Michael Fishman revealed he once pitched a big storyline for Roseanne, the ABC sitcom he starred in from 1988 to 1997, when he was a kid.
In a video message posted to Instagram on Nov. 5, the actor, now 44, recalled his role on the classic TV series as he addressed the current pause on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP) amid the government shutdown. Fishman noted that the Conner family from the show struggled with finances during the series’ 10-season run.
“I grew up playing DJ on Roseanne,” Fishman said. “It’s a struggling working-class family, the exact kind of people who would be on SNAP.”
“And off set, I went to a public school in a suburban neighborhood,” he continued. “And my best friend came from a single-mother household and lived in a trailer park.”
“It’s actually where I got the idea for Becky to move into one,” Fishman added.
Fishman was referred to the Roseanne Season 7 episode, ”Happy Trailers,” in which his TV sister Becky (Sarah Chalke) and her husband Mark (Glenn Quinn) moved into a run-down trailer in a low-rent trailer park. Fishman was only 13 years old at the time the episode aired. The couple’s trailer was shown in other episodes, including Season 8’s “Becky Howser” episode.
In the comment section of his post, a fan asked, “So it was your idea for Becky and Mark to move into a trailer. How did that process go, that idea pitch?”
“I pitched it along with other ideas that became episodes through the years,” Fishman shared. “Started writing as kid, inspired by the brilliance I saw and a desire to contribute. We don’t always get credit for our work individually, but the contributions remain.”
Fishman has said he misses the days when TV shows had two dozen episodes per season. The sixth and seventh seasons of his most recent series, the Roseanne spinoff The Conners, only aired 13 and 6 episodes, respectively. The storylines were so shortened that Fishman’s character didn’t even appear on the show after Season 5.
In a Facebook post in March, Fishman admitted, “I miss the days where we cranked out 22-26 episodes a year on shows. We made meaningful stories all year long.”
“I want [to] write shows and do 25-30 a season,” he wrote. “Building deep characters with real growth that takes time, so people can relate at home and share the journey. As an actor, writer, director, I might be rare, but I got 25 episodes in me per year for at least 5 years easily, otherwise I don’t think the idea is a TV show. I want to create on set all year, collaborating with people I love!”
Fishman also told Remind magazine earlier this year that he was looking for opportunities to share his ideas. “As a writer and a director, there is no limitation,” he said. “The only limitation is my creativity or finding the right opportunity. So, I have a bunch of shows I’m pitching. I have a couple of comedies, a couple of dramas, and a couple of films on the writing side and then across a bunch of genres.”