History Characters / Roseanne

Roseanne is lauded for its relatable situations and realistic characters.
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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Main Family

[[folder:Roseanne Conner]]
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_0353.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Roseanne Barr ([[IHaveManyNames credited as Roseanne Barr, then Roseanne Arnold, then Roseanne, and finally Roseanne Barr]])[[note]]Roseanne wed Creator/TomArnold but then split from him, hence the uncertainty of her name credit.[[/note]]

A bossy, loud, caustic, overweight, and dominant woman. She frequently meddles and tries to control the lives of her husband, daughters, sons, sister, and friends. Despite her dominating nature, Roseanne is a loving mother who works hard and makes as much time for her kids as possible.
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* AbusiveParents: The case is made several times through the show that Roseanne herself is emotionally and verbally abusive. Her highly sarcastic attitude leads her to often be dismissive of other people's feelings. As she gets older her standards against physical abuse relax and she dunks Harris' head in the sink and sprays her with the hose for being [[BrattyTeenageDaughter a giant brat]].
* AngryChef: In the later seasons, when she is working at the Lanford Lunchbox diner. She is frequently snarky and sarcastic to the customers.
-->'''Roseanne:''' Can I help you?
-->'''Customer:''' Uh, yeah. Which is better, the tuna salad or the egg salad?
-->'''Roseanne:''' Tuna salad... egg salad... chicken salad... turkey salad... shrimp salad. What difference does it make? It's all just different words for mayonnaise. Pick one.
* AuthorAvatar: Being originally based on Barr's work as a stand-up comedian, this show screams it, almost from day one. By the time she has bought into her own media hype, it all but beats you over the head with its self-indulgence. [[spoiler: The final episode proves it's also an ''in-universe'' example, as Roseanne reveals that the entire series was the book she's been writing in her office in the basement, and the self-indulgence the show descended into is her way of escaping from and fixing the things she felt were out of place in her life, but out of her control. This is {{Retcon}}ed in the revival, where it's revealed that that the ending was just an in universe book Roseanne herself wrote.]].
* BerserkButton: Any mention of Dan's prior one-time fling with Roseanne's high school nemesis, Phyllis Zimmer.
* BigBeautifulWoman: Her curves are quite glorious. Especially when they were on full display in the dress she wore in "Satan, Darling".
* BigSisterBully: Roseanne protective instincts didn't keep her from bullying Jackie like crazy well into adulthood.
* BigSisterInstinct: Towards Jackie, especially during the two-part Fisher episode.
-->"If you ever come near her again you're gonna have to deal with me, and I am way more dangerous than Dan. I got a loose meat restaurant; I know what to do with the body."
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler: As of the first episode of Season 11, due to Roseanne being fired for her widely publicized racist tweets.]]
* ControlFreak: She believes she has the right to domineer over her family, including Dan.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Roseanne's father was physically abusive to his daughters.
* DeadpanSnarker: Pretty much everyone in the family cracks wise.
* {{Flanderization}}: Roseanne slowly got more bossy and controlling toward her family.
* FormerTeenRebel: Roseanne was quite the rebel as a teen. And this is the reason why she can outsmart her children when any of them pull the same stunts she did.
* FreudianExcuse: Roseanne's anger and control issues are the result of growing up with an abusive father. The show also implied this might be the source of her compulsive overeating.
* GoodIsNotNice: She's bossy, loud, caustic, domineering, and sarcastic as anything... but still a decent person and loving mother. See JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With Jackie. Even as adults, Jackie is attractive but flaky while Roseanne is homely but down to earth.
%%* TheHeroine
* HighSchoolSweethearts: She and Dan have been together since they were a high school couple.
* {{Housewife}}: Though Roseanne often described herself as a housewife, and did do the majority of the actual housework, she was never a stay-at-home mom. In fact, she worked more consistently than her nominal "breadwinner" husband.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She is abrasive and bossy but she is a loving mother overall who really puts them first above all else.
* MamaBear: To her children, her sister, her daughter's boyfriends who she eventually all but adopts. Basically, if Roseanne considers you family or a loved one, she will unleash full fury on anyone who's wronged you.
* NeverMyFault: She had a tendency to try and deflect blame any time something backfired on her, often using InsaneTrollLogic to get there.
* ParentalFavoritism: Even though Roseanne really does love all her children, she would show the most open love to DJ when he was a kid.
* ParentalHypocrisy: Roseanne will get angry at her children for doing the exact same things she did in her youth. For example, she grounds Darlene from going off to college because she tried drugs...even though Roseanne, herself, did drugs as well.
* ProgressivelyPrettier: Roseanne was never straight-up ugly, but she was very overweight and as a hard-working blue collar Midwestern woman, personal appearance was fairly low on her list of priorities. However, as the seasons wore on, Roseanne the actress began to wear much more flattering hair and makeup, lost a bunch of weight, and combined with her real life surgeries, her looks definitely improved.
* ProtagonistTitle: She's the eponymous protagonist of ''Roseanne''.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Averted in the revival, seeing as she was always abrasive, rude, and willing to speak her mind in the original series. All that's changed is that some of the issues she complains about now involve her age.
* ShipperOnDeck: The final episode revealed [[spoiler:that Becky and Darlene were actually with David and Mark, respectively. Roseanne switched them around because she thought they would be more interesting. This was retconned at the start of the revival, though.]]
* StepfordSnarker: When dealing with stressful situations, Roseanne will make sarcastic quips in order to deal with it.
* TeenPregnancy: She was pregnant with Becky when she was 18.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In the revival, she's moved on from verbally abusing her kids to physically abusing her granddaughter.
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Parodied in one of the clip shows, with Michael Fishman cross-cast as a younger Roseanne.
%%* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: It varies.
%%* VitriolicBestBuds: Eventually becomes this with Leon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dan Conner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2414347_roseanne_saaarietv_03_g.jpg]]
-> Portrayed by Creator/JohnGoodman

