BetterForgotten

Yeah, the Darlene/Becky dynamic is interesting. Unlike Roseanne/Jackie, the two of them were never close or had as tight of a bond, so they don't have the same dependency/attachment issues their mother and aunt have. It's so easy for a character like Becky to get lost in the shuffle. I'll always remember when Roseanne and Dan were jobless and when Dan lost the bike shop, and all Becky could think about was Mark's employment and her own happiness. She was such a selfish piece of sh!t. Usually when Darlene argued with Dan and Roseanne, she mostly had a point and was often right, that was rarely the case with Becky.

From an acting standpoint, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf (though it was never a doubt with her) killed it. I was afraid they'd have to completely mellow-out Darlene now that she's a mother of two, but it's nice that she still had some of her trademark humor and her current incarnation seems like a natural progression. Becky is still the same selfish bitch she always was. I wonder why they didn't really touch upon Mark's death, but I guess they'll delve into that in later episodes. He wasn't bad, but it's probably wise they give Michael Fishman as few lines as possible.

I except nothing less from what's become of The View.

Yeah, they told her they were going to run the story without her permission if she didn't grant them an exclusive interview with her daughter. Roseanne was new to Hollywood at that time, and clearly didn't know how to deal with a lot of that attention.

Yeah, and she was blackmailed by the National Enquirer to do an exclusive with them when they tracked down the daughter she gave up for adoption. She and her daughter are now very close.

NY Times Review

I honestly sometimes can't tell if Roseanne is exactly pro-Trump or if she's just trolling people. Even before Trump, she was talking about how the 'Left' took things too far where they enabled the current social climate to be too "politically correct" where everything is taken too seriously - I think that's what pissing her off the most. I don't know if I'd ever call her a right-wing Conservative.

What's weird though is that the show worked around Sara Gilbert's college schedule (she attended Yale on the east coast), but didn't do the same for Lecy. Perhaps Lecy wanted to squarely focus on college though. However, Darlene remained a central focus on the show even as Gilbert was away and could only do half seasons from seasons 6-9. If Darlene is Roseanne's true successor, Becky is certainly Jackie's - someone who had a lot of promise, but was never able to get it together. I think it was mentioned by Bev in the original show how Jackie always had good grades in school, but ultimately never lived up to any of that potential in life.

I can't imagine the ratings ever being that great, regardless of the era of the show, but I agree that "music rights" seemed like a lame excuse for not continuing past 1981. I believe the only time SoapNet commented on ratings for reruns was when they pulled AW from the lineup - saying something like it was registering a 0 rating.

Sara Gilbert will also be on The View on Tuesday - I wonder if they'll mention The Talk, lol. Sara will also be on Colbert on Monday.

I can't help but shake the feeling that Nia may be ashamed she was on a soap, even though it was her first big break. The way she casually rushed though it in her Uncensored episode made me feel that way - she basically spent most of that time talking about how much she hated auditioning for it and then landed the job, and then quickly moved on to talking about her roles (in a lot more depth) in Boyz N the Hood and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I also notice she doesn't really acknowledge fans on Twitter who mention GL.

It's ironic that Labine creatively saved GH, given that ABC destroyed her soap (RH) when they tried to make it into a GH clone. I say 'creatively' because ratings did falter after a while during Labine's stint, which many blamed on the show becoming too topical and depressing. Guza did boost ratings in '96. When the Labine's left in early 1996, ABC almost lured Nancy Curlee to replace them, but she backed out at the last minute and we got Guza instead. I wonder what could have been with a Riche/Curlee team...

Amazing news, Tony Jordan is writing Kat's return episode. I'm not expecting much, but given how much Jordan and Yorke loved the character, it's a nice touch to have her creators reintroduce her: http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a852659/eastenders-spoilers-tony-jordan-kat-moon-return/

It's still amazing she was able to get as much power as she did. I have no doubt she was very difficult to deal with, but she probably had to put up with a ton of sexism to really push through her vision. It's amazing the show was as popular and highly rated as it was with so much backstage drama. There was a point in the early 90's where Roseanne was the most popular woman in America. It was either her or Madonna on the cover of every magazine/tabloid.

You know, I didn't actually mind Roseanne becoming more bitter/mean-spirited in seasons 5 and 6 - I think Roseanne and Darlene's best one-liners and zingers occurred in those seasons. But I know for some people, that's when they started to hate Roseanne as a character.

I thought season 5 was the best season, a good combination of the home-spun feeling of the earlier seasons, with the more adult tone of the latter seasons. The show had to naturally change after season 4 - the kids, for the most part, were grown (and Becky had run off with Mark), so more focus could be paid to Roseanne's life outside of being a mom. They focused on The Lunch Box, but moved away from Roseanne's old friends, and instead focused more on Roseanne's relationships with her mother, Nancy, and Leon. Also, Darlene was a very different character than Becky, so her being left as the main child of focus lent to a different tonal quality on the show.

I think that's what Whitney Cummings said in the 20/20 special, but I don't know if they actually have someone cast in the role of DJ's wife. Also, not to sound insensitive, but the little girl playing his daughter doesn't look biracial, so I'm wondering if she's his biological daughter (not that it matters, family is family).

Yeah, Bonnie (and Crystal to a lesser degree) was phased out after season 4. Roseanne and Bonnie had a rift when Rodbell's was closing down and Roseanne asked Leon for a recommendation to be in management at the mall (Bonnie thought she was more qualified). They made up though when Crystal gave birth at the end of season 4, and I don't think Bonnie was mentioned again after that. Leon was also phased out after season 4, but they brought him back in season 6. I guess because they wanted Roseanne to have a familiar adversary. I still think it's kind of strange Leon isn't in this revival. However, if they do get another season, I do think they'll try to get Martin Mull to make a few appearances.

The dialogue and breakdown staff was largely great in McTavish's first stint. Even when the plots were absurd as hell, much of the day to day writing was excellent in the early/mid 90's.

I don't think they had any idea what to do with her, and what they did give her was offensive and terrible. It might as well have been a completely new character as it didn't bare any resemblance to what the character once was. I also didn't think Jenna was anything special in the role. The dynamics with the characters that meant the most to Michelle (Sharon, Ian, Martin, Kathy, etc) felt very off to me.

And that's another example of a story that Monty would have never done. She was good at big plots and creating larger than life characters, but the depth just wasn't there otherwise. While I see the "fun" element in a lot of her GH work, it's just lacking soul and integrity to me overall.

John Yorke always said he'd never bring Michelle back unless it was Sue Tully in the role, so I guess this makes sense...