"December Bride" is the eleventh episode of the eighth season of the

situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Roseann ...

''. The episode revolves around the wedding of popular recurring character Leon Carp and his boyfriend Scott. It was written by William Lucas Walker and directed by

Gail Mancuso Gail Mancuso (born July 14, 1958) is an American film and television director. Early life and career Mancuso grew up in Melrose Park, Illinois. She is married to Brian Downs, a doctor, and divides her time between her homes in Valencia, Californ ...

. The episode originally aired on

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on December 12, 1995, and was one of the first times an American television series had depicted the

same-sex wedding Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

of a recurring character.

Plot

Roseanne meets Scott (

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...

) at her diner and learns he will be marrying Leon (

Martin Mull Martin Eugene Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor, comedian and musician who has appeared in many television and film roles. He is also a painter and recording artist. As an actor, he first became known in his role on ''Mary Hartman, ...

) at the end of the week and that Leon had left him at the altar five years earlier. Because they have to be out of town for pre-wedding counseling, Roseanne volunteers to plan the wedding for free. Leon arrives at the wedding venue and is appalled at Roseanne's decor, which includes

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

s, male strippers and enormous

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s. He attempts to flee and goes so far as to claim he isn't really gay since he hates shopping, he's insensitive, he detests

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

and he's a

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. Roseanne counters by asking, "But do you like having sex with men? GAY!" In a last desperate effort, he kisses Roseanne. He confirms that he is gay and goes forward with the wedding. With the drag queens and strippers toned down, Leon and Scott exchange their vows.

Cameos

Mariel Hemingway Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in ...

reprised her role as Sharon, the woman who kissed Roseanne in the 1994 episode "

Don't Ask, Don't Tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on Decemb ...

". When Roseanne's husband Dan (

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...

) is distressed when the grooms kiss (off-screen), Roseanne chides him for making a fuss about two people of the same sex kissing and Sharon sits down behind her. Her appearance serves as a

callback Callback may refer to: * Callback (comedy), a joke which refers to one previously told * Callback (computer programming), executable code that is passed as a parameter to other code * Callback (telecommunications), the telecommunications event th ...

to the earlier episode and the controversy that surrounded it. "December Bride" also features cameos by

Christopher Morley Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' Biography Morley was bo ...

Alexis Arquette Alexis Arquette (born Robert Arquette; July 28, 1969 – September 11, 2016) was an American actress. Early life Arquette was born in Los Angeles, the fourth of five children of Lewis Arquette, an actor and director, and Brenda Olivia "Mardi ...

David Michaels David Michaels may refer to: *David Michaels (author), a pseudonym for the authors of novels in the ''Splinter Cell'', ''EndWar'', ''H.A.W.X'', and ''Ghost Recon'' series *David Michaels (epidemiologist) (born 1954), American epidemiologist and OSHA ...

and

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...

as Leon's mom.

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

famously appeared in drag in the final scene of the episode to catch the bridal bouquet.

Controversy

ABC moved "December Bride" from its regularly scheduled broadcast time of 8:00 PM EST to 9:30 PM. An ABC spokesperson stated that this was not because of the inclusion of a same-sex wedding but because "the adult humor in this episode was more appropriate for the later time period".

Spin-off

Roseanne Barr proposed spinning off Leon and Scott into their own series, which she would co-create with "December Bride" writer William Lucas Walker. In the spinoff, Leon and Scott were to be raising a teenage daughter fathered by Leon years before. Barr suggested Don Knotts and

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' ...

could play an inter-racial, inter-generational neighbor couple. Walker and Barr submitted a treatment, but ABC did not accept the series, reportedly because the network believed that a series with a gay couple as the central characters could not be sustained.Capsuto, p. 362

Notes

References

* Capsuto, Steven (2000). ''Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television''. Ballantine Books. .

External links

December Bride
at

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{{Roseanne and The Conners 1995 American television episodes American LGBT-related television episodes Roseanne episodes Television episodes about same-sex weddings