Dan Conner is the husband of Roseanne and father of Becky, Darlene, DJ, and Jerry. In the beginning of the series, Dan is an easygoing, drywall contractor.
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* AdultFear: The reason he gave his grandson Mark a knife wasn't to make him seem more masculine, but because he knows school kids always terrorize whoever's different. He's terrified the kid will get seriously beaten up.
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: A pretty noticeable aversion. Dan is a nice guy who works an honest nine-to-five job but loves the Harley he's had since high school and was so big into biker culture that he actually owned and ran a shop repairing and selling restored classic bikes.
-->'''Mark:''' ''(Seeing Dan's Harley for the first time)'' Nice bike. Ever think about selling it?
-->'''Dan:''' Actually, I was planning on being buried with it.
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Dan, revealed in the final episode he really did die from his heart attack. All episodes from that point onward were just fantasies dreamt up by Roseanne for her book. The Uncancelled Season has it revealed that his death was actually written for the book and Dan did indeed survive.]]
* BerserkButton: Messing with his Harley motorcycle in any way makes him quite pissed off.
* BestFriendsInLaw: He has a relationship something like this with his sister-in-law Jackie, even though it's very clear that she also annoys the hell out of him. They've known each other since high school - in one episode he's able to explicitly describe their first meeting, even remembering what she was wearing at the time - and thus know each other extremely well. He also did not take it lying down when he learned that one of her boyfriends was physically abusing her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Compared to Roseanne, Dan is typically much more laid-back and easy to get along with, and generally lets Roseanne run things. But when he gets angry, ''everyone'' listens, Roseanne included (though she can talk him down sometimes).
* BigBeautifulMan: Dan is a beefy guy who is also a ChickMagnet.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Do ''not'' abuse Jackie. He may be less dangerous than Roseanne, but he's not a threat to be taken lightly.
** He may actually be ''more.'' Roseanne will just kill you, Dan will ''hurt'' you. Repeatedly.
%%* TheBigGuy
* CallingTheOldManOut: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Dan is resentful of his father for always being away for work when he was growing up, leaving him and his mother all alone. This is something that Dan repeatedly brings up when he's with Ed, especially when they have an argument. However, Ed has apologized time and time again for the mistakes he made with Dan, but is tired of doing it because his son will never let him forget it.
* ChickMagnet: Dan tends to attract women who explicitly gush about how handsome and sexy he is in addition to being such a nice guy. [[ClingyJealousGirl To say Roseanne is unhappy with this would be an understatement.]]
* DentedIron: In the revival, Dan is still a big guy, but age has obviously taken its toll on him.
* FormerTeenRebel: Like Roseanne, Dan was quite the troublemaker in his youth, but now is a devoted family man.
%%* HenpeckedHusband: At times.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: He and Roseanne have been together since they were a high school couple.
* MyGreatestFailure: The failure of his bike shop hit his spirits pretty hard, especially once Becky accused him of costing her all she had in what proved to be a bad investment. Once Becky elopes with Mark, Dan becomes especially protective of Darlene in the hopes that she won't make the same mistake.
* NiceGuy: Dan may mock his family members but it's in a loving way. Dan really is a laid-back, funny, easygoing, sweetheart of a guy.
* NobleBigot:
** Is generally a good guy, but whenever there was a slight hint that DJ might be gay (such as wanting to be a witch for Halloween,) Dan didn't take it well. In an early episode, Becky and Darlene find boxes of dolls under DJ's bed. Dan starts worrying that DJ is playing with dolls, but ends up relieved when he realizes he's ''dismembering'' them.
** He seems genuinely upset and uncomfortable to realize his possible bigotry when he sides with DJ over not wanting to kiss a black girl in the school play.
** Possibly subverted now, in the revival; in the episode "Dress to Impress," when Darlene begins to question whether Dan has a problem with Mark, his grandson, wearing female clothes, Dan proudly states that he has nothing against it and more of scared how others will think of him. Hell, one of his granddaughters is bi-racial, yet it's clear both he and Roseanne love her deeply.
-->'''Dan:''' God did not give me a big head to be narrow-minded.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When he gets really angry, even Roseanne walks on eggshells.
* OedipusComplex: Dan has very serious, unresolved issues with his father throughout the show's run. It doesn't help when Conner Sr. marries one of Roseanne's friends and has a kid with her.
%%* OnlySaneMan
* OverprotectiveDad: One memorable episode has Dan going to beat up Becky's boss after he insults her. Too bad Mark gets there first.
* PapaWolf: Dan is a down-to-earth, laid back, all-around nice guy. Until you harm, threaten to harm, or screw over his wife, children, or sister-in-law. Once that happens, run. Just... run.
* ParentalFavoritism: Out of all of his kids, Dan is the closest to Darlene, even saying he expects more from her than he does with Becky.
* ParentalHypocrisy: Like Roseanne, Dan will scold his children for doing the exact same things he did in his youth. For example, in one episode he is angry at Becky for underage drinking, but a later episode revealed he ''also'' did underage drinking.
* ParentalNeglect: Dan's mother was (literally) insane, and his father was a traveling salesman who was rarely home.
* TranquilFury: If Dan's hollering and yelling, he's just blowing off steam. But when he gets quiet, ''run''.
* YourCheatingHeart: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Dan tells Roseanne that he became romantically involved with his mother's nurse while he was visiting his mom; this reveal understandably upsets Roseanne to the point she kicks him out of their house. Afterwards, he doesn't go back to the nurse, choosing his wife over her. [[spoiler:Then, it turns Dan actually did die from his heart attack and the affair was Roseanne's symbolization in her book as she compared him being dead to having an affair. And then the revival reveals that ''neither'' happened, as both were an in-universe book being written by Roseanne the character.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Becky Conner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roseanne_becky.jpg]]
-> Portrayed by [[TheOtherDarrin Lecy Goranson, then Sarah Chalke, then Lecy Goranson, then Sarah Chalke, then Lecy Goranson]]

Born March 15, 1975, Becky, the oldest of Roseanne and Dan's kids, is quite bright and an overachiever, but is also somewhat quick-tempered and sometimes angry with her parents and younger sister Darlene.
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* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: The basis for her relationship with Mark is his rebellious nature.
* BigSisterBully: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. While she is a jerk to her younger siblings, especially to Darlene, she is also equally aloof and matures into being less of a bully as a grown up.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: In the early seasons, she was the classic bratty teenage daughter that wanted everything her way.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** Early in the series, she gets good grades and, when she's not being the Bratty Teenage Daughter, does most of the chores and takes care of her younger siblings. She believes she's on track to go to college and get out of Lanford, until the bike shop runs into trouble. Through a series of bad choices (based as much on her attitude and rebellion against her family as circumstances), she ends up living in a trailer park and working at Buns, a Hooters-style restaurant.
** Becky got a more immediate example of it in the season two opener, "Inherit the Wind," in which she hides out at home after accidentally breaking wind during her speech to the student council. Darlene in particular rubs salt into Becky's wounds, crowing, "I've been waiting for something like this to happen since I was two!" Becky kind of deserved it after having been such a Jerkass to Darlene at the beginning of the episode for no reason (and without provocation).
* CharacterDevelopment: She eventually grew out of her bratty martyr tendencies to become a genuinely helpful person. One of the most telling signs was her moving into a trailer with Mark, a purposely hard road-not so she could complain, but for the sake of starting a life outside her parents' home. Later, she decided to go back to college and continue the education she'd missed out on after marrying Mark.
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: And mommy, too. And not only did Becky date the "punk" neither Roseanne nor Dan cared for, she also married him.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Or in this case, depending on the actress. Lecy Goranson's Becky is more abrasive but also smarter. Sarah Chalke's Becky is sweeter but also more naive and ditzy.
* TheDutifulDaughter: When Darlene seemed to slip into a depression during her tomboy-to-emo transition, it fell on Becky to pick up the slack. For a while, she ended up doing the majority of the chores without getting any recognition for it, and it only got worse when she saw Roseanne give Darlene money for clothes to try and snap her out of it.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. In a way she's the Responsible (smart and popular GoGetterGirl) to Darlene's Foolish (tomboyish and antisocial underachiever). However, Becky went through a really bratty period and Darlene becomes less irresponsible in later years.
* FutureLoser: In Season One, Becky was a smart and responsible girl who had a bright future ahead of her. [[spoiler: But in Season 10, she's a washed-up party girl who is stuck in a low-paying waitress job, and has been reducing to selling her eggs (by committing fraud and lying about her age) to pay off credit card debt. Out of the Conner kids, Becky ended up with the most disappointing lot in life.]]
* GoGetterGirl: An academic overachiever, in contrast to her sister Darlene.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With Darlene. Becky was the popular GirlyGirl, who was keen on overreacting about small things. Darlene was the snarky Tomboy, who grew up to be an artistic Goth as a teenager. Becky was believed to also be the smart sister, as she would get better grades in school than Darlene. But in the end, Becky decided to get married before finishing high school, so Darlene was the first one in the family to go to college.
* HappilyMarried: To Mark, despite all their issues. [[spoiler: The finale reveals that she was actually married to David; Roseanne switched her and Darlene's spouses in her book because she thought those couples were a better match. While the reboot undoes this, it's also revealed that Mark died young, leaving Becky a widow]].
* HormoneAddledTeenager: She enjoyed dating boys.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Sometimes. She accused Darlene of being selfish or stuck-up, but she had her own moments of this as well.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Her bratty tendencies put her in this territory. To emphasize, her response to her family hitting financial times yet again isn't to be sympathetic or supportive, but to get angry that there wasn't enough money for her to go to college or for her boyfriend to keep his job.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She can be bratty and stubborn but she is technically the "good girl". She does love her family deeply. She also tries everything to make her marriage to Mark work while also taking her life maturely.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Gives one to Darlene accusing her of milking her depression. She was harsher than she needed to be, but it did convince Darlene to get off the couch and do something.
** She also gives one to Dan when his bike shop business fails, claiming that it's Dan's lack of business skill that bankrupted the family, costing her both college and Mark (who was leaving Lanford to take a better job).
* SecretKeeper: Darlene confided in Becky about when David was secretly living with her.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Subverted. In Season 10, Becky has not changed too much but that is also a problem. She is as immature about dealing with her situations as she has always been but due to her stress of her adult life, she appears to be even more stubborn than when she was younger.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Girly Girl to Darlene's Tomboy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Darlene Conner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6904854.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Sarah Gilbert

