Once upon a time there used to be a working-class, feminist sit-com on TV. No, really.

Image credit.

You must read this article by Roseanne Barr in the New York Magazine. You must!

Roseanne was one of the coolest sit-coms ever to appear on television, because:

• the show had two leads playing parents who worked outside the home and who struggled financially;
• the two leads were also fat but their weight was not the stuff of ridicule;
• the female lead did not rely on looks for her popularity;
• the female lead got to be angry in her storylines and not get punished for it;
• the relationships between the female characters on the show was supportive rather than competitive; and,
• the show tackled topics such as poverty, alcoholism, drug use, sex, menstruation, contraception, teenage pregnancy, masturbation, abortion, race, class, domestic violence and gay rights.

Also, let’s not forget that Roseanne is responsible for some of the coolest things ever said about motherhood:

I figure if my kids are alive at the end of the day, I’ve done my job.

And.

There’s a lot more to being a woman than being a mother, but there’s a hell of a lot more to being a mother than most people suspect.

And.

Excuse the mess, but we live here.