Roseanne/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Series creator Matt Williams later went on to co-create Home Improvement along with fellow writers David McFadzean and Carmen Finestra.
  • Joss Whedon wrote five episodes.
  • Amy Sherman-Palladino wrote thirteen episodes, as well as serving as executive story editor. Ms. Sherman-Palladino is best known as creator and executive producer of Gilmore Girls. Her husband, Daniel Palladino, was also a writer for Roseanne and would serve with her on Gilmore Girls as executive producer until 2006, when they both left the show after it moved to The CW.
  • Danny Jacobson wrote twelve episodes, as well as serving as supervising producer. Jacobson is best known as co-creator and executive producer of Mad About You.
  • Chuck Lorre also wrote twelve episodes, as well as serving as co-executive producer. Lorre is best known as creator and executive producer of Grace Under Fire and co-creator and executive producer of Dharma and Greg, Two and A Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory.
  • Norm MacDonald wrote two episodes.
  • Voice actress April Winchell wrote three episodes.
  • Mark Rosewater wrote two episodes. Rosewater later went on to be head of R&D for Magic: The Gathering.
  • Bruce Helford was an executive producer. Helford is best known as co-creator and executive producer of The Drew Carey Show and The George Lopez Show.
  • Actor Allusion: When Michael O'Keefe (Fred) left the show, he went to another show on ABC called Life's Work, where he was the husband of an assistant district attorney with two children. In one episode of Roseanne, while complaining about Fred's Christmas present to Jackie, Roseanne says that they never see him "since he moved in with that D.A. chick with them two kids."
  • Adored by the Network: There have been times you would think this was the only show Nick At Night owned the rights to. ABC wasn't exactly neglectful of the show, either.
    • WE, TV Land, and Logo like to show marathons of it as well.
  • The Danza:
    • Roseanne Barr plays Roseanne Conner.
    • Tom Arnold plays Arnie Thomas.
  • Fake Nationality: Glenn Quinn was Irish, and had a couple of slips through the show, including once when Mark came home drunk, which seemed oddly fitting, since the struggle between the two accents sounded pretty much like someone who has had a few too many and are slurring their words. Sarah Chalke was also a Canadian actress, playing the American Becky.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
    • A young George Clooney plays Booker Brooks, the factory manager of Wellman Plastics in the first two seasons.
    • Arthur Branch plays Dale Faber, the man who replaces Booker as factory manager.
    • Tobey Maguire is one of the friends of a guy Darlene is interested in dating in season 3 for one episode.
    • Ernest P. Worrell is a prince who begins dating Jackie in the final season.
    • Stephen Dorff plays Jimmy Meltrigger, Becky's boyfriend in the second season.
    • Dawn Weiner plays DJ's girlfriend in the final season.
    • Tommy Solomon plays George, one of DJ's friends.
    • Dr. Frank-N-Furter shows up as a swindler posing as a realtor who briefly dates Sandra Berhardt's character Nancy.
    • Morgan Fairchild is Nancy's lover after she comes out of the closet.
    • James Brolin plays Roseanne's business partner and love interest in the final season while Dan figures things out for himself.
    • Mariel Hemingway makes out with Roseanne.
    • Red Buttons plays Bev's boyfriend in a couple of episodes.
    • Shelly Winters plays Bev's mom.
    • Traci Lords works at Roseanne's diner for a few episodes.
    • Karen McLuskey makes an appearance in a couple of episodes-one as a shopper and one as a dancer in Bev's ballroom class.
    • The chief of surgery at Seattle Grace-Mercy West plays Chuck, one of Dan's poker buddies.
    • Otto's wife Gretchen plays uptight neighbor Kathy Bowman.
