Roseanne Harris Conner is the title character of the TV series Roseanne, created and portrayed by comedian and namesake Roseanne Barr. Roseanne is bossy, loud, caustic, overweight, and dominant. She constantly tries to control the lives of her sister, husband, children, co-workers, and friends. Despite her domineering nature, however, Roseanne is a loving wife and mother and loyal friend who works hard and makes as much time for her family as possible.

Roseanne Conner reappeared in the first season of the 2018 revived series, but was written out of the series after Barr was fired in 2018. In the spinoff series The Conners, the character is portrayed as having died of an opioid overdose.

In 1987, coming up with ideas for new shows, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner of Carsey-Werner Productions decided to look into the concept of the working mother as a central voice. Up until that point, there had been shows with working mothers, but only as an adjunct to the father in the family. Werner had suggested that they take a chance on Barr whom they had seen on The Tonight Show. This was because he saw the unique "in your face" voice that they were looking for, and he contacted her agent and offered her the role. Barr's act at the time was the persona of the "domestic goddess", but as Carsey and Werner explains, she had the distinctive voice and attitude for the character and she was able to transform her into the working class heroine they envisioned. Barr immediately took the role. Barr has stated she had crafted the "fierce working-class domestic goddess" persona in the eight years preceding the sitcom and wanted to do a realistic show about a strong mother who was not a victim of patriarchal consumerism.

Barr, who was born into a working-class Jewish family in Salt Lake City, played a "nominally half-Jewish, working-class wife and mother" in the series. Although some commentators have mistakenly claimed that Jewishness was not mentioned on the show, Roseanne Conner was depicted as having a Jewish father. The Jewishness of Barr and her character on the show has often been overlooked, a fact that some commentators have claimed is because of public perceptions that Jewishness is at odds with being part of the white working class, and in part because of antisemitic stereotypes that depict Jews as wealthy, along with Jewish self-representations of Jews as being middle class. Barr has referred to Roseanne Conner as a "Jewish mother".

Barr became outraged when she watched the first episode of Roseanne and noticed that Matt Williams was listed as the creator in the credits. The series had originally been called Life & Stuff. She told Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly, "We built the show around my actual life and my kids. The 'domestic goddess', the whole thing". In the same interview, Werner said, "I don't think Roseanne, to this day, understands that this is something legislated by the Writers Guild, and it's part of what every show has to deal with. They're the final arbiters." During the first season, Barr sought more creative control over her character, opposing Williams' authority. Barr refused to say certain lines and eventually walked off set. She threatened to quit the show if Williams did not leave. ABC let Williams go after the thirteenth episode.

Roseanne Harris Conner is a lifelong resident of Lanford, a fictional mid-sized city in Illinois, stated to be about two hours from Chicago. She and her younger sister, Jackie Harris (Laurie Metcalf), are the daughters of Beverly (Estelle Parsons) and Al Harris (John Randolph). Roseanne married her high-school sweetheart Dan Conner (John Goodman), who works as an independent drywall contractor. When the series begins, they have been married for fifteen years and have three children: adolescent Becky (Alicia Goranson), pre-teen Darlene (Sara Gilbert), and young D.J. (Michael Fishman); a fourth child, Jerry Garcia, is born late in the series. Roseanne and her family deal with the many hardships of poverty, obesity, and domestic troubles with love and humor.

Roseanne is a line worker at Wellman Plastics, along with Jackie and their friend Crystal (Natalie West). Roseanne's parents, Bev and Al, arrive for an unannounced visit, sending the family into an uproar when they announce they may move to Lanford. Much to Roseanne and Jackie's relief, their parents say they are actually not moving. Roseanne also deals with tomboy Darlene's burgeoning puberty amid her daughter's own ideas of femininity. She also copes with boy-crazy Becky's dating issues, including first boyfriend, Chip (Jared Rushton). Roseanne is close to her youngest child, son, D.J., while Dan constantly frets if he expresses interest in anything other than masculine activities. Season one also finds the Conners experiencing, and surviving, a tornado. In the episode "Death and Stuff", a door-to-door salesman dies in the Conners' kitchen, and in the season finale, Roseanne stands up to the new overbearing foreman, then leads Jackie, Crystal, and other coworkers to quit Wellman Plastics.

Now that they have quit Wellman Plastics, Roseanne and Jackie look for new jobs. Jackie joins the Lanford Police Department, though Roseanne thinks it too dangerous. Roseanne cycles through a variety of menial jobs including telemarketer, secretary for Dan's boss, bartender, cashier at a fast-food restaurant, and, finally, sweeping floors at a beauty parlor. At home, Dan's poker buddy Arnie Thomas (Tom Arnold) shocks Roseanne when he plants a kiss on her, though it is only meant platonically. The Conners celebrate an outrageous Halloween that becomes an annual feature of the series. Roseanne wants ten minutes to herself to soak in the bathtub; this turns into a bizarre dream sequence in which the entire cast sings parodies of songs from musical comedies. Later, Becky increasingly rebels against Roseanne and Dan's parental authority as she becomes attracted to edgier guys. When old biker buddy Ziggy (Jay O. Sanders) appears in town, it reminds Roseanne and Dan of their own anti-establishment past. Darlene shows a talent for writing after winning recognition at school for her poem. Roseanne's own writing talents receive a boost when the family creates a basement writer's den for her birthday. This is the first season where the audience hears Roseanne thinking aloud.