Molly Tilden is the next-door neighbor to the Conner family in Season 5 and would later reprise her role in Season 3 of The Conners., appearing in eight episodes total across both shows. She is played by actress Danielle Harris.
About Molly[]
Since Molly comes from rural Iowa and flirts frequently, Darlene often mocked her as a hillbilly country girl, despite Molly's initial attempts to be friendly with her. This is reinforced when Darlene catches D.J. watching Molly (who is undressing in front of an open window) with his telescope; when Molly comes over to complain about his peeping, Darlene gives her an earful, despite promising to deal with D.J. In spite of this, Molly babysits D.J. several times.
Molly's older sister Charlotte is also seen frequently in Season 5. She is a timid, sometimes-ditzy personality who talks in a mechanical fashion, but she has a passion for cooking and baking and has a sweet nature. Roseanne prefers Charlotte to Molly as a guest, as Molly tends to treat Charlotte as a "doormat."
According to Darlene, Molly sleeps with any guy that gives her attention; Darlene amusedly notes a parallel of Molly and her heavyset older sister to Jackie and Roseanne. She was an on-and-off friend to Darlene until things went wrong when the girls went to a concert and Molly chose to drink and smoke pot with some guys instead of taking Darlene home; this resulted in Roseanne giving her a threatening ultimatum.
The main reason Darlene disliked Molly was that she often flirted with David; David initially seemed attracted to her, but he later firmly maintained that he was committed to his relationship with Darlene when Molly came onto him. Frustrated, Molly kissed David--but D.J. saw them; when Darlene found out, she almost broke up with David although he hadn't been at fault. By the end of the episode they had forgiven each other.
Molly and her sister make one final brief appearance in "Promises, Promises" but neither have any lines and are only seen in the background of the prom dance. The Tilden family seemingly disappeared without explanation after Season 5.
However, Molly later returns in Season 3 of The Conners. Over the last 30 years, she has had kids and been married twice. She briefly reunites with Darlene for a fun night out; later, Darlene finds out that Molly passed away from brain cancer.
List of Appearances[]
Roseanne (TV series) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | # | |
Season 5 | - | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | X | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | N/A | 7 |
Total | 7 |
The Conners | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | # | |
Season 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | ||
Total | 1 |