Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Roseanne)

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Roseanne episode
Sharon kissing Roseanne
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 18
Directed by	Philip Charles MacKenzie
Written by	James Berg Stan Zimmerman
Featured music	W.G. Walden
Production code	718
Original air date	March 1, 1994 (1994-03-01)
Guest appearance
Mariel Hemingway
Episode chronology
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List of episodes

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is the eighteenth episode of the sixth season of the American situation comedy series Roseanne. Written by James Berg and Stan Zimmerman and directed by Philip Charles MacKenzie. It follows lead character Roseanne Conner on her visit to a gay bar. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" originally aired on March 1, 1994 on ABC.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" generated enormous controversy before it aired because it included a same-sex kiss between Roseanne and Sharon, played by guest star Mariel Hemingway. ABC initially planned not to air the episode. The network eventually relented and the episode was viewed by an audience of some 30 million people. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was an early entry on a list of American television episodes in which a lesbian or possibly lesbian character kisses a straight-identifying character. These lesbian kiss episodes often occurred during times of the year when networks were most concerned about generating ratings, and have come to be viewed by some critics as gimmicks to help secure those ratings.