Born in 1977, Darlene in the early seasons is a tomboy who loves sports and has trouble in school, but during high school she becomes moody, artistic, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian.
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* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: She would take any chance to annoy Becky.
* BigSisterBully: Frequently insulted and physically roughed up DJ, especially in early seasons.
* BookDumb: In her early years. She became progressively more invested in her studies as the years went on. Later in high school, her poor grades were more a result of disrespect and skipping classes than lack of work quality; however, she was nonetheless accepted early into a Fine Arts college in Chicago.
* BrainyBrunette: She is eventually revealed to be poetic, smart, and a talented artist. Interestingly, her sister Becky got better grades in the early seasons, and while she never lost that intelligence, she did end up having to put her education on hold when she eloped with Mark.
* BreakTheHaughty: Went through some of this in seasons 7 and 8, especially 7.
* BrilliantButLazy: In high school, the only reason behind her poor grades were from a lack of interest. And yet, she's intelligent, poetic, and was accepted into a Fine Arts college early.
* CharacterDevelopment: In the first seasons, Darlene was a sports-obsessed tomboy who always had her hair tied back into a tight braid to give a boyish appearance. But the moment she started going through puberty she let her hair down, started avoiding sports all together, and abandoned all of her friends to become a DeadpanSnarker.
* DaddysGirl: Darlene was closer to Dan than Becky was.
* DeadpanSnarker: After puberty, Darlene exhibits a sardonic humor similar to her mother's.
* EmoTeen: Seen as this by her family during the bulk of season 4.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. In a way she's the Foolish (tomboyish and antisocial underachiever) to Becky's Responsible (smart and popular GoGetterGirl). However Becky went through a really bratty period and Darlene becomes less irresponsible in later years.
* GirlinessUpgrade: In the first three seasons, Darlene was a tomboy. Then she becomes a depressed Goth chick, wearing black and outright declaring her hatred of all things girly (to the point where Roseanne and Dan deliberately tease her by pretending to set up a stereotypical sweet sixteen party for her). After falling in love with David, she becomes slightly more feminine, though she never loses her love of flannels and jeans.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With Becky. Becky was the popular GirlyGirl, who was keen on overreacting about small things. Darlene was the snarky Tomboy, who grew up to be an artistic Goth as a teenager. Becky was believed to also be the smart sister, as she would get better grades in school than Darlene. But in the end, Becky decided to get married before finishing high school, so Darlene was the first one in the family to go to college.
* HappilyMarried: To David. [[spoiler: In the original series finale, she was married to Mark, while Becky married David; Roseanne switched the couples in her book because she thought that David was better suited to Darlene, and Mark to Becky. In the revival, this isn't was ignored and she was indeed married to David. Keyword being "was" as they divorced.]]
%%* {{Jerkass}}
* JerkassRealization: Darlene went through this over the course of a few episodes after her break-up with David. She realized she felt closer to David than anyone and how much she hurt him by dumping him, as well as how badly she treated him. It didn't help that her new boyfriend dumped her for treating him the way she treated David.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She can be just as bossy as her mother (especially with David), but she would never do anything genuinely malicious to any of her family, though she would often stand her ground when pushed and her air of indifference could sometimes be mistaken for callousness.
* LoveRevelationEpiphany: After David made a move on (the classic arm around the shoulder move), Darlene is initially unsure on if she wants a romance with him. After getting advice from both Dan and Becky, Darlene has an honest conversation with David about their relationship, ending with their first kiss.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Masculine Girl (harsh and rude) to David's Feminine Boy (softspoken and sweet).
* MiddleChildSyndrome: She was overshadowed by both of her siblings: beautiful and smart Becky, and DJ who was both the baby and the only boy. This largely led to her gothy and cynical demeanor. What subverts this trope, however, is that of the three Conner children, she was the most popular with viewers and had ample screentime as a result.
%%* TheSnarkKnight
* SoapboxSadie: In later years, she becomes artistic, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tomboy to Becky's Girly Girl.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Much like her mother, she slowly becomes more cruel and mean-spirited in later seasons. She mellows out later in season 8, though.
* TookALevelInKindness: While she is still not the most mature in Season 10, she seems to have gotten better (not as good as DJ but better than Becky).
* WhatTheHellHero: To push her vegetarian views on her family, she launches a smear campaign on the Lunch Box by painting a chalk outline of cows outside of the restaurant complete with blood smears. Her mother, of course, calls her out on the fact she's effectively trying to sabotage the family business.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:David Jacob "DJ" Conner]]
[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/davidjacob.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Sal Barone in the Pilot, then Michael Fishman for the rest of the series

Born in 1981, DJ is the youngest Conner child, for the majority of the series, until Roseanne gives birth to Jerry in season 7. He is frequently taunted by his sisters and peers.

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* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: DJ always annoys his sisters and enjoys doing so, especially to Darlene.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: In one of the revival episodes, he helps Dan work on a motorcycle, much to Dan's surprise. He explains that he's spent most of his life watching Dan do this kind of work and thus picked up a lot of knowledge.
* BrattyTeenageSon: During the later part of the series, DJ started becoming rather spoiled and self centred, an example being when Roseanne told him to kiss Gina for the school play, which he didn’t want to because she was a black girl.
* CharacterDevelopment: DJ was definitely the most childlike and immature of the kids for most of the series. However, he started to mature in Season 9. By Season 10, he turned out the best in terms of maturity. He has grown to be very much like his dad in being a reasonable, nice, laid-back person and loving father to his daughter, Mary. It also helps that when he was a kid, he would not kiss what would become [[spoiler: his future wife and mother of his daughter]] because of the color of her skin.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Roseanne says DJ is her favorite because of this. He has caused problems in school like his sisters but he is a very innocent child.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: At times.
* CreepyChild: D.J. "Barbie Killer" Conner.
* DeadpanSnarker: In later seasons, DJ grows a dry sense of humor.
* DumbassHasAPoint: While he wasn't a dumbass, D.J. was strange bordering on creepy (and not the brightest bulb in the box). When they were getting the diner off the ground, they were agonizing over the name. D.J. mentioned he felt left out since everybody else was getting to do things. Roseanne says it's his diner, too, and he'll get to help. He automatically shouts out that he gets to name it. Everybody panics slightly but when he says "The Lunchbox," everybody agreed that it was absolutely perfect.
* TheDutifulSon: Showed shades of this now and then. When Darlene and Becky are constantly fighting during a baby shower, Roseanne is sick of playing referee, so she leaves it to D.J. He immediately calls them on their crap and tells them to knock it off. He's also openly supportive of Roseanne in "Maybe Baby" when she needs it most.
* GenerationXerox: As an adult, he's very much like Dan. Physically, his actor, Michael Fishman, could easily be mistaken for Roseanne Barr's actual son.
* HormoneAddledTeenager: Once he discovered girls, he was constantly on the prowl for booty.
* MommasBoy: Roseanne mentions in season four's "The Back Story" that her favorite child is D.J.
* NiceGuy: As a kid he was lovable and innocent, but he could still easily annoy his sisters and mouth talk on occasion. As he became an adult in Season 10, however, he became a perfectly normal, down-to-earth, nice person; he's a loving husband and a very good father to his daughter, Mary. He has apparently turned out the best in terms of moral ground and maturity as compared to his sisters.
* NoodleIncident: Tying in to his CreepyChild status. Becky comes down and complains about his hair clogging the drain in their bathroom.
-->'''DJ:''' It's not my hair.
-->'''Darlene:''' Then whose is it?
-->'''DJ:''' Don't worry, it's dead. (''Walks off.'')
* OnlyChildSyndrome: Not him, of course, but he gives this trope thought in regards to his cousin, Andy. DJ spends increasing amounts of time with him, much to Fred and Jackie's increasing annoyance, until he explains why. Just about everyone else in the cast had a brother or sister to grow up with, so DJ acts like a brother to Andy so he can know what it's like instead of being alone.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: He's only called DJ most of the time, which led many viewers in early seasons to assume that his name was Dan Junior. You can count on one hand the number of times he's actually called "David Jacob" by anyone.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Implied in the revival, as it is revealed that he's seeing a therapist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jackie Harris]]
[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7a628e6830571a0fc8dd43f580c19321.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Creator/LaurieMetcalf

