(CNN) The abrupt, precipitous demise of Roseanne Barr's TV show marked merely the latest chapter in a career distinguished by soaring highs -- including "Roseanne's" most recent ratings breakthrough -- and a near-equal measure of tumult.

Barr burst onto the scene as a stand-up comic in the 1980s, landing a coveted spot on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in 1985. But her profile entered a new stratosphere in 1988, when the comic's "domestic goddess" routine served as the cornerstone of "Roseanne," an ABC sitcom that became an almost instant sensation.

The late Brandon Stoddard, who ordered the show during his stint running ABC, once said that Barr "captured something that was going on in the country, which was women's confusion and attendant anger about their role in families and children and the household."

At its peak, the program -- premiering at a point when there was far less competition, and the Fox network was still in its infancy -- averaged more than 35 million viewers, consistently ranking among the top five primetime shows through its first six seasons.

Barr was no stranger to controversy , including her tone-deaf rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at a San Diego Padres game ("Roseanne" producer Tom Werner was among the team's owners), which then-president George H.W. Bush called "disgraceful."

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