History TearJerker / Roseanne

** One of the things which must be considered about this episode was that, in the context of the entire last season, this event actually happened and not something Roseanne had made up. Darlene did have her baby prematurely and it nearly died, but in real life, the family didn't have Dan nor did they have all that money which Roseanne spent on numerous doctors and specialists to give her granddaughter the absolute best care. Imagine what it must've been like to go through that without as many options as Roseanne had written about.

* In the season 1 episode ''Slice Of Life'', 11-year-old Darlene suffers a ruptured appendix and has to have emergency surgery, right during her baseball game and bot long after having a fight with her mother. Rose and Becky feel so bad afterwards. When Becky calls to check up on Darlene, Dan answers and her voice is audibly cracking from wanting to cry. Dan cheers Becky up by telling her a few dad jokes.

* 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, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone 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 throughout 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 when she was 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 who experienced such a thing can strongly relate to how frightening and painful it is to have a loved one yell and lash out when things get tense.

** Later in the episode, Bev, noticing Roseanne feeling depressed after her fight, comes in with a big bowl of ice cream to cheer her up. When Roseanne starts happily eating, Bev mentions that she's been using sweets to calm her down since she was a little girl. Roseanne, remembering Jackie's reason for not wanting to give Andy junk food (basically, that using food to accommodate feelings instead of trying to sort them out is a bad idea), asks her mother if she ever bothered to talk with her about feeling sad instead of bribing her. Not only is it a NotSoDifferent moment for Roseanne, but it's also a moment where ''Bev'' seems guilty over her own parenting, trying to justify it ("You know how it is with kids") while she's clearly upset.

** When Dan throws David out of the house, David and Darlene briefly talk outside, and he asks her, "What's Mark like?" It's such a heartbreaking moment because David may have been around for half of Harris' life, but he's a stranger to his own son.

* The fact that Glenn Quinn, who played Mark, died of a drug overdose in 2002 qualifies as this on a meta level.
** To further hammer the point home, the revival season confirms that TheCharacterDiedWithHim, leaving Becky to fend for herself. It gets even sadder in the episode "Eggs Over, Not Easy", where Becky is told that her chances of naturally conceiving a child at her age is incredibly small, and she's forced to contend with the fact that the years have caught up with her and she hasn't really moved on.
--->'''Becky:''' ''[to Darlene]'' My life wasn't supposed to turn out like this. Mark and I were going to have kids. [...] I just never met anyone after [he died] who I wanted to have them with.

** The scene gets worse when you watch later episodes like "Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home" (described above) and realize that Jackie and Roseanne are heavily divided on the issue. Jackie tries to make excuses for their father--"It was thirty years ago, Roseanne. Parents spanked their kids back then"--and points out that Bev wasn't any help either, as she never said anything.

* It's now been confirmed that Roseanne will be killed off prior to ''Series/TheConners'' SpinOff. Say what you will about the reason WHY they're removing her character from the show, but the fact that a longtime and in many ways still beloved TV icon will be killed is definitely a bitter pill to swallow.

* 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, indicating that she might have lost her lust for life. Thus the series ends on a bitter note.]] However, there's something of a HopeSpot: 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, whereas Darlene's baby was born prematurely had no choice but to fight for her life and survived. It makes that last scene on the couch more of a BittersweetEnding.
* Before Darlene's wedding, she has a heart-to-heart with her father, in which he talks about her future and avoiding lost opportunities. The anguish and resignation in his voice is more poignant when you realize that [[spoiler: from the last episode, we find out that this takes place just before his fatal heart attack]].

* 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 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcHOxCMQ_Y Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki pull out all their acting chops]].
** [[spoiler: One of the things which must be considered about this episode was that, in the context of the entire last season, this event actually happened and not something Roseanne had made up. Darlene did have her baby prematurely and it nearly died, but in real life the family didn't have Dan nor did they have all that money which Roseanne spent on numerous doctors and specialists to give her granddaughter the absolute best care. Imagine what it must've been like to go through that without as many options as Roseanne had written about.]]
* The scene in the fifth season, after Dan gets home from jail and Jackie calls him out for beating up Fisher. It's both hilarious and tear-jerking, especially Jackie says Roseanne's always helping her with her problems, then Dan responds "It's a big job, we had to expand the department."