Jackie is Roseanne's younger sister by three years.
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* BestFriendsInLaw: She has a relationship something like this with her brother-in-law Dan, even though it's very clear that she also annoys the hell out of him. They've known each other since high school - in one episode he's able to explicitly describe their first meeting, even remembering what she was wearing at the time - and thus know each other extremely well. He also did not take it lying down when he learned that one of her boyfriends was physically abusing her.
* BreakTheCutie: Grew up in an abusive household, constantly hounded and browbeat by her overbearing [[MyBelovedSmother (s)mother]] well into her thirties, has trouble finding a successful career despite her ambitions, loses several good boyfriends for various reasons (one left when she refused to quit the police force), gets badly beaten by one of them, and has another sue for custody while still pregnant (though that was resolved when she promised to stop shutting him out of the child's life). Maybe her Flanderization-induced wackiness in later seasons isn't so farfetched.
* TheChewToy: Poor Jackie has some of the worst luck of anyone on the show. Later, she turns the luck around on her baby's father Fred, making ''him'' next chew toy.
* CommitmentIssues: Jackie's recurring problem in many of her relationships is that she doesn't commit for some reason.
* DaddysGirl: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Between her and Roseanne, Jackie was closer to their father, even though he was physically abusive to both of them. Her attachment towards her father causes her to downplay a lot of bad things he did to them and their mother.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Jackie's father was physically abusive to his daughters.
* DropInCharacter: Jackie is always in the Conner house. She is either eating their food or doing her laundry.
* DudeMagnet: Many men have hit on her and she has been noted to really [[ReallyGetsAround get]] around.
* {{Flanderization}}: Jackie becomes more neurotic and quirky over the years, and in the revival.
* FormerTeenRebel: Pulled the same irresponsible stuff as a teen Roseanne did when they were teens.
* FreudianExcuse: Her father's aforementioned abuse is heavily implied to be responsible for her promiscuity and inability to have a successful relationship. It goes from being implied to outright ''stated'' after her ordeal with Fisher and her inability to let Fred get close.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With Roseanne. Even as adults, Jackie is attractive but flaky while Roseanne is homely but down to earth.
* {{Irony}}: In the revival, Jackie is a life coach who doesn't exactly seem to have her life together. As such, Roseanne is quick to undercut her attempts to give advice.
%%* TheLancer
* LargeHam: In later seasons. A high proportion of episodes from Season 9 consist solely of Jackie and Roseanne hamming it up - going to a day spa, hanging out with the girls from ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'', and so on.
* MamaBear: Becomes neurotically protective of her son, Andy.
* NiceGirl: Jackie may be neurotic but she is a warm and loving person. She cares deeply for her family and wouldn't let anyone harm them.
* OldShame: InUniverse. Jackie is ''deeply'' ashamed that she had a fling with ''[[TheFriendNobodyLikes Arnie]]''.
* ReallyGetsAround: At one point, she estimates that she has slept with roughly ''60'' men.
* SmallNameBigEgo: A common thread among her many jobs was that she always tried to talk them up to make them sound a lot more important than they were. She tried to make it sound like she was the star of a high school play when all she did was raise the curtain. While she really was injured in the line of duty as a police officer, she always tried to talk it up as though she took a bullet saving a baby carriage, when in reality she pulled her back after she tackled some fat naked guy and they both fell down the stairs.
* SuddenlySexuality: Outed as a lesbian in the closing moments of the (original) series finale. This has been retconned for the revival series.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jerry Garcia Conner]]
-> Portrayed by Morgan Roberts

Roseanne and Dan's youngest child, born early in the 8th Season.
----
%%* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: He hasn't been cast and barely mentioned in TheRevival.
* TheCutie: Just try looking at this baby and ''not'' wanting to pinch those adorable cheeks if his.
%%* DeliberatelyCuteChild
* PutOnABus: Is only mentioned once in the final Season 10. He has become a fisherman so he is unable to see his family in person that often.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Harris Conner-Healy]]
-> Portrayed by Emma Kenney

Darlene and David's daughter
----
* BabiesEverAfter: Born in the last couple of episodes of ''Roseanne'''s final season, Harris is one of three babies born or announced before the finale.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Good ''God'', is she. The third episode of season 10 focuses on this. Darlene's ExtremeDoormat parenting doesn't seem to have helped at all. Not much time is spent on her to explore more of her personality but for as much as we get, she seems pretty much a stereotypical version of this trope rather than be a more complex and fleshed out version than how Roseanne usually does their characters.
* DeadpanSnarker: Naturally, she's from a family ''full'' of them.
* FreudianExcuse: A lot of behavior problems deal with the resentment of being forced away from her old home and friends in Chicago to what she considers the middle of nowhere, with her very difficult to live with grandma. There's also her dad is nowhere to be seen.
* GenerationXerox: Teenage Harris has definitely inherited the Snark Gene. On a more physically-oriented note, a ''lot'' of people have commented that Emma Kenney definitely bears a striking resemblance to Sara Gilbert, much in the way Michael Fishman resembles Roseanne.
* LittlestCancerPatient: Along with a hefty dose of AdultFear; Harris was born early and began her life in trouble.
* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: Inverted, or possibly a result of ComicBookTime. Harris was born in 1997, which would make her around 20 in the reboot, but she is retconned back to high school age.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mark Conner-Healy]]
-> Portrayed by Ames [=McNamara=]

Darlene's son introduced in TheRevival.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Classically so. Flamboyant and cross-dresses, but he's too young to discover his sexuality. He may also turn out to be CampStraight.
** Confirmed to be interested in boys come ''The Conners'', where he asks Dan's advice about which of his male classmates to pursue.
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Roseanne asks the obvious question (with surprising tact) and he doesn't even hesitate when he says he feels like a boy. He just ''really'' thinks girly clothes suit him.
* DeadGuyJunior: Named for his uncle whose actor died in 2003.
* GenerationXerox : Darlene mentions to David that Mark is artistic.
* NiceGuy: Quite different from his Uncle Mark, who was more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Young Mark is a wholesome, loving, and good-hearted kid.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: He likes to wear skirts and other "girly" things.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mary Conner]]
-> Portrayed by Jayden Rey

DJ and Geena's daughter.

