Roseanne: A Defense of the Final Season

Roseanne‘s final season, aired in 1997, was critically maligned by critics and ignored by television audiences. Fans prefer the older seasons, with good reason; the first five years of the program were the best television has to offer. Roseanne is a brilliant sitcom that depicts a realistic and loving family struggling with common household issues such like bankruptcy, divorce, homosexuality and death. The final few years found the Connor family having their financial fortunes reversed; first when Roseanne and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) open a restaurant together, and finally when the Connors win the Illinois State Lottery. The final season found Roseanne, Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and DJ live through their familial squabbles are millionaires.

Unjustly hated, the final season actually has some very strong merits. Roseanne’s political ideology manifests itself in the episodes, as Roseanne, with nothing to lose, began to fashion the show as a vehicle for her platform. This may seem tiresome and for many it was, but the issues Roseanne was still so angry about were important, and for a mainstream to pick up on politics is still a risky thing to do.

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Roseanne’s alter-ego faced the world, armed with the power of wealth. She, along with her rebellious family and friends, dealt with issues of sexuality, happiness and mortality in a much more politicized way.

Beverly Harris, played with shrill brilliance by Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde), came out as a lesbian, and went through an awe-inspiring journey of self-discovery. A particularly poignant episode, “Mothers and Other Strangers,” featured fellow Oscar honoree, Shelly Winters (The Diary of Anne Frank) as Beverly’s mother, Nana Mary. Mary, a self-proclaimed Bohemian “artist” obscured the less-savory aspects of her life with “memories” (questionable memories) of meeting important and historical figures. She lived in a small town, her home crammed with artifacts from her colored and storied life. In “Mothers and Other Strangers,” Beverly travels to visit her mother to learn more about her past and why Mary made the choices in parenting she did. The middle-aged Bev is, to a certain extent, reverted to being a juvenile, when realizing for the first time in her life, who she really is. She is seeking quick easy answers, because she is struggling, and is frustrated by Mary’s inability to offer a pat resolution. The beauty of the exchange of the mother and daughter lies in the honesty Mary offers when talking to her daughter; she insists that Beverly’s life is a journey of question, and that she will always have to ask questions, which is what makes life interesting. The two learn more about each other and Beverly develops a deeper respect and affection for her mother. Few episodes in the series’ history pack the emotional whallop of “Mothers and Other Strangers” and what is especially heartening is that Beverly, who is a source of often negative and scornful humor, is made human and sympathetic when viewers become privy to the struggles she went through, being straighjacketed by her society.

In “Hoi Polloi Meets Hoiti Toiti” Roseanne’s family visits a wealthy family, where class differences are paramount. The only reason why the Connors are tolerated are tolerated is money. The Connors bristle under the oppressive snobbery. After a run-in, the two families seemed doom to fail at any kind of friendship until the two matriarchs meet in the kitchen over a midnight snack. There, Roseanne schools her affluent counterpart on how to get in touch with her female rage and allow for herself to get angry. She also points out that anti-depressants were created to silence women.

The show’s finale is the most explicit feminist episode of the season. In it, Roseanne Connor reveals that much of the show was fiction. In a monologue, she explains the social relevance of each character and why she chose certain roads for each of them – most notably those of the women. She explains that she chose to have Bev be gay because she wanted her mother to be forced to examine her own womanhood. Roseanne laments her mother’s choice of tradition and submission during her marriage, and wishes that she stood up to societal expectations of women as Roseanne had did. She also raised her sister, Jackie and her best friend, Nancy (a hilariously touching Sandra Bernhard) on pedestals, extolling the virtues of self-examination that the women went through to better their lives. Her monologue also pointed out the tension that exists in a blue-collar wife of the 20th Century. She writes of the difficulty of reconciling traditional definitions of motherhood with the reality of her life and she readily admits failure. She also points out that she did not ask her children for obedience, nor did she expect to have her daughters sacrfice more in their lives than her son. She posits the Modern Mother as the architect of the future, crafting future generations.

Roseanne was one of the strongest shows in television history. The final season was derided as unfocused and vain – in some respects the accusations are valid. However, Barr ‘s sometimes melancholic, often angry diatribe against prejudice and sexism is still admirable.