Jackie Harris, Roseanne

Jackie Harris (Laurie Metcalf)

Jackie Harris was one of the main characters on long-running comedy series Roseanne, and lead character Roseanne’s sister. Over the course of nine seasons Jackie was only seen in relationships with men, including her boss Booker, the physically abusive Fisher, and a short marriage to Fred. She also had a son, Andy, with Fred. There were a few jokes made during the series hinting that Jackie might be a lesbian, including one in episode 5×8 where Roseanne joked that “lesbians wear flannel shirts and faded jeans” while Jackie was sporting that exact outfit.

At the end of the series it was revealed that most of what had happened on the show was actually from a book that Roseanne was writing, and she had taken inspiration from her own life, but “whatever I didn’t like I re-arranged”. In the last minutes of the series Roseanne revealed that Jackie was actually the lesbian in the family (her mother had come out as a lesbian a few episodes before) when Roseanne stated: “My sister in real life, unlike my mother, is gay. She always told me she was gay. But for some reason, I always pictured her with a man.”

Appearances:

• 221 episodes.

No female love interests

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Fred Oakland (Michael O'Keefe, recurring, 35 episodes, ex-husband)
• Booker Brooks (George Clooney, recurring, 11 episodes)
• Fisher (Matt Roth, recurring, 6 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Recurring)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.