  • The Other Darrin/The Original Darrin: One of the most egregious and ridiculous examples of all time, with plenty of unabashed Lampshade Hanging. When Lecy Goranson left the show for school, Becky was written out as having moved to Minnesota, but eventually returned, now played by Sarah Chalke. At the beginning of the 8th season, Goranson returned and played Becky steadily for a run of episodes, with Chalke actually cameoing as a different character in the Halloween episode. After this, Chalke was brought in again as Becky on-and-off over the course of that season for any episodes Goranson was unavailable for, including the Disneyworld two-parter and Darlene's wedding. Finally, at the beginning of the 9th and final season, Chalke took over again all the way until the finale.

Becky (Chalke), while watching Bewitched: I like the second Darrin much better.
Roseanne (to Goranson): Where the hell have you been? It feels like you've been gone for three years!

    • "Ladies and gentlemen, the role of Becky Conner, formerly played by Lecy Goranson, then by Sarah Chalke, and then Lecy Goranson again, will be played tonight by Sarah Chalke."
    • Naturally, Lampshaded in one episode: grown-up D.J. is shown curled into a ball, rocking back and forth and chanting, 'They says she's the same, but she isn't the same, they says she's the same, but she isn't the same...'
    • Also, Becky[Sarah]: "I've always wanted to go to Disney World!" Followed by Roseanne: "Aren't you glad you're here this week?"
    • In one episode, both actresses appeared, recreating the opening sequence from The Patty Duke Show (although some thought it was the Marx Brothers' famous "mirror gag"). The second Becky appears at the Connors' doorstep which a pair of trick or treaters and cheerful attitude, Mark (the character's husband) remarks "this is like deja vu all over again" and Roseanne later comments "Gee, I wish we had a daughter that sweet."
    • Chalke and Goranson both returned for the 2018 revival of Roseanne (which later became The Connors). Although they no longer shared the role of Becky, there was still plenty of Lampshade Hanging to go around with the two of them, starting right from the first episode where Chalke plays Andrea, a woman looking to hire Becky as a surrogate mother, and the two of them spend time discussing how closely they resemble each other and how they could be the same person.
  • Romance on the Set: Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki dated briefly while on the show. They admitted it was a light teen crush and nothing too serious, as they were 16-17 at the time.
    • Laurie Metcalf dated and later married Matt Roth, the actor who played her abusive boyfriend Fisher on the show.
  • Star-Making Role: Undoubtedly put John Goodman on the map. Debatably did the same for Johnny Galecki (if not this one, then definitely The Big Bang Theory).
    • Laurie Metcalf also got a sizable career boost, winning three Emmys for the role and going on to become a reliable supporting actress in film, TV, and theater.
  • What Could Have Been: While talks about a revival were in the works, Roseanne was very tight-lipped about what the Connor family was up to, saying it was intellectual property which might be developed later. However, apparently the talks fell through, because at the end of 2009 she posted a blog that gave a few details as to what the family was up to:
    • DJ gets published.
    • Mark dies in Iraq.
    • David leaves Darlene for a woman half his age.
    • Darlene meets a woman and they have a test tube baby.
    • Becky works at Wal-Mart.
    • Roseanne and Jackie open the first medical marijuana dispensary in Lanford, Illinois and pay off the mortgage before the house is foreclosed on.
    • Arnie becomes the best friend of the governor of Illinois.
    • Mom sells a painting for ten grand.
    • Nancy and Arnie remarry.
    • Jerry and the grandsons form a band like the Jonas Brothers
    • Dan shows up alive after faking his death.
    • Leon has a sex change op.
    • Bonnie gets busted for selling crack.
    • In-universe, one episode had Roseanne's father getting injured, and Roseanne going on a trip to see him, and Jackie babysitting for about a week while she was gone. This turned into an interesting version of What Could Have Been had Dan married Jackie instead of Roseanne. While Roseanne's gone, Becky is polite, Darlene is nice, and there was even one scene where Jackie is sending them off to Leave it to Beaver-style music.
  • Written By Cast Member: Sara Gilbert received story credit for the episode "Don't Make Me Over".
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