* DeadGuyJunior: Confirmed by WordOfGod to be named for her great-great-grandmother, Nana Mary.
* FlatCharacter: Mainly because we don't get a lot of screen time to know her more personally. However, from the little we see she seems to be a perfectly normal, innocent little girl.
* HollywoodGenetics: Despite being DJ and Geena's child, Mary is even darker-skinned than Geena.
* MissingMom: DJ's wife, Geena, is deployed in Syria; she returns from active duty in ''The Conners.''
* NiceGirl: We don't get much screen time with her but she seems to be a perfectly normal sweet and innocent little girl.
[[/folder]]


!!Extended Family Members

[[folder:Beverly "Bev" Harris]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bev_harris.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Creator/EstelleParsons

Bev is the mother of Roseanne and Jackie and the wife of Al, as well as the daughter of Nana Mary. She is overbearing and shrill and is avoided by all members of her family. She nags them with her shockingly whiny voice, often with good intentions but coming off the wrong way.
----
* AbusiveParents: An emotionally controlling mother who would passive aggressively insult her daughters.
* TheAlcoholic: PlayedForDrama in one episode. Specifically though, after she is sent to Alcoholics Anonymous, she uses this as a chance to make everyone else feel bad about not being more sensitive to her "illness" and judge them for supposedly being alcoholics themselves.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Hints and statements in the series imply that her marriage to Al wasn't a good one.
* ButtMonkey: Easily the most abused character on the show, though given her treatment of her daughters, at times it's almost justified.
* CompassionateCritic : She sees herself this way, but everyone hates the things she says, even when she's trying to be nice. To Jackie: "I think it's ''wonderful'' that you have ideas, because if you don't keep having ideas, how do you know when you come up with a good one?"
* DirtyOldWoman: Kicked out of her nursing home for having a ton of sex with the other residents. Sometimes several at a time. In various parts of the facility.
* DomesticAbuse: Not stated, but it's implied Al was just as cruel to her as he was to Jackie and Roseanne. Not to mention the constant cheating.
* ExtremeDoormat: To her husband, which could explain the way she treats her daughters.
* {{Flanderization}}: She starts out as a slightly annoying, overly-critical conservative woman, but later in the series becomes an insane, ultra-fundamentalist closeted lesbian who nags everyone around her in a shrill, high-pitched shriek of a voice.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: To virtually her entire family, ''especially'' Jackie; Roseanne is one of the few to show any kind of tolerance for her, often tested to extreme degrees.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Is a pathological believer that abortion is wrong.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Though the ''innocent'' part may be up for debate.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Bev may be incredibly critical and picky but she does have well-meaning intentions.
* ManipulativeBitch: At her worst, she an emotionally manipulating {{jerkass}} who wants everyone to do what she wants.
* MyBelovedSmother: At her best, she nags only because she is truly worried for her family.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The end of a later season episode revealed that Bev is actually faking her spazziness as a way to mess with her family.
* ParentalFavoritism: Bev seems to favor Roseanne over Jackie, but one episode deals with this in depth. When she saw the way the two acted as children, she saw much more potential in Jackie, and believed she would be a highly successful professional instead of floating from one mediocre job to another. However, she always saw Roseanne as being a wife and mother, and is happy for her for achieving that. She had high hopes for Jackie and sees her as a disappointment, but is proud of Roseanne for exceeding her (lower) expectations. When this is revealed, both Roseanne and Jackie feel like they got a raw deal out of it (especially Roseanne).
* PetTheDog: Had a lot of these moments to keep her from being ''entirely'' unlikable.
* ShotgunWedding: It's revealed in season 6 that she and Al only got married because she was pregnant with Roseanne.
* SuddenlySexuality: Outed herself in the final season - though it turned out to just be a part of Roseanne's book, because she was disappointed in all the crap Bev had to take and wanted her to assert herself more. In the revival, she is shown to be extremely ''heterosexually'' promiscuous in her old age, a major departure from her prudish conservatism in the original series.
* UselessBystanderParent: When it's revealed that Roseanne and Jackie's dad used to beat them, Jackie (partially defending him) points out that Bev wasn't much better, as whenever it was about to happen she'd just go into the kitchen to wash dishes and act like nothing was wrong.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nana Mary]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shelley_winters.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Creator/ShellyWinters

Nana Mary is Beverly's mother, and grandmother of Roseanne and Jackie who first appears in season three at a family barbecue. She is a brash, outspoken, and lovable retiree who gambles with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Unlike Bev, she is popular with the family.
----
* BlindWithoutEm: "If she wears her glasses, she'll be in Lanford by 9. If she forgot 'em, she'll be in Lansing by midnight."
%%* CloudcuckooLander
* CoolOldLady: The reason Roseanne and Jackie adore her. She is a lovable badass old lady.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted. She revealed in one Thanksgiving episode that she's had two of them in her lifetime.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Not really much of a jerk. Nana Mary is outspoken and brash but she is beloved by her family for a reason.
* LadyDrunk: Though not as much as her daughter.
* OpenMindedParent: Played with. She was more of a free spirit, but Bev viewed this as a bad thing because she believed she had no stability when she was a kid, coupled with the fact that she never knew who her real dad was. Mary reasoned that the reason Bev became so straitlaced and conservative was because she was specifically rebelling against Mary's liberal tendencies. [[spoiler: Since this was during season nine, which later revealed that the entire show was a book Roseanne was writing, this is most likely Roseanne's interpretation of Bev and Mary's relationship and the reason behind it.]]
* ReallyGetsAround: In her younger days, and quite proud of it.
* VagueAge: Some of her sexual conquests seem to imply she's much older than she looks, though we're not clear on an exact number for that yet.
-->'''Ann Marie:''' How old is she? She looks good.
-->'''Roseanne:''' I dunno. I don't think anybody knows.... The only people who ever knew are dead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mark Healy]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gleen_quinn_mark.png]]
->Portrayed by Glenn Quinn

Becky's boyfriend, later-husband, whom her parents greatly disliked at first.
----
* AscendedExtra: Mark was supposed to be a one-shot date for Becky. He ended up lasting the rest of the series and marrying into the family.
* BigBrotherBully: Acts quite cruel and bastardly to David.
* BookDumb: Mark is not traditionally smart but is known for his talents in mechanics.
* BusCrash: Died sometime between the two-decade SequelGap of Seasons 9 and 10.
* CharacterDevelopment: Slowly, but surely, Mark transforms from a smart-mouth punk to a well-meaning, if occasionally bumbling, hard worker.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Mark even attacked David when it was thought that his brother was having sexual dreams over Becky.
* DumbassHasAPoint: He noticed that, between seeing him buy a heavy winter coat and not breaking a work contract he was hired to do, [[spoiler:Dan didn't really want to move back to California and wanted to stay and try to mend his marriage.]]
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: He first had a punker-like hairstyle but cut it sometime after his marriage with Becky.
* {{Flanderization}}: Originally a leather-jacket-clad greaser bad boy who wasn't book smart, but always seemed sharp and was shown to be even better than Dan at fixing motorcycles. After marrying Becky and returning to the show he became an idiotic dope/ManChild who routinely shocked the rest of the characters with his lack of sense. Only when teaching David how to tie a bowtie before the latter's wedding at the end of Season 8 did Mark's original stoic, street-smart bad boy persona get one last moment in the spotlight.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The thoughtless, insensitive, ditzy, and generally jerkier older brother (Foolish) to David's thoughtful, sensitive, intellectual, and generally nicer younger brother (Responsible).
* FreudianExcuse: Comes from one hell of a broken home which explains his rude behavior.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: David once pointed out that the only people who liked having him around were himself and Becky, which doesn't count for much since David is his brother and Becky is his wife.
* HappilyMarried: He and Becky had their issues and their marriage was on the rocks more than once, but for the most part they were this trope. [[spoiler: The finale reveals that he was actually married to Darlene, but they also fit this trope, though much like Dan dying, this was itself part of the in-universe book and he really did marry Becky.]]
%%* HiddenDepths: Quite a bit in later seasons.
* InsecureLoveInterest: After his marriage to Becky, he would reveal his insecurity to not being traditionally smart unlike her or being unable to afford the things she wants, afraid of her leaving him because of either one.
* {{Jerkass}}: Depending on the episode or situation he can be this or a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. If Mark acts like this, he's rude and cruel, especially to David.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Depending on the episode or situation he can be this or a {{jerkass}}. Mark became more of this in the later seasons, especially during Darlene and David's wedding episode where he not only shows compassion towards the brother he bullied his entire life, but also his own pain over their crappy home life.
* KilledOffscreen: Died of unspecified causes nearly twenty years onward, leaving Becky a widow.
* ParentalAbandonment: His parents threw him out of the house when he was 16.
* PetTheDog: Gets a few of these moments with David, especially in the later seasons.
* PrettyBoy: Mark is extremely handsome, which is part of the reason Becky fell for him. In one episode, even Darlene admits that he's "gorgeous" (although she then declares that she must "gut herself like a fish" for saying so).
* SecretKeeper: Downplayed when David was secretly living with Darlene. Mark knew and kept that from Roseanne, but he made the mistake of telling a friend he was staying with, which is how it all ended up coming out.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The Manly Man (mechanic expert, tough, and crude) to David's Sensitive Guy (artist, sensitive, and thoughtful).
* TookALevelInDumbass: In the later seasons, a stark contrast to his early appearances. While he was not the brightest, he was serious and actually quite sharp, but gradually became dimmer as the show went on. At Leon's wedding, Roseanne even points him out to Leon's mother, saying "At least you're getting someone nice in your family. That's ''my'' son-in-law." Mark at that moment is playing with a lighter, and repeatedly saying "Ow" as it burns him.
* TroubledButCute: A moody tough guy, biker and mechanic expert, with frequent disregard of authority. Of course he has a FreudianExcuse, and he's handsome enough to make GoGetterGirl Becky fall for him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:David Healy]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/68bc2ee107e6abf16be81482f39b2954.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Creator/JohnnyGalecki

