Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr (November 3, 1952) is an American comedian, best known as the star of the popular sitcom "Roseanne" (1988-1995).
Many critics considered the show notable as one of the first sitcoms to portray a blue-collar American family with two parents working outside the home, as well as lead characters who were noticeably overweight without such being the target of jokes. For many years, Roseanne tackled taboo subjects or joked about issues that most other popular shows at the time avoided, such as poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, sex, menstruation, birth control, teenage pregnancy, masturbation, obesity, abortion, race, social class, domestic violence, and homosexuality. The show was also significant for its portrayal of feminist ideals including a female-dominated household, a female lead whose likability did not rely on her appearance, relationships between female characters that were cooperative rather than competitive, and females openly expressing themselves without negative consequences.
References to Zappa
In the sixth season of "Roseanne" Ahmet Zappa played Roy, the roommate of the character Mark in the series. The episode "Busted" was dedicated as an "in memoriam" to Zappa's death. [1]
"I was, like, the first blogger. I started blogging in 1996. I got the idea from my friend, Frank Zappa. He was very involved with the early internet, and I’ve been in love with it for a long, long time." (...) " I don’t know if "awe" is the right word, but I’ve been inspired by a lot of people and I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of my heroes. I mean, Zappa to me was God. Just to be able to go and hang out with him, and to be there when he was dying. That guy might have been the smartest guy and the greatest mind there ever was. He toppled governments. Václav Havel listened to his music and it inspired him to topple Communism. Once people hear what free thought sounds like it energises their cells and they go to another level of being, kind of.’ [2]
Roseanne Barr and her husband at that time, Tom Arnold, once visited a concert by Dweezil Zappa [3]. Barr and Arnold received thanks for their "very special but no less significant contributions" in The Yellow Shark liner notes. [4] Roseanne Barr is also mentioned and thanked in the liner notes of The MOFO Project/Object (2006) album. [5]
References
- ↑ http://www.tv.com/roseanne/busted/episode/28227/summary.html
- ↑ Roseanne Barr in http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/features/5908/Roseanne_Barr-interview.html
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1991-04-05/news/vw-1716_1_dweezil-zappa
- ↑ http://donlope.net/fz/notes/The_Yellow_Shark.html#Acknowledgements
- ↑ http://donlope.net/fz/notes/The_MOFO_Project_Object.html#Contributors
