History TearJerker / Roseanne

* "Her Boyfriend's Back". While her parents were gone, Beck and Mark took a ride on Dan's bike and Mark actually fixed some problem with the bike. When Roseanne and Dan are about to go bike riding, Dan notices the change and confronts Becky about it. In one of the rare times, Dan is ''angry''. He then gives his daughter a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech for how much of a pain she was being over getting a new car and how he was in her corner, but after this stunt he won't be anymore. And when Backy tries to apologize, Dan coldly tells her to go away. The interactions between the two for most of the episode are Dan giving Becky the cold shoulder and her visibly trying to get him to talk to her again. Needless, to say this is hard to watch.

* In one episode, David makes some insensitive comments about David looking up to Mark as a good influence. Dan becomes genuinely upset and chews David out for his high and mighty attitude, pointing out that David isn't exactly a great role model either--he has a menial part-time job and spends most of his time judging other people. David is surprised at Dan's sensitivity towards the subject, and Dan tells him to think about it for a second: why might he be upset at David looking down on someone who's not traditionally intelligent, doesn't have a college degree, made some mistakes in his life, and has to do manual labor to provide for his family? It's one of the few times we see Dan's vulnerability on display, and it hurts.

* It has a few emotional scenes, but the one that truly qualifies at tearjerker is the final episode. [[spoiler: In the end Roseanne confesses that all of the events since Dan's heart attack were made up. In fact, Dan died that day. The final shot shows an apathetic looking Roseanne sitting in front of the TV, eating chips, indicating that she might have lost her lust for life. Thus the series ends on a bitter note.]] If you take that scene along with the voice-over right before, it sounds like she only briefly gave into food and depression, but got out of her funk and ''chose'' to be alive when Darlene's baby was premature, making that last scene on the couch more of a BittersweetEnding.

* The knock-down drag-out fight Dan and Roseanne have after his heart attack, in which he won't change the unhealthy habits that caused it in the first place. It's pretty wrenching to watch in the first place, as this is a couple who for all their ups and downs, have been HappilyMarried for years. Seeing them fight to the point where one of them outright walks out on the other is stunning. [[spoiler: Then when you learn a year later that Dan actually ''died'' after his heart attack and you realize that the fight symbolized Roseanne's internal anguish and anger at herself and him, it gets even worse.]]
** If you've ever had a... rough childhood, so to speak, the end of "Fights and Stuff" can be downright hard to watch.

* "To whom it concerns....".
-->''To Whom it Concerns/ I just turned thirteen/ Too short to be quarterback, too plain to be queen''

-->'''Jackie:''' Maybe I don't want my kid turning out the way yours did. Like your... smart-assed high school drop out, trailer trash, dark clothes wearing, boyfriend's in the basement, too-soon-sex doing, four-letter wording, hoodlum oreo eaters!

* At the end of part two of "Terms of Estrangement," after [[spoiler: Becky gets married]]. Becky and Roseanne have spent most of two episodes engaged in SnarkToSnarkCombat , and Dan is giving Becky the silent treatment and barely speaking to Roseanne. Becky gives Roseanne a final hug, and says in a tiny, almost-breaking voice "Say bye to Dad for me, okay?"

** The saddest part? ''[[JerkassHasAPoint Jackie is right.]]'' There's no doubt she loves her nieces and nephew, but they have done a lot of questionable and irresponsible thing in their life ''because'' of how Roseanne raised and disciplined them.

** The saddest part? ''[[JerkassHasAPoint Jackie is right.]]'' There's no doubt she loves her nieces and nephew, but they have done a lot of questionable and irresponsible thing in their life ''because'' of how Roseanne raised and disciplined them.

* "Let Them Eat Junk" has Roseanne and Jackie getting into a fight over the former letting Andy eat junk food despite the latter specifically saying not to. The real clincher comes from how Jackie makes a statement over how she doesn't want Andy to be like Roseann's kids.

* In "Guilt by Disassociation", Roseanne goes for her latest interview with high hopes that she'll land a job. Needless to say, she and the family are ''ecstatic'' when she gets it.....Until she admits that she doesn't know how to operate a computer. Having phoned them the earlier news, Roseanne comes home to find that Dan and the entire neighborhood have thrown her a huge party to congratulate her. Needless to say, her friends and family are absolutely devastated when she breaks the bad news to them one by one. Feeling like a failure, Roseanne lashes out at Dan for supporting her decision to quit Wellman's, and the two argue until Roseanne admits she's angry with herself, and feels that she let her whole family down when they needed her most. By the time she breaks down, all of the partygoers who turned up to congratulate her have bailed out. With a little encouragement from Dan Roseanne picks herself back up and carries on, but it's impossible not to want to give her a hug when you see someone so headstrong and determined as Roseanne brought down to a point where she feels like she's failed everybody around her.

* ''{{Roseanne}}'' has a few emotional scenes, but the one that truly qualifies at tearjerker is the final episode. [[spoiler: In the end Roseanne confesses that all of the events since Dan's heart attack were made up. In fact, Dan died that day. The final shot shows an apathetic looking Roseanne sitting in front of the TV, eating chips, indicating that she might have lost her lust for life. Thus the series ends on a bitter note.]] If you take that scene along with the voice-over right before, it sounds like she only briefly gave into food and depression, but got out of her funk and ''chose'' to be alive when Darlene's baby was premature, making that last scene on the couch more of a BittersweetEnding.

