually killed it. The first 8 seasons are well worth revisiting if you're able. I hope this gets picked up by a streaming service so it can be enjoyed fully once more.

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.

When this show first debuted in 1988, I thought it was one of the worst shows to debut on TV back then. The kids were bratty, Roseanne's voice was aggravating-the list seemed to go on. A few years later, when the reruns started airing in the late afternoon, I really started appreciating the show for what it was: A family just trying to get by, and solve the problems that come up in everyday life. Along with this, Roseanne's witty "one-liners", and "off-the-cuff" humour, really made this show special. This show dissappeared for a couple of years here in Toronto, but it has been picked up again and is still as funny as it was when it first aired.