Roseanne

Roseanne (1988-1997) was a family sitcom, originally structured around Roseanne Barr's comedy act, notable for focusing on a struggling blue-collar family and for its increasingly serious and frank treatment of issues such as unemployment, teen sexuality and abusive relationships. While the VSEs could get cheesy and soap-opera-ish, the show was generally grounded with Roseanne's (Roseanne Barr) snappy wisecracking and the essentially good and stable relationship with her stand-up guy husband, Dan (John Goodman).

Two issues make Key Episodes difficult here: the long run of the show and the incredibly weird final season. Roseanne is famous for its crazy ending. In the final season, the family wins the lottery, essentially rejecting one of the central issues of the show (money problems) and totally changing the dynamic. Then, in the final episode, Roseanne (in character) reveals that the last year or so of the show has been fictional, a story she wrote to distract her from her sadness; the family never won the lottery, and Dan is dead. Overall, I find this experiment in meta-fictionality hollow and unsatisfying, and I consider the final season or so non-canon, which is why you won't find the ending in my key episodes even though it is arguably culturally important and I just explained it here in detail.

Key Episodes

1.1 "Life and Stuff": This is a show where I think the pilot sets everything up pretty well, a sort of slice of life episode with a strong focus on my favorite character, tomboyish middle kid Darlene (Sara Gilbert).

4.1 "A Bitter Pill to Swallow": Eldest daughter Becky (Lecy Goranson) asks Roseanne to take her to a gynecologist to get on the pill and Roseanne and Dan fight about what to do when a child asks for birth control, standing in for parents everywhere and probably making the network groan, "I thought this was a comedy." This aired in 1991 and I have a feeling it would still count as edgy now.

5.1 "Terms of Estrangement Part 1" & 5.2 "Terms of Estrangement Part 2": Becky and her boyfriend Mark (Glenn Quinn) run away together, while Dan's business goes under.

5.19 "It's a Boy!": When Darlene asks if her gentle boyfriend David (Johnny Galecki) can move in, Roseanne laughs it off, but when she visits David's house and realizes his mother is abusive, she finds herself welcoming David to the fold.

Bonus Episodes

1.19 "Workin' Overtime": Roseanne's job is one of the things that changes most in the show. This episode is a good slice of life of her season one job, the assembly line of a factory supervised by a young George Clooney.

2.2 "The Little Sister": Roseanne's sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) applies for police academy, a decision which Roseanne mocks relentlessly until she breaks down in tears, afraid for Jackie's life. An emotionally strong Joss Whedon-written episode.

2.14 "One for the Road": The VSE in which Becky and a friend experiment with alcohol. Wheee!

2.16 "Born to Be Wild": Roseanne and Dan's old friend Ziggy (Jay O. Sanders) blasts into town, revealing their biker pasts.

3.4 "Like, A New Job": This is one of Roseanne's employment turning points as she gets a job as a waitress at a diner in the mall, and one of Darlene's as she stops sharing Becky's room and moves into the basement, but really, I'm key episoding it because Alyson Hannigan (Buffy, How I Met Your Mother) is in it briefly.

3.25 "The Pied Piper of Lanford": Ziggy reappears, convinces Roseanne and Dan to leave their jobs to start a bike shop, then disappears again.

4.3 "Why Jackie Becomes a Trucker": Another job change for Jackie as she's drawn to a new butch career--truck-driving--and the show attempts to up its edginess quotient again by revealing that Roseanne's boss Leon (Martin Mull) is gay.

4.4 "Darlene Fades to Black": Darlene leaves her tomboy stage and enters her dark goth stage in an episode that is actually about as sensitive, frustrating and realistic about depression as you can get in 22 minutes.

4.18 "This Old House": Roseanne and Jackie visit their childhood home, revealing backstory about their abusive father.

4.23 "Secrets": Dan, until now Mark's biggest opponent, feels sorry for him when he sees how upset he is about the break-up and ends up defending him.

5.3 "The Dark Ages": The electricity gets cut off when Roseanne can't pay the bill. Darlene spends the night at David's and gets upset when everyone assumes they had sex.

5.8 "Ladies' Choice": The episode where we find out that Roseanne's friend Nancy (Sandra Bernhardt) is a lesbian. Personally, I was always rooting for Darlene, but I'll take what I can get.

5.13 "Crime and Punishment": Roseanne discovers bruises on Jackie's back and realizes she's being beaten by her boyfriend. Meanwhile, youngest son D.J. (Michael Fishman) gets in trouble for bringing obscene material to school, which turns out to be a comic book Darlene is making with David.

5.22 "Promises, Promises": I love a sex on prom night episode called "Promises, Promises." Classic 90s.

5.25 "Daughters and Other Strangers": Darlene wants to go to art school in Chicago, to the dismay of Roseanne, Dan, and David. D.J. has a new friend nobody likes (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

There might be some stuff in season 6, but that's as far as I got in the rewatch before Netflix took it away.