ROSEANNE BARR
THE OUTSPOKEN ACTRESS HAPPILY RETURNS TO TV OLDER — AND WISER
The comedy queen is back and eager to tackle current events in the revival of her beloved sitcom.
It’s like no time passed,” Roseanne Barr raves to Closer of bringing her hit sitcom Roseanne back to ABC starting on March 27. “It is like a family and being back with my other husband and my other sister and my other kids. It’s great!”
Speaking at the TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 8, Roseanne, 65, who wrote, produced and starred in the 1988–’97 comedy about the working-class Conner family, notes that the entire original cast “jumped at the chance to work together again because we have such fun.” Still, some things have changed. “It was really hard 30 years ago,” Roseanne admits, choking up from the memory. “I think there had only been two other women before me who had been producers of their show — Marlo Thomas and Lucy [Ball]. Looking back, I was kind of in there alone.”
Roseanne weathered several battles to ensure her vision made it on-air — she fought for a controversial 1994 episode that included a same-sex kiss over which she’s said ABC initially “threatened to cancel the show.” But now, “it’s like night and day,” she says. “I have nothing but support from both men and women, and it’s such a relief!”
Some of that help comes from The Talk co-host Sara Gilbert, 42, who’s returning as daughter Darlene and as an executive producer. “I’m especially proud of Sara,” Roseanne raves. “When I said, ‘I will come back if you’re going to do everything because I’m too old to fight,’ she said, ‘I will do it all.’ And she has!”
Now Roseanne says she’s excited to “dig my teeth into” some of today’s issues using the wisdom she’s gained. “In my real life I have five children and they’re all very functional,” she says. “I wanted America to know that the way we raised our kids, which is to love each other through hard times, it pays off!”
“It’s fun to check back in with the family that you knew. ”
— Roseanne