--> '''Jackie:''' [to Roseanne] Shut up! You don't know the whole story! He's been under a lot of pressure lately, there’s no work! And I told him that he should look for a job at a bigger company, And he told me that I didn't believe in him, he told me a million times when he gets in a mood like that, that I should just walk away and I didn't! [bursts into tears] I just kept pushing him and pushing him!
--> '''Roseanne:''' [Hugging Jackie] Don’t say anymore.
* 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]]. In short, if you had a... rough childhood, so to speak, the end of "Fights and Stuff" can be downright hard to watch.
* Dan and Roseanne reconciling towards the end of Season 9 is even more poignant when you learn that he actually died after having his heart attack. When she mentions that the premature birth of Darlene's baby is what forced her to snap out of mourning and remember that they reconciled right before this happened, you realize that this means that she had actually finally come to peace with his death.
* 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.
** Re-watching how much Dan hates his father in the first 5 seasons and knowing what the truth is, really tugs at the heart.

* In an early Mother's Day episode, Darlene and Becky treated Roseanne to a spa day at the local beauty salon in an attempt to butter her up so she would allow them to spend the weekend at a rock concert. When Roseanne finds out the real reason why they were treating her so nicely, she's absolutely devastated. Even worse, Becky and Darlene have no idea how badly they actually hurt Roseanne, even when Dan is dressing them down over what they did. [[spoiler: Though this turns into a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when he subjects them to the CoolAndUnusualPunishment of a weekend at Bev's.]]
* 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:
-->'''Roseanne''': ''(whispering)'' Thank you for your humor...I love you. Goodbye.
* David's [[AbusiveParents abusive mother.]] Dan asks Roseanne why she suddenly took him in after wanting him away from Darlene. It was because she was reminded of her own abusive father.
** What makes the scene work is that, all through the argument, Dan is adamant that David cannot live with them, until Roseanne mentions that it's just like the way ''she'' grew up. The wind goes out of Dan's sails, and he just sits down on the bed; "That bad, huh?"
* In "Homeward Bound", David takes Roseanne’s advice to do something in his life, and decides to leave the Connors and live with his abusive mother in Michigan. [[spoiler: He was lied to Roseanne and Dan and he was actually going to Chicago to live with Darlene]] Roseanne is visibly hurt by this [[FridgeBrilliance (considering the fact that she grew up with an abusive father, also Becky and Darlene have both left the house to move on with their lives, and Roseanne pretty much saw David as a second son)]]. Dan comes into the living room and Roseanne is upset about David’s decision, and we get this line:
--> '''Roseanne:''' But you know [[AbusiveParents how his mom is]], Dan, she’s not gonna change. She's not gonna get any better..
--> '''Dan:''' Then he knows he can come back.
--> '''Roseanne:''' We just keep losing 'em! This one's not even ours...
* ''Death and Stuff'' had a door-to-door salesman dying inside the kitchen when Roseanne lets him in for a glass of water. The entire episode focuses on the family waiting for paramedics to take the guy's body away and of course the episode make jokes about there being a dead body in the kitchen, but Becky is legitimately bothered by what happens and has to be comforted by her parents. There's also the fact that they never knew who this man was, and Roseanne apologizes to him as they wheel his body away. There is, however, a rather sad SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} in the mix. When the salesman first showed up at the door, Roseanne didn't really have to let the guy in but she did anyway, and if she hadn't, there's a chance he could've just dropped dead on the street completely alone. At least he got to experience a small token of kindness before he died.
* 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 who experienced such a thing can strongly relate to how frightening and painful it is to have a loved one yell and lash out when things get tense.
--->'''DJ''': Mom, I'm sorry you got hit.
--->'''Roseanne''': Yeah, well, I'm sorry ''you'' got hit.
* 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.

-->'''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!
** 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 things in their life ''because'' of how Roseanne raised and disciplined them.
** Later in the episode, Bev, noticing Roseanne feeling depressed after her fight, comes in with a big bowl of ice cream to cheer her up. When Roseanne starts happily eating, Bev mentions that she's been using sweets to calm her down since she was a little girl. Roseanne, remembering Jackie's reason for not wanting to give Andy junk food--basically, that using food to accommodate feelings instead of trying to sort them out is a bad idea--asks her mother if she ever bothered to talk with her about feeling sad instead of bribing her. Not only is it a NotSoDifferent moment for Roseanne, but it's also a moment where ''Bev'' seems guilty over her own parenting, trying to justify it ("You know how it is with kids") while she's clearly upset.
** Right before this happens, Bev overhears the argument, [[ParentalFavoritism immediately sides with Roseanne whilst not even bothering to hear or comprehend Jackie's viewpoint]] and rather rudely throws her out of the house. For all the times that both women's straight up ''abuse'' of her is PlayedForLaughs (for some reason), this is one of the few times it isn't and makes you want to [[TheWoobie give her a big hug.]] In addition, not only was Jackie apologizing to her for blowing up when their mother stuck her nose in their business, hearing Roseanne joyfully brag [[KickTheDog about how "weird" and unlike the two of them she is is also rather knife-twisting.]]
* 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?"
* In one episode, David makes some insensitive comments about DJ 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.
* "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 Becky 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.
** It gets even worse when Dan offers to make him and Darlene milkshakes and Becky, who was in the room with them, just stands there hoping that Dan would ask if she wanted one, but he doesn't. This becomes too much for Becky as she looks like she's about to cry and runs upstairs to her room. Luckily, Dan realizes that he went too far and goes to apologize.
* The fact that Glenn Quinn, who played Mark, died of a drug overdose in 2002 qualifies as this on a meta-level.

