Some Thoughts on 'Roseanne'

I thought the first two episodes of the Roseanne reboot were pretty good! I loved the original series. So much of it holds up today, from truly hilarious moments—like everyone smoking pot and getting paranoid or Jackie yelling “Dad is dead!” to a hard-of-hearing relative—to the darker stuff like domestic abuse, poverty and mental illness. I give Roseanne Barr a lot of credit because there was nothing like that show on TV when it debuted in 1988 and there really isn’t much like it today, at least on network TV. The other families on ABC sitcoms (with the notable exception of The Middle) have houses that look like they’re the “after” on an HGTV renovation show. The Conners lived like regular people.

Twenty-one years later, they’re still regular people. They still worry about their kids and money and now they worry about their grandkids and affording prescription drugs. They still have that old couch and afghan. Darlene is down on her luck and moved home and Becky is still trying to make ends meet. There is an undercurrent of sadness in the show: Dan and Roseanne almost lost their house and Darlene got out only to go back to Lanford. It was a little weird on the show to see the daughters grown up and with deeper voices but for Roseanne, Dan and Jackie (still amazing), they have the same rhythm, like little time has passed.

There was a lot of attention on the fact that Roseannes Conner and Barr are both Trump fans, and there was some conflict on the show between Roseanne and Jackie over Trump and Clinton. It didn’t bother me too much. (I do hope the Trump references aren't too numerous because it will get old fast.) I can see an argument either way that Roseanne Conner would have voted for Trump or Clinton. It’s realistic to see families divided this way. As for Roseanne Barr, I have strong opinions on the president but it doesn’t bother me too much that someone I’ll never meet voted for Trump. There are bigger things to worry about.

I liked the response of Roseanne and Dan to Mark, their non-gender-conforming grandchild. They initially don’t understand his preference for feminine clothes and worry that he’ll be bullied, but they fiercely protect him because he’s family. That’s true to their characters. Sara Gilbert was devastating in the scene where Mark says nobody played with him, pausing with a look of real pain on her face before encouraging him by saying, “But they will” play with him.

I also liked some of the callbacks to the early days. My eagle-eyed husband noticed the teacher in Mark’s classroom was Darlene’s teacher in the pilot, and that DJ apparently married Gina, the black girl he didn’t want to kiss.

The best thing of all about Roseanne: We get to watch Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman, our American acting treasures.