Roseanne - Pilot Outline

One of the best multi-cam pilots I have ever read. Or just pilots in general. This script is amazing. It's warm and funny and well-paced and it doesn't get in its own way. We should re-read this all the time. It is legendary. Up there with Cheers. 

Written by Matt Williams
Based on a Character Created by Roseanne Barr

COLD OPEN

• meet the family in a great breakfast scene as they hurry out of the house
• note that dan and Roseanne have a loving relationship despite the fact that they’re poor.

• SET UP
  • DJ wants pie
  • Becky is on the phone with some guy from school
  • There’s a meeting with Darlene’s teacher later today
  • Becky’s bookbag needs to be returned
  • Dan needs to fix the sink
  • Dan is up for a new job that he’s bidding on

 
ACT ONE

• Meet everyone at Roseanne’s work
• See Roseanne get time off
• Meet Roseanne’s sister. Shes into ‘visualization.’ Roseanne mocks her.
• Roseanne goes to the teacher. Learns her kid barks. Dismisses it.

 
ACT TWO

• Rose catches DJ eating pie
• Rose has as talk with Darlene about the barking at school
• Dan comes home. He didn’t work today, nor did he fix the sink. He and Roseanne argue but it’s interrupted by Darlene, who cut her finger
• As D and R tend to Darlene, the fight is ancient history and we see that they’re a team
• AMAZING BUTTON: You hungry? Nah. I’ll fix dinner. Great.

 
NOTE: Great how the Roseanne pilot treats being poor. It’s an obvious and true — it’s who they are — but it’s not what the show is about. That’s how ‘otherness’ should almost always be handled in order to avoid coming off too broad or too hacky. Also love how this pilot handles characters other than Roseanne. We get a lot about the other people, but it never stops being R's show.