David is Mark's younger brother. Whereas Mark was a rebellious delinquent at first, David is friendlier to the Conners, soft-spoken, artistic, and intelligent. He later enters a relationship with Darlene and collaborates with her by illustrating graphic novels that she writes, though he tends to be the more submissive one in the relationship.
----
* BewareTheNiceOnes: While David is usually friendly (to the point of being an ExtremeDoormat), he has occasionally been shown to be quite vicious when genuinely pissed off.
* BreakTheCutie: Almost as bad as Jackie. His home life consisted of his mother repeatedly emotionally abusing him.
* ButtMonkey: For a time he was pushed around quite a bit by the others, especially Mark and DJ.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: We find out in TheRevival that he ran off to build houses for the poor, met a woman named Blue, and can't be with her because he has to spiritually uncouple from Darlene first. Or something.
* DisappearedDad: To his kids, Harris and Mark. He's actually never had a relationship with Mark because he left when he was just a baby; when he returns to Lanford, he has to ask Darlene what their son is like.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The thoughtful, sensitive, intellectual, and generally nicer younger brother (Responsible) to Mark's thoughtless, insensitive, ditzy, and generally jerkier older brother (Foolish).
* FreudianExcuse: Darlene, the first person to consistently care for him, still had a tendency to treat him badly, and then he basically lost her when she left for art school. Adding that to the emotional abuse he suffered from his mom and the disrespect he often received from nearly everyone else, it's easier to understand why David [[TookALevelInJerkass started acting more snotty.]]
* HappilyMarried: To Darlene (yes, really). Sadly, as of the revival season, this is apparently no longer the case.
* HenpeckedHusband: He came across as a little spineless toward Darlene in later years.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Feminine Boy (soft-spoken and sweet) to Darlene's Masculine Girl (harsh and rude).
* NiceGuy: David may be kind of passive-aggressive, but he is a very polite, friendly, sweet guy who is always respectful to the Conners.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The sensitive guy to Mark, Dan ''and'' DJ's manly man.
* SuddenNameChange: In his debut episode, he introduced himself as "Kevin".
* TookALevelInJerkass: {{Justified|Trope}}. Due to a number of BreakTheCutie moments (mother's abuse, Mark being a BigBrotherBully, and emotional abuse from Darlene), David wasn't quite as sensitive and sweet in later seasons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Crystal Anderson Conner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crystal_anderson.png]]
->Portrayed By Natalie West

A neurotic yet sweet childhood friend of Rosanne and Jackie's. Once divorced, once widowed, Crystal struggled to raise her son Lonnie by herself, eventually marrying Dan's father Ed.
----
* AutoErotica: She lost her virginity in a car.
* TheBusCameBack: She returns in the revival (after appearing last in the sixth season) and announces that she’s retiring from working in the casino with full benefits.
* ButtMonkey: A fairly regular target of the others' snark.
* ExtremeDoormat: A very fidgety and modest woman who is nearly incapable of saying a bad thing about anybody, which often results in this.
* FamilyThemeNaming: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. When asked by Rosanne what her baby's name will be, she says she's Crystal, her mother was Ruby [[AvertedTrope and she's like to give her baby girl a different name]].
* GlamorousSingleMother: {{Averted|Trope}}. She's in the same economic state as the Conners until marrying Ed, and often has trouble getting Lonnie to listen to her.
%%* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Roseanne and Jackie.
* JerkassBall: As she states and shows, she becomes quite nasty when pregnant.
* LonelyTogether: How she ended up with Ed.
* MayDecemberRomance: She’s a lot younger than Ed, and they have known each other since Crystal was a young girl. The minister at their wedding even lampshaded it, talking about when the fully grown Ed "first met a twelve-year-old Crystal."
* NiceGirl: Crystal is a nice and good-hearted person.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The others knew that Sonny had regularly cheated on her before he died but were reluctant to say anything to Crystal, as she was grieving. She reveals, though, that she knew the entire time.
* OutOfFocus: Goes from a regular in the first four seasons to one or two appearances in the later seasons. [[PutOnABus She vanishes by the end of the eighth season]]. She did make a couple appearances in the revival season, though.
* SecondLove: To Ed, as he and his first wife are divorced.
* SeriousBusiness: Bowling, which her friends mock her for.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: When Dan questions why she would want to marry [[BigFun Ed]], she responds that he's "kind, generous, and funny".
* UnexplainedAccent: Born in Lanford, speaks with a southern accent. Lampshaded in one episode when Jackie finally asks why that is, and Crystal says her father came from Arkansas. Jackie, however, is somewhat dubious.
* YourCheatingHeart: Her third husband Sonny cheated on her repeatedly. Out of spite for this, she had an affair of her own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ed Conner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roseanne_season_1_14_fathers_day_ed_conner_ned_beatty_review_episode_guide_list.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Creator/NedBeatty

Dan's traveling salesman father. He has a tense relationship with Dan, stemming from Ed being away most of the time when Dan was a kid and constantly trying to get Dan to follow in his footsteps, but is loved by the rest of the family.
----
* TheAtoner: Tries to be a better father the second time around and showers Dan and the kids with gifts to make up for Dan's lousy childhood.
* BigFun: An utterly nice guy and as large as his son.
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Ed made himself out to be the bad guy and hid Dan's mother's mental instability from him so Dan wouldn't think badly of her.
* InformedAttribute: Roseanne alludes to Ed being a racist but he doesn't show any attitude like this onscreen.
* LonelyTogether: How he and Crystal ended up together. As he puts it, "it's a hell of a lot to have in common".
* MayDecemberRomance: With Crystal, whom he has known since she was a little girl.
* MyGreatestSecondChance: He views marrying and raising a family with Crystal as a way to be a better father and husband than he was with Dan and his first wife.
* NiceGuy: Much like his son, despite their difficult relationship. Ed is well-liked by his family.
* PapaWolf: Ed took all of Dan's hostility over supposedly not caring about his ex-wife, but when Dan gets drunk, comes to house to talk to him, and scares Crystal and Lonnie, Ed is ''not'' happy and tells Dan so when his son comes by the next day to apologize.
* SecondLove: Strictly speaking, fourth love to Crystal, as her third husband (but first one she actually loved) died.
* WhatTheHellHero: Tells Dan to back off when Dan tells Ed to stay away from Crystal.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: The main reason Dan resents him so much is that he would leave for work without notice of how long he would be gone and bring home gifts as a way to apologize.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fred Oakland]]
[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cked60cwuaerb3f.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Michael [=O'Keefe=]

