My Top 10 this week is Top 10 Roseanne Characters! I did factor in the revival season of Roseanne but not The Conners, since that is technically a different show.
Crystal wasn't one of my favorite characters. I felt like she was overused at points and might have been better off as an occasional guest star. At her best moments though, she provided a different dynamic to Roseanne than Jackie provided as a non-family confidante for the main character (though of course she eventually became family).
9. BOOKER BROOKS
Before he became a breakout star on ER and then a worldwide movie star, George Clooney had humble beginnings on a lot of failed shows. His most steady job early in his career was on Roseanne. He was a pretty prominent character in the first season who had a funny relationship with both Roseanne and Jackie. Of course Clooney was meant for bigger things but I wish Booker had stuck around as a character.
David doesn't appear until Season Four, but he becomes extremely prominent in later seasons and his presence still looms large in The Conners even though he hasn't appeared much. Johnny Galecki was a great match for Sara Gilbert as they have an easy chemistry with each other than can work equally well whether they are in love or at odds. He felt very much like a real character in the way he and Darlene interacted and the ways he assimilated and didn't with the Conner family.
7. BEV HARRIS
Bev was quite a personality. As the mother to Roseanne and Jackie, it was easy to see where they got some of their eccentricities from. I always found her relationship with Jackie especially funny and I liked that the show didn't try to make Bev a more sympathetic character all that often. They were content to make her pretty terrible a lot of the time and as a result she had a lot of very funny moments. She was sort of Marie Barone before Everybody Loves Raymond.
6. DJ CONNER
DJ might get knocked down a few notches if I took the last season of Roseanne more into account because Michael Fishman has grown into a pretty terrible actor. However, he was really wonderful in the earlier seasons as a young kid. He had some great line deliveries and was the most innocent in a family full of questionable characters at times. Even through much of the original series run, he was still solid. But his best years were his early years.
Becky would rank higher if The Conners was factored into this list because Lecy Goranson has routinely been one of the best parts of that series. But in the original series, she was pretty clearly behind the top four still to come. Whether it was Goranson or Sarah Chalke, Becky had some great moments but she wasn't as dynamic a character as Darlene and they didn't give her as good material. Both Goranson and Chalke were game though and occasionally gave some great performances.
4. DARLENE CONNER
Darlene was just perfect for a lot of the original run of Roseanne. The princess of darkness, Darlene was the classic moody teen who was also as sharp-witted a TV kid as you'll ever find. Sara Gilbert really gave a fantastic acting performance and was given an awful lot of material, sometimes quite heavy, at a young age. Darlene could be thoroughly unlikable quite often on the series but Gilbert humanized and made you understand where she was coming from.
John Goodman is a great actor but he was a weak spot in the 2018 Roseanne revival. He has been better on The Conners as a widower, but his best years as Dan Conner were the early days of Roseanne. In those years, he perfectly exemplified the blue collar husband and dad. Sometimes he was super goofy and child-like. Other times he was stressed beyond belief and that turned into anger and then there were times when he felt inadequate trying to provide for his family. He was a great character who had an easy chemistry his on-screen wife.
2. JACKIE HARRIS
Jackie was the most heralded character in the original cast with Laurie Metcalf winning three straight Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. She was an outrageous, hot mess of a character who was simultaneously extremely grounded. It's easy to see why Metcalf was a standout, she said what everyone was thinking a lot of the time and her character had a lot of range. Sometimes Jackie seemed like the most put together and other times she seemed like she was falling apart more than anyone else. I'm sure many would put her at #1 and I would understand.
It might be hard to think about it now given how crazy Roseanne Barr has always been behind the scenes, and especially in light of her 2018 Twitter flameout that resulted in her being fired from her own show. But this is about Roseanne Conner, not Roseanne Barr. And Roseanne Conner is a truly funny character, especially in the show's early years. Before Roseanne, most TV moms were well put together. They often had it all, just think of Claire Huxtable. Then Roseanne came along and upended it all. She changed the trajectory of TV moms and did it with her trademark stand-up comedy style where she was frustrated with her family as often as she loved them, if not more-so. If you watch the early years of Roseanne again, the title character is the stand-out MVP.
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at 704 Hauser!
Next Tuesday: Top 10 The Sopranos Characters!
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