TV Show: Roseanne

I was a sometimes-fan of the original series (1988-1997).  Toward the end it got a little threadbare and strained, but when it started out it was a refreshing look at real American people (fat, ugly) with real American problems (unemployment, insurance, house payments).

The reboot -- 21 years later -- with all the original cast -- could have been either a disaster or pretty good, depending on the quality of the writing.  All the cast looked surprisingly good, and the new cast additions (grandchildren) are excellent actors.  One's a young boy who cross-dresses, but isn't gay or gender-confused.  The other's a granddaughter who is half-black (from an off-screen relationship which was set up in the original series).

There was some very smart writing.  There were some laugh-out-loud lines, which is rare for me.

And as always, there was a core of goodness and forgiveness which is sadly lacking from almost all American sitcoms.

In one of those instances where life can be even stranger than fiction, Rosanne was telephoned by Trump after the show to congratulate her on the high ratings. On the show Barr plays a Trump supporter, to the horror of her family. In real life Barr is a Trump supporter, to the horror of her fans.

When asked by her sister Jackie "How could you have voted for that monster?" Rosanne replies, "Well, he promised jobs. In case you didn't notice, we almost lost our house here." That's true, in the original series unemployment hits the Connors hard, and they were in dire straits.

Jackie replies, "Well look around. Things are even WORSE now!" Trump, in his infinite wisdom, either didn't hear that line -- or didn't understand it. I suspect later shows will explore the non-delivery of campaign promises.... and he might come to regret his call.

I watched the first episode and was surprised at how much it resembled the old series. Not bad.
Whether I continue watching depends on how much Trump humor there is, and how large the parts of the grandchildren are.

It was pretty funny that they threw in both Beckys. I recognized the latter Becky as Sarah Chalke from Scrubs, which I thought was an hilarious program most of the time.

I'll give it another episode or two.

I watched the second episode.
I'm done with it.

3rd episode last week was occasionally funny, but had a serious subject (as the show occasionally does).  Fourth episode last night was more consistently funny, with really smart writing.  The cast are masters at comedy by now, and the chemistry between this cast is golden.  There was one scene where Dan went against Roseanne's wishes, setting her up for a blistering retort -- and she just stood there, giving him a look.  I laughed out loud.

That kind of restraint is altogether missing from modern American comedy.  We accidentally stayed on ABC for the sitcom that followed, and between the laugh track, the unfunny unrealistic dialog, and the stupid setups the contrast could not have been more stark.

NoCo wrote:

Toward the end it got a little threadbare and strained,...

I had the same experience with the original program: funny as hell for a while and then dropping into preachy and maudlin. It seems to me that this new series is taking up where the old one left off - the part of it I didn't care for.

It wasn’t preachiness that made it threadbare.  It was jumping-the-shark storylines like the Connors winning the lottery, Dan dying, and then waking up in the finale to discover it was all a dream.  Hello, can you say writer’s block?

How is it that The Simpsons has been on the air for 175 years and hasn’t jumped the shark?

Personally, I think what Roseanne preaches — forgiveness, inclusiveness, tolerance — is a lesson that is sadly all too rare.

Haven’t seen the grandkids in three episodes though. Major missed opportunity.

Last night's episode had Roseanne meeting her new next-door neighbors, Muslims from Yemen.  They turned out to be just like normal people!

Quite a stretch for a Trump voter.

But the real-life tweet was too much - show cancelled.

Former Trump aide likes her just the way she is.

And yet, I’m not really sure what “cancellation” means in this instance.  The tenth season — 21 years after the ninth — had already run all nine episodes they made.  Was there talk of starting an eleventh?  I hadn’t heard any.  So far as I knew this “Rosanne” show was a one-off reunion show ... that just happened to run nine hours.

I’m not sure the cast would’ve been up for a complete series reboot.

I wouldn’t put it past the creators to have staged the whole thing, to show that a hit TV show can get “canceled” for a cast member making a racist remark on Twitter.  Meanwhile the show’s biggest fan makes far worse Twitter bombs every day, yet somehow unaccountably stays in office.

Okay, the writers were supposed to sit down to start writing an eleventh season on the very day it was cancelled.

Or as we like to call it, Roseanne.

Personally, I can't see it doing very well.  Like it or not, Rosie was the heart & soul of the show and without her the whole thing just smacks of exploitation.

It'll be interesting, though, to see how they explain her absence.  Since EVERYBODY else associated with the show is a flaming liberal, maybe they'll have her sent to a border immigration facility.  Or shot in the back by police.  Or have her travel to Yemen and be unable to return.  Or have her die of righteous cancer like asswipe Charles Krauthammer.

Woo Hoo! Another doomed-to-fail spin off.

Regardless of my - or your -opinion of Barr as a (semi) person, she was the whole damned program. Every other character, except John Goodman, was pretty much invisible.

Okay, I watched the two "The Connors" episodes.  I still love Laurie Metcalf, and John Goodman does his best but yeah, I can't see it lasting even a whole season.

Some genuine emotional moments -- when Dan and Darlene talked about how stubborn and self-destructive Roseanne was they really sounded sincere -- but there weren't enough laughs.  Too bad for the actors & writers.  Hope they all find work.

Dan is mourning the loss of his wife, and not coping well. DJ's wife comes back from Iraq and wants to know why he hasn't been taking their child to church every Sunday.

Dan visits a support group.

DJ visits church.

How many sitcoms can you name that deal with weighty issues like this? It's not revolutionary or change-inducing or awe-inspiring, but it's pretty good writing and pretty important stuff.