Fred is a mechanic who works at the garage with Dan and is introduced to Jackie, leading to a one-night stand, accidental impregnation, and marriage.
----
* DoggedNiceGuy: Had this relationship with Jackie at first. When he finally got her (mostly because he impregnated her) they both realized it was a mistake.
* NiceGuy: While his relationship with Jackie didn't work in the end, Fred is a pretty decent guy who is still on pretty good terms with the Conners.
* OnlySaneMan: Never seems too affected by the insanity of Jackie's family, aside from occasionally being weirded out.
* TheStoic: Stood out by being perpetually laid back and calm, often making him the perfect foil for the ever-more-neurotic Jackie.
* TakingTheKids: A rare example where the couple's not even married; Fred sues Jackie for partial custody of their son Andy before the kid's even born yet. This is mostly because Jackie refused to let Fred have anything at all to do with Andy's life and Fred wanting involvement.
[[/folder]]

!!Friends of the Family

[[folder:Leon Carp]]
[[quoteright:138:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/504b73e17bfc0a391eaab53371a1330d.jpg]]
->Portrayed by Martin Mull

Leon, originally as Roseanne's boss at Rodbell's Luncheonette and later as her business partner in The Lanford Lunchbox, is portrayed as a foil to Roseanne; although they have a contentious relationship at times, it is apparent that Leon is still a good friend of Roseanne's, eventually becoming an extended family member of sorts.
----
* BadBoss: {{Averted|Trope}}. Roseanne certainly ''treated'' him like one, but anyone else would've fired her after the first day.
* DeadpanSnarker: He kind of had to be to deal with Roseanne. But really, it was give and take between them.
* HappilyMarried: To Scott.
* {{Jerkass}}: At his worst, Leon can be a petty jerk who makes condescending statements.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Yeah he does have his jerkass moments with Roseanne, but he is still good friends with her. He is conscientious and well-meaning.
* StraightGay: Lampshades the hell out of this during "December Bride":
-->'''Leon''': I hate to shop! I am absolutely insensitive. I detest Barbara Streisand. And for God's sake, I'm a Republican!
-->'''Roseanne''': But do you like having sex with men?
-->'''Leon''': Well, it's...
-->'''Roseanne''': GAY!
* VitriolicBestBuds: Eventually becomes this with Roseanne.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fisher]]
->Portrayed by Matt Roth

Jackie’s younger boyfriend in season 5.
----
* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Fisher is a nice young man, but in the episode where it’s revealed that he hits Jackie, he gets frustrated because he lost Dan’s poker game.
* FriendToAllChildren: He’s actually nice to DJ and he even asked Dan permission to teach DJ how play ice hockey, as Fisher played when he was younger.
* MayDecemberRomance: He’s slightly younger than Jackie. However, he was under the impression that Jackie was 33 years old (she lied about her age), but she’s actually 37.
* NiceGuy: He’s very nice and approachable. However, see BewareOfTheNiceOnes above. Even when Jackie ended things the first time, Roseanne called her out for doing so.
-->'''Roseanne:''' Are you out of your mind? He’s the perfect guy for you!
* OnlyOneName: He’s only ever called Fisher, and it isn’t stated if Fisher is his first or last name.
* WouldHitAGirl: He hurt Jackie because he lost his job and was unable to find work. And it’s revealed that he hit Jackie before he even lost his job.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nancy Bartlett]]
->Portrayed by Sandra Bernhard

Arnie’s lesbian ex-wife and a good friend of Roseanne. She worked alongside Roseanne, Leon and Jackie in the Lanford Lunch Box.
----
* BuxomIsBetter: She gets a boob job using the money Arnie borrowed from the Conners.
* LipstickLesbian: She’s a lesbian and she does wear girly clothing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Arnie Thomas]]
->Portrayed by Creator/TomArnold

One of Dan’s poker buddies, previously married to Nancy.
----
* AlienAbduction: He claims the reason he left Nancy was that he was abducted by aliens.
* TheFriendNoOneLikes: Nobody speaks highly of Arnie, and even Roseanne chastises Jackie for having a one night stand with him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Arnie isn’t a pleasant person, but he’s always nice to Dan.
* YourCheatingHeart: He usually cheats on the women he goes out with; for example, he has a one night stand with Jackie before getting engaged to Nancy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chuck Mitchell]]
-> Portrayed by James Pickens Jr

One of Dan’s poker buddies and a close friend to the Conners.
----
* BlackBestFriend: To Dan and the rest of his poker gang. Not much is known about him.
* HappilyMarried: To Anne Marie, and they are still together in the revival.
* NiceGuy: There hasn’t been a time where he ever bad mouths someone. When Fisher was having a rough time finding work, and was frustrated that he was losing in one of Dan’s poker games, Chuck offered to help him, only for Fisher to harshly reject the help.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anne Marie Mitchell]]
->Portrayed by Adilah Barnes

A childhood friend of Roseanne’s. After reuniting in the principal's office (when Becky was flipping the bird during a school picture), they become close friends again.
----
* BlackBestFriend: To Roseanne and Jackie. Just like her husband Chuck, not much is known about her too.
* HappilyMarried: To Chuck. They are still together in the revival.
* RememberTheNewGuy: When she was introduced as an old friend of Roseanne’s, she immediately was included in Roseanne’s social circle.
[[/folder]]

----

* TheDutifulSon: Showed shades of this now and then. When Darlene and Becky were constantly fighting during a baby shower, Roseanne was sick of playing referee, so she left it to D.J. He immediately called them on their crap and told them to knock it off. He's also openly supportive of Roseanne in "Maybe Baby" when she needs it most.
* GenerationXerox: As an adult, he's very much like Dan.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Implied in the revival, as it is revealed that he’s seeing a therapist.

* {{Flanderization}}: Jackie becomes more neurotic and quirky as the seasons went on.

* SmallNameBigEgo: A common thread among her many jobs was that she always tried to talk them up to make them sound a lot more important than they were. She tried to make it sound like she was the star of a high school play when all she did was raise the curtain. When she was injured in the line of duty as a police officer, she always tried to talk it up as though she took a bullet saving a baby carriage, when in reality she pulled her back after she tackled some fat naked guy and they both fell down the stairs.

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Good ''god'', is she. The third episode of season 10 focuses on this. Darlene's ExtremeDoormat parenting doesn't seem to have helped at all. Not much time is spent on her to explore more of her personality but for as much as we get, she seems pretty much a sterotypical version of this trope rather than be a more complex and fleshed out version than how Roseanne usually does their characters.

* LittlestCancerPatient: Along with a hefty dose of AdultFear , Harris was born early and began her life in trouble.

* NiceGuy: Quite different from his Uncle Mark who was more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Young Mark is a wholesome, loving, and good-hearted kid.

* FlatCharacter: Mainly because we don't get a lot of screen time to know her more personally. However from the little we see she seems to be a perfectly normal, innocent little girl.

* MissingMom: DJ's wife, Geena,is deployed in Syria.

* ButtMonkey: Easily the most abused character on the show, though given her treatment of her daughters at times it's almost justified.

* PetTheDog: Had a lot of these moments to keep her from being ''entirely'' unlikeable.

* OpenMindedParent: Played with. She was more of a free spirit, but Bev viewed this as a bad thing because she believed she had no stability when she was a kid, coupled with the fact that she never knew who her real dad was. Mary reasoned that the reason Bev became so straight-laced and conservative was because she was specifically rebelling against Mary's liberal tendencies. [[spoiler: Since this was during season nine, which later revealed that the entire show was a book Roseanne was writing, this is most likely Roseanne's interpretation of Bev and Mary's relationship and the reason behind it.]]

Becky's boyfriend-later-husband, who her parents greatly disliked at first.

* CharacterDevelopment: Slowly, but surely, Mark transforms from a smart-mouth punk to a well-meaning, if occasionally bumbling, hardworker.

