Why Roseanne was Our Favorite 80's Sitcom Mom

The real sitcom moms of the 80's will never be forgotten, but Roseanne will always have a special place in our hearts, and our living rooms. There was something about her, her hearty laugh, her bubbly and sometimes abrasive personality, her twisted wit. Those other moms were unforgettable too and had a lot to contribute to 80's sitcoms, and with the luxury of reruns, we can visit their era again and again.

Claire Huxtable was a great sitcom mom of the 80's, always pretty, always poised and polite. We all had her in our living rooms, and we loved her. Perhaps she was too perfect though. Nobody lives like that, nobody keeps their home in such pristine condition, and the problems of the Huxtable family seemed so mild in comparison to the lives we lead. She was the mother of our dreams, in a family built on dreams. We all wanted Claire to come into our homes and make everything right. We wanted her husband, her lifestyle and her clothes, and we dreamed that we would one day be like her, but the dream just wasn't to be.

Peggy Bundy, on the other hand, was ditzy and dingy with a little bit of middle aged tramp. Oh we loved her too, but just for laughs. You see, we needed Peggy to see just how bad life could get, since nothing in our life was quite that bad. We were normal, and the Bundy family was definitely not normal. We laughed every week through the drama of having poorly adjusted children, but we didn't laugh at them, we laughed with them. My favorite episode by far was the " It's a Bundyful life" episode featuring Sam Kinison. But we knew the Bundy's weren't real, and they didn't represent real life. Nobody's family is that dysfunctional. We prayed at night that we would never turn out like Peggy Bundy with a husband like Al. Although I may have wished it on a few people!

Mrs. Keaton didn't do much at all, and wasn't very memorable, possibly due to the impending stardom of the show's real star. She was nice enough, and had her little quirks, but the main focus of the show was the antics of Alex P. Keaton, played by Michael J. Fox.

It was time for something real. Not too much perfection, not too much satire. It was time for a real mom, and she was given to us in 1988.

The show that feels more like a memory in our lives, of people we knew long ago-is Roseanne. The Connor family will be forever remembered as the "real" family of the 80's, and Roseanne will be remembered as the "real mom". We will remember her with her hair not done, without makeup, in jeans and a t-shirt. Roseanne had a middle class blue collar job, and middle class blue collar friends. Some of her family was gay, her boss was gay, and her mother was gay. Her kids weren't stable and well behaved-they were everyday kids with everyday problems, and her less than perfect but happy husband Dan Connor had real life issues, like being laid off and dealing with a mentally ill mother. Roseanne represented middle class America, loved pizza and chili, and beer. She told people off when they needed to be put in their place. Roseanne believed in grounding her kids, publicly embarrassing them when appropriate, and standing her ground for every cause she believed in.

The Connor family represented change, and touched on subjects that most other TV sitcoms didn't dare. They made us feel like we were one of them, or a part of them. We could relate to Roseanne, whereas it was just hard to connect with those other TV moms of the 80's. She had troubles we all have, from kids that didn't behave, family members with issues, losing jobs and trying to make ends meet. Family hardships were openly expressed, and they were handled in a realistic way. Everything wasn't always perfect at the end of the show, and we couldn't wait until the next episode to find out more. We laughed with them, we cried with them, and we celebrated with the Connor family, remember the Halloween episodes? We were happy to see them win the lottery, imagining that good fortune could come to regular people with regular lives like ours. Roseanne was the glue that held the family together during times of crisis, and made them laugh during the good times.

For almost a decade she was in my living room, and I didn't miss one episode. I'm not a TV junkie, and I don't cry easily-but the last episode made me cry. I wonder how many others had a box of tissue during that time? Roseanne gets my vote for the best TV mom in the 80's.