Television nowadays is in an era of reboots and revivals, and many have been hugely popular with viewers. Fans of the long-running sitcom Roseanne will get to check back in with the Conner family in a revival on ABC that promises to deliver a lot of what made the show such a hit during its original run. Roseanne often touched on real-life issues and events back in its heyday, and leading lady/executive producer Roseanne Barr has explained just how the revival will deal with current politics. Barr had this to say about what's to come on the political front for Roseanne:
I've always tried to have [the show] be a true reflection of the society we live in. Half the people voted for Trump and half didn't. It's just realistic. I've always attempted to portray a realistic portrait of the American working-class people and, in fact, it was working-class people who elected Trump, so I felt that was very real and something that needed to be discussed. Especially about polarization within the family and people actually hating other people for the way they voted, which I feel is not American... I noticed in the Roseanne shows I've always tried to have it be a true reflection of the society we live in. So I feel like half the people voted for Trump, and half didn't, so it's just realistic.
Roseanne was a series that put a working-class family in the spotlight and tackled the very real issues that people living blue-collar lives face, although the tone was somewhat changed in the final season after Roseanne seemingly won the lottery. Given the reveal in the then-series finale that the lottery win never happened and was a story concocted by Roseanne to deal with Dan's death, it was always likely that the revival would take the family back to their blue-collar roots. Of course, some of the events of the Season 9 finale will be undone for the revival, as John Goodman is back on board as a very-much-alive Dan Conner. The revival will continue to portray the family's working-class roots, and that portrayal involves characters supporting Donald Trump.
It's no secret that President Donald Trump received the support of a very large portion of the working-class demographic in the 2016 presidential election, and so it makes sense that Roseanne Conner at least would have given him her vote. Roseanne Barr's comments at the TCA winter press tour (via People) seem to indicate that perhaps not everybody in the Conner family feels the same way about the state of politics. As Roseanne is a comedy about family, the odds are pretty good that the revival won't be filled with arguments about current events, but it seems that the revival will strive for realism on the political front.
All things considered, the revival will have a lot going on. In addition to handling politics, the new batch of episodes will introduce new characters (including the kids of David and Darlene). Johnny Galecki took time out of his Big Bang Theory schedule to reprise his role as David, and we'll even get to see how Roseanne managed to incorporate both Becky actresses into the story.
Unfortunately, we still have a bit of a wait before we get to see the whole Roseanne crew back together. The revival doesn't debut on ABC until Tuesday, March 27. The good news is that there are plenty of great TV shows to watch in the meantime, and you can find them on our midseason TV premiere guide.