* {{Flanderization}}: Originally a leather-jacket-clad greaser bad boy who wasn't booksmart, but always seemed sharp and was shown to be even better than Dan at fixing motorcycles. After marrying Becky and returning to the show he became an idiotic dope/manchild who routinely shocked the rest of the characters with his lack of sense. Only when teaching David how to tie a bowtie before the latter's wedding at the end of Season 8 did Mark's original stoic, streetsmart badboy persona get one last moment in the spotlight.

* TookALevelInDumbass: In the later seasons, a stark contrast to his early appearances. While he was not the brightest, he was serious and was quite sharp, but gradually became more dimmer as the show went on.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: While David is usually friendly (to the point of being an ExtremeDoormat), but has shown to be quite vicious when genuinely pissed off.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Feminine Boy (softspoken and sweet) to Darlene's Masculine Girl (harsh and rude).
* NiceGuy: David may be kind of passive-aggressive but he is a very polite, friendly, sweet guy who is always respectful to the Conners.

* GlamorousSingleMother: {{Averted|Trope}}. She's in the same economic state as the Conner's until marrying Ed and often has trouble getting Lonnie to listen to her.
%%* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Rosanne and Jackie.

* MayDecemberRomance: She’s a lot younger than Ed, and they have known each other since Crystal was a young girl.

* YourCheatingHeart: Her third husband Sonny cheated on her repeatedly. And, out of spite for this, she had an affair of her own.

* TheAtoner: Tries to be a better father the second time around and showers Dan and the Kids with Gifts to make up for Dan's lousy childhood.

* LonelyTogether: How he and Crystal ended up together. As he put it "it's a hell of a lot to have in common".
* MayDecemberRomance: With Crystal, who he has known since she was a little girl.
* MyGreatestSecondChance: He views marrying and raising a family with Crystal as a way to be a better father and husband he wasn't with Dan and his first wife.

* PapaWolf: Ed took all of Dan's hostility over supposedly not caring about his ex-wife, but when Dan gets drunk, comes to house to talk to him, and scares Crystal and Lonnie, Ed is ''not'' happy and tells so to Dan when his son comes by the next day to apologize.

* DeadpanSnarker: He kind of had to be to deal with Roseanne. Though really, it was give and take between them.

-->'''Leon''': I hate to shop! I am absolutely insensitive. I detest Barbara Streisand. And for God's sake I'm a Republican!

-->'''Leon''': Well it's...

* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Fisher is a nice young man, but in the episode where it’s revealed that he hit Jackie, he gets frustrated because he lost Dan’s poker game.

* MayDecemberRomance: He’s slightly younger than Jackie. However he was under the impression that Jackie was 33 years old (she lied about her age), but she’s actually 37.

* OnlyOneName: He’s only to be referred to as Fisher, and it isn’t stated if Fisher is his first or last name.
* WouldHitAGirl: He hurt Jackie because he lost his job and was unable to find work. And it’s revealed that he has hit Jackie before he even lost his job.

One of Dan’s poker buddies and was previously married to Nancy.

* YourCheatingHeart: He usually cheats on the women he goes out with, for example, he has a one night stand with Jackie before getting engaged to Nancy.

A childhood friend of Roseanne’s. After reuniting in the principals office (when Becky was flipping the bird during a school picture), they become close friends again.

[[/folder]]

* NiceGuy: Dan may mock his family members but its in a loving way. Dan really is a laid-back, funny, easygoing, sweetheart of a guy.

** Possibly Subverted now, in the Revival "Dress to Impress" when Darlene begins to question whether Dan has a problem with Mark, his grandson, wearing female clothes, Dan proudly states that he has nothing against it and more of scared how others will think of him. Hell, one of his granddaughters is bi-racial, yet it's clear both he and Roseanne love her deeply.

* PapaWolf: Dan is a down-to-earth, laid back, all-around nice guy. Until you harm, threaten to harm, or screw over his wife, children, or sister-in-law. Once that happens, run. Just...run.

* YourCheatingHeart: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Dan tells Roseanne that he became romantically involved with his mother's nurse while he was visiting his mom, this reveal understandably upsets Roseanne to the point she kicks him out of their house. Afterwards, he doesn't go back to the nurse, choosing his wife over her. [[spoiler:Then, it turns Dan actually did die from his heart attack and the affair was Roseanne's symbolization in her book as she compared him being dead to having an affair. And then the revival reveals that ''neither'' happened, as both were an inuniverse book being written by Roseanne the character.]]

* BigSisterBully: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. While she was a jerk to her younger siblings, especially to Darlene, she also equally aloof and matured into being less of a bully as a grown up.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. In a way she's the Responsible (smart and popular GoGetterGirl) to Darlene's Foolish (tomboyish and antisocial underachiever). However Becky went through a really bratty period and Darlene becomes less irresponsible in later years.

* NiceGuy: As a kid he was a lovable and innocent kid but he could still easily annoy his sisters and mouth talk on occassions. As he became an adult in Season 10 however, he became a perfectly normal, down-to-earth, nice person and a loving/caring father to his daughter, Mary. He has apparently turned out the best in terms of moral ground and maturity than his sisters.

-->'''DJ:''' It's not my hair
-->'''Darlene:''' Then who's is it?

* BreakTheCutie: Grew up in an abusive household, constantly hounded and browbeat by her overbearing [[MyBelovedSmother (s)mother]] well into her thirties, has trouble finding a successful career despite her ambitions, loses several good boyfriends for various reasons (one left when she refused to quit the police force), gets badly beaten by one of them, has another sue for custody while still pregnant (though that was resolved when she promised to stop shutting him out of the child's life). Maybe her Flanderization-induced wackiness in later seasons isn't so farfetched.
* TheChewToy: Poor Jackie had some of the worst luck of anyone on the show, and in one season later on, turned the luck around on her baby's father Fred, the next chew toy.

* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: As of the first episode of Season 11, due to Roseanne being fired for her widely publicized racist tweets.]]

* {{Flanderization}}: Roseanne slowly got more bossy and controlling toward her family

%%* OverprotectiveDad

* CharacterDevelopment: DJ was definitely the most childlike and immature of the kids for most of the series. However, he started to mature in Season 9. By Season 10, he turned out the best in terms of maturity. He has grown to be very much like his dad in being a reasonable, nice, laid-back person and loving father to his daughter, Mary.
** It also helps that when he was a kid, he would not kiss what would become [[spoiler: his future wife and mother of his daughter]] because of the color of her skin.

* GoodisNotNice: She's bossy, loud, caustic, domineering, and sarcastic as anything... but still a decent person and loving mother. See JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Feminine Boy to Harris' Darlene-ish BrattyTeenageGirl.

->Portrayed by Laurie Metcalf

%%* DeliberatelyCuteChild

->Portrayed by Estelle Parsons

->Portrayed by Shelly Winters

->Portrayed by Johnny Galecki

->Portrayed by Tom Arnold

->Portrayed by James Pickens Jr

* TookALevelOfJerkass: Subverted. In Season 10, Becky has not changed too much but that is also a problem. She is as immature about dealing with her situations as she has always been but due to her stress of her adult life, she appears to be even more stubborn than when she was younger.

* TookALevelOfKindness: While she is still not the most mature in Season 10, she seems to have gotten better (not as good as DJ but better than Becky).

** TookALevelOfKindness: While she is still not the most mature in Season 10, she seems to have gotten better (not as good as DJ but better than Becky).

* BlackBestFriend: To Roseanne. Just like her husband Chuck, not much is known about her too.

* NiceGuy: There hasn’t been a time where he ever bad mouths someone.

A childhood friend of Roseanne. After reuniting in the principals office (when Becky was flipping the bird during a school picture), they become close friends again.

* HappilyMarried: To Chuck. They are still together in the revival.

* MayDecemberRomance: Knew Ed when she was a little girl.

[[/folder]]