--->'''Becky:''' (to Darlene) My life wasn't supposed to turn out like this. Mark and I were going to have kids. [...] I just never met anyone after [he died] who I wanted to have them with.

** The fact that Dan has now nothing but contempt for the man who was essentially his second son.

* In "Go Cubs," when Roseanne and Jackie go to talk to Roseanne's Muslim neighbors, they see that their son is wearing a bullet-proof vest. The parents explain that some people said some awful things to them the other day and it scared their son so much that he started having nightmares and wearing the vest was the only thing that made him feel safe.
** In the same episode, Roseanne meets up with the mother while in line at the super market and they meet a cashier who does nothing but throw insults to the woman just because she's Muslim. First, the woman tries to pay using her EBT card, but the cashier says that there's not enough money on it before rudely saying, "Maybe the American taxpayers forgot to fill it up last week." Then, after Roseanne offers to help pay for the woman's groceries, the cashier says another rude remark ("Maybe you can help her carry the groceries out to her camel too.") The woman can only stand there with a look of shock and sadness on her face.
*** It does turn into an awesome/heartwarming moment as after the woman leaves, Roseanne gives the rude cashier a piece of her mind; saying that she is ignorant and threatening to tell her manager about what she did.
* The {{Revival}}'s sudden cancellation on May 29th, 2018 is this for anyone who's been a loyal fan of the series. With the huge public and online backlash that followed in the wake of some rather unflattering comments made by Barr herself on Twitter and ABC's decision to pull the series in response to the outcry, it seems the show's tenth season is almost certain to be its last.
** Especially since, to many, it seems like the rest of the cast and crew is being punished for Barr's sins -- so much so that some people (particularly Jimmy Kimmel) suggest they just kill off Roseanne's character and retool the show around Dan or Darlene.

* It's now been confirmed that [[spoiler: Roseanne will be killed off prior to The Conners' spinoff. Say what you will about the reason WHY they're removing her character from the show, but the fact that a longtime and in many ways still beloved TV-icon will be killed is definitely a bitter pill to swallow]].

* TheRevival's sudden cancellation on May 29th, 2018 is this for anyone who's been a loyal fan of the series. With the huge public and online backlash that followed in the wake of some rather unflattering comments made by Barr herself on Twitter and ABC's decision to pull the series in response to the outcry, it seems the show's tenth season is almost certain to be its last.
** Especially since to many it seems like the rest of the cast and crew is being punished for Barr's sins-so much so that some people (particularly Jimmy Kimmel) suggest they just kill off Roseanne's character and retool the show around Dan or Darlene.

* In an early Mother's Day episode, Darlene and Becky treated Roseanne to a spa day at the local beauty salon in an attempt to butter her up so she would allow them to spend the weekend at a rock concert. When Roseanne finds out the real reason why they were treating her so nicely, she's absolutely devastated. Even worse, Becky and Darlene have no idea how badly they actually hurt Roseanne, even when Dan is dressing them down over what they did. [[spoiler: Though this turns into a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when he subjects them to the CoolAndUnusualPunishment of a weekend at Bev's.]]

* ''Death and Stuff'' had a door-to-door salesman dying inside the kitchen when Roseanne lets him in for a glass of water. The entire episode focuses on the family waiting for paramedics to take the guy's body away and of course the episode make jokes about there being a dead body in the kitchen, but Becky is legitimately bothered by what happens and has to be comforted by her parents. There's also the fact that they never knew who this man was, and Roseanne apologizes to him as they wheel his body away. There is, however, a rather sad CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the mix. When the salesman first showed up at the door, Roseanne didn't really have to let the guy in but she did anyway, and if she hadn't, there's a chance he could've just dropped dead on the street completely alone. At least he got to experience a small token of kindness before he died.

** Now that it appears ABC might do just that, things might get better.

* In "Homeward Bound", David takes Roseanne’s advice to do something in his life, and decides to leave the Connors and live with his abusive mother in Michigan [[spoiler: He was lied to Roseanne and Dan and he was actually going to Chicago to live with Darlene]] Roseanne is visibly hurt by this [[FridgeBrilliance (considering the fact that she grew up with an abusive father, and also Becky and Darlene have both left the house)]]. Dan comes into the living room and Roseanne is upset about David’s decision, and we get this line: