‘Roseanne’ reboot not afraid to push some buttons
“Roseanne” series debuted 30 years ago, it was one of the many beneficiaries of Bill Cosby saving the TV family sitcom, and it took the No. 2 spot behind “The Cosby Show” during its first season. Back then, I was a huge Cosby-show fan and avidly watched other shows with my friends that were popular during that era, such as “The Fresh Prince of BelAir” and “Family Matters.” However, when I did catch “Roseanne,” I was always intrigued by the terse humor and middling portrayal of the Conners.
The Conners were vastly different from the white families I had grown accustomed to seeing on other ‘80s situation comedies. They weren’t mannerly like the Tanners in “Full House,” and they weren’t cultured like the Keatons in “Family Ties.” The Conners were able to carve their own distinctive TV niche because of, as critic David Bianculli explains, their “proud fidelity” to their “working-class setting and sensibility.” Roseanne was a bold reflection of the working poor that was celebrated in a way I had never seen on television.
With the show’s return to prime time this year, the story line is more politically charged, with Roseanne being a passionate Trump supporter who is at odds with the liberal leanings of her sister Jackie.
It’s well known that the actress Roseanne Barr is pro-Trump, and it was a gutsy move on her part to examine the bitter partisan divide of the country in the show’s season premiere “Twenty Years to Life.” The premiere had some similarities to the “Black-ish” episode “Lemons,” which explored the aftermath of Trump’s victory from a racial and gender perspective. While many people were offended by some of Roseanne’s snarky comments in the premiere, such as her wisecrack to Jackie about taking a knee at dinner, this episode was impressive in calling attention to hot-button issues that are not going away, and race is definitely one of them.
The taking-a-knee dig certainly did not have the same shock value as Archie Bunker saying “the coons are coming” and that he wouldn’t “break bread with no jungle bunnies” on Norman Lear’s “All in the Family” more than 40 years ago. Decades obviously separate Barr and Lear, and they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Yet, with the current social narrative of “Roseanne,” Barr is providing us with an opportunity to view intense subject matter through the lens of comedy.
I shared “Twenty Years to Life” with students in the television diversity class I created at Ohio State University’s Lima campus for the spring semester. My students are quite astute and well aware of our country’s red-and-blue polarization. I asked them to view “Roseanne” objectively and think about useful ways that we can find common ground despite our differences. We had a good discussion that revolved around a unifying theme: Regardless of our racial or ethnic background, we want fair opportunities that will enable us to prosper. From viewing “Twenty Years to Life,” my students could clearly see that daunting challenges remain in crucial areas such as unemployment, health care and education.
Roseanne is currently holding the top ABC Tuesday spot in television ratings with 13.5 million viewers. That’s a huge audience and evidence that lots of folks still relate to the struggles of the Conners and love the “Roseanne” revival. I think the reboot can serve as a valuable teaching tool for our present times. We can take a moment to laugh at the issues that divide us and then deliberate on how to effectively address them.