The ABC network's program
"Roseanne" is an illustration of a middle class family who is
trying to make a comfortable life for their family in a suburban
neighborhood with three kids and mediocre
professions.
Roseanne is one in a line of many comedies centered on the
middle class suburban family trying to make it in their society, such as
All In The
Family
which aired in 1971 on CBS.
Both of
these shows showed how a suburban
family dealt with their problems in comedic ways which made each of them
icons of their time. If you go to Karen Schwartz's Project 2 page, you
will find information on race, gender and class on All In Family to use as a
supplement and/or comparison of these two popular television programs. This
paper will focus on the early nineties
episodes of Roseanne where there is a recession and the family, the Conners, is
struggling through these hard times.
Roseanne began its reign
over sitcom television in October of 1988. The setting is the Conners'
house at 714 Delaware Street in a suburb of Chicago named Lanford,
Illinois which lies about halfway between Chicago and Rockford. The
first episode was called "
Life and Stuff" and dealt with the middle Conner daughter getting in
trouble at school for barking. As one can see, this sitcom was born to
be funny and deal with unusual issues especially those of family and
class distinctions.