* In "The Driver's Seat", DJ steals the car as part of a dare from a friend and doesn't report it to anyone when he wrecks it. He is found out when the police are brought in and Roseanne, already on the end of her rope from the stress of work verbally bashes DJ before violently spanking him when he tries to dodge responsibility. When she pulls herself together she is utterly mortified at what she did and Jackie even says [[NotSoDifferent "It was just like Dad!"]] Guilt-ridden that she lashed out like their father had through childhood, Roseanne can't bring herself to face everyone. Finally, she calls DJ down and gives him a tearful apology, admitting to him that his own grandpa hit her a lot as a child and that she was always bitter over his lack of remorse for it. Although hurt and shaken, DJ shows sympathy to his mother and Roseanne vows never to make that mistake again. Anyone to experience such a thing as a child can strongly relate to how frightening and painful it is to have a loved one yell and lash out when things get tense.

* The episode around the birth of Darlene's baby, but especially the scene when all the Conner/Harris women gather to take her off life support, and Darlene breaks down. Both Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki pull out all their acting chops.

* In "Wait TilL Your Father Gets Home," Roseanne and Jackie's father Al dies. Jackie is much more upset over it than Roseanne, who is haunted by the memories of her father's physical and emotional abuse. Jackie eventually accuses Roseanne of being "selfish" by not hearing Al's side of the story and driving him out of their lives, which hurts Roseanne greatly. Eventually, though, someone has to positively identify the body as Al's before the funeral, and Roseanne volunteers. She then takes out a letter she has written and reads it aloud; the letter is all about Roseanne's anger at her father for what he did and how badly he affected both herself and Jackie. She ends the letter by telling Al that she forgives him, as she needs to move on, and forgives herself for not telling him sooner. The scene alone is a tear jerker, but what truly makes it sad is when Roseanne, preparing to leave the room, turns back and looks at the casket:

* In "Lies My Father Told Me", Dan learns the truth about his mother and her past and spends most of the episode in denial, refusing to believe his mother was anything but perfect and insisting his father was lying. When he finally realizes the truth, he breaks down in tears and says he can't handle it. Roseanne hugs him and says they'll handle it together.

--->'''Darlene:''' I'm not going to miss any opportunities. David and I are still young enough, so they'll be plenty of time...
--->'''Dan:''' No..nononono, you see that where you're wrong, Darlene. Everything thinks that there is plenty of time to do whatever they want. Believe me, there's not. Stuff happens
--->'''Darlene:''' What stuff?
--->'''Dan:''' I don't know. Any kind of stuff. All kinds of stuff. See, you plan things, and the clock keeps ticking, and you never do them. And, suddenly, DJ's in high school, and you're having a baby...I haven't talked to my dad in two years.

--->'''Darlene:''' Are you ready to give me away?
--->'''Dan:''' No, I'm not

* The knock-down drag-out fight Dan and Roseanne have after his heart attack, in which he won't change the unhealthy habits that caused it in the first place. It's pretty wrenching to watch in the first place, as this is a couple who for all their ups and downs, have been HappilyMarried for years. Seeing them fight to the point where one of them outright walks out on the other is stunning. [[spoiler: Then when you learn a year later that Dan actually ''died'' after his heart attack and you realize that the fight symbolized Roseanne's internal anguish and anger at herself and him, it gets even worse.]]

* ''{{Roseanne}}'' has a few emotional scenes, but the one that truly qualifies at tearjerker is the final episode. [[spoiler: In the end Roseanne confesses that all of the events since Dan's heart attack were made up. In fact, Dan died that day. The final shot shows an apathetic looking Roseanne sitting in front of the tv, eating chips, indicating that she might have lost her lust for life. Thus the series ends on a bitter note.]] If you take that scene along with the voice-over right before, it sounds like she only briefly gave into food and depression, but got out of her funk and ''chose'' to be alive when Darlene's baby was premature, making that last scene on the couch more of a BittersweetEnding.

* The knock-down drag-out fight Dan and Roseanne have after his heart attack, in which he won't change the unhealthy habits that caused it in the first place. it's pretty wrenching to watch in the first place, as this is a couple who for all their ups and downs, have been HappilyMarried for years. Seeing them fight to the point where one of them outright walks out on the other is stunning. [[spoiler: Then when you learn a year later that Dan actually ''died'' after his heart attack and you realize that the fight symbolized Roseanne's internal anguish and anger at herself and him.]]

----* The knock-down drag-out fight Dan and Roseanne have after his heart attack, in which he won't change the unhealthy habits that caused it in the first place. it's pretty wrenching to watch in the first place--this is a couple, who for all their ups and downs, have been HappilyMarried for years and seeing them fight to the point where one of them outright walks out on the other is stunning. Then when you learn a year later that Dan actually ''died'' after his heart attack and you realize that the fight symbolized Roseanne's internal anguish and anger at herself and him.

----

* The episode around the birth of Darlene's baby, but especially the scene when all the Conner/Harris women gather to take her off life support, and Darlene breaks down. Both Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki pull out all their acting chops.