Roseanne– How Did You Get Inside My House? A Case Study of a Hit Blue‐Collar Situation Comedy

Abstract

Roseanne isn't television-ish. We have attempted to give the series the most real texture possible in terms of characters and setting. The conversations are the kind that go on in real life. The sets are designed and dressed to look as though the audience has just walked into someone's home. The washer and dryer are actually running when we shoot in the laundry room. The children in the series grow out of their clothes when money is tight, and everything's not beautiful in the Conner home all the time. We do fall into a bit of a trap because everybody always wants to look good, but we try to suck with realism the best we can.'Although American primetime entertainment television programming generally evolves out of its cultural milieu and, to varying degrees, reflects the tastes and concerns most prevalent among its audience, it is unusual for a series to do so as concretely as Roseanne, the breakout hit of the 1988-1989 television season.2 The blue-collar situation comedy achieves a gritty texture of character and setting that viewers recognize as similar to the fabric of their own lives (e.g., its lead characters sit at a messy table in their cluttered kitchen and argue about who left toast crumbs in the butter). Moreover, Roseanne reflects the growing influence of women in the production of primetime television programming, with women in such key positions as executive producer, producer, director, and writers for the series. Finally, although the multiple camera video production of Roseanne is typical of contemporary situation comedy, the unusual production culture created by the often conflictive personalities of its production staff and ensemble cast has a significant effect on the overall tone of the ~e r i e s .~The creative force behind Roseanne is The Carsey-Werner Company, an independent television production company founded by Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner in 1981. Their earlier collaboration at the ABC television network during the late 1970s resulted in such series as Barney MzZZer, Soap, Taxi, Happy Days, and Mork and Mindy helping to catapault ABC into the first place position. When ABC moved away from comedy development in 1980, Carsey left to begin her own company, and Werner 71