Vee

I am gay and I get what she's saying. She's gay herself.

I get his point. Sadly I am not inclined to believe we are presently at a point in history where conversation is a prelude to mutual resolution. I would've believed that two years ago. Today I think it is either victory or annihilation. That being said: Do I think shows like this serve a purpose to bridge some of the divide? Maybe. So long as we never forget what we are actually dealing with beneath the initial layers of reachable soft support on the right - fascists, racists and white supremacists.

That kid is already stealing the show. And he is preternaturally poised.

Trump has no strategy.

In other news: John Goodman gets very candid about his alcoholism during the later years of the original series. He's ten years sober. Keep scrolling past the various pix and crap, there's more article there than it looks.

From her new cover album:

I think ODAAT's commentary on Trump is mostly implicit because the nature of the show's racial makeup tells the whole story. When they talk about immigration and so forth, you know instantly what it's about. It's also (mostly) implicit on Roseanne so far, but clearly they plan to dig deeper shortly.

That is a good piece. And the truth is, too few folks on either side of the vocal online debate have actually watched it, or understood who is writing or producing it. Roseanne herself is the political outlier in that group. It is not right wing propaganda. I understand and agree with concerns by Ira Madison or Roxane Gay about how the show potentially allows media outlets to play 'both sides' and go back to stroking the white heartland voter. I think that is a danger and if the show were ever to turn into Trump apologia I would drop it. I have mixed feelings about the whole push this week by cultural critics on either side. But I also think, honestly, that kind of responsibility is too much to put on any one sitcom. I think Roseanne is a complicated, messy show for a complicated, messy time. I see a lot of good and a lot of potential in it. I think making is a shocking, bold choice and an impressive one. And I think everyone - even ABC, which cites it in an article above as part of their attempt to reconnect with the white working class post-Trump - is trying to fit into a left or right culture war box that the show just refuses to adhere to. Certainly Sara Gilbert won't. Maybe that's irresponsible today, I don't know. But I also think entertainment can still be allowed to be that while exploring either end of the divide. I think Netflix's One Day at a Time is the modern, progressive heir to the original Roseanne. It's a little more frenetic and over-earnest whereas this show is dryer and more weathered, but it's quite good. And I think if there's room for ODAAT there is room for the more conflicted new Roseanne. And I would like to think both the new show and the lead actress will find their way to a clearer path. I think it is worth watching, for all of them, especially Sara Gilbert and little Ames McNamara, but even Roseanne herself, who seems like she is slowly finding herself onscreen.

2018, everybody.

That's a great article, thanks. I never forgot those scenes. They floored me at the time.

I'm sure David Faustino is waiting at the Fox lot as we speak. The rest of 'em, I dunno. Katey Sagal is still happily married to Kurt Sutter, Christina Applegate is doing fine in film and TV in her character roles and Ed O'Neill could well just be worn out of the grind. But it could happen, sure. Someone at the network has to be thinking about it this week. What's irritating is they'd never bother to roll out the same red carpet to Living Single, Martin or In Living Color (which they canned a revival of a few years ago).

I would kill for Living Single to come back. But Erika Alexander is very busy these days with her comics work - not only her original projects and maybe some novels(?), but she is doing part of the Buffy comic revival as well with Joss Whedon, IIRC. I also think Fox today remains pretty ambivalent on black material, even post-Empire. I can't remember. I think it was Mark. D.J. she said got published or made a movie.

I know they plan to address Mark's death more. But I remember Roseanne used to talk about him dying in Iraq.

Based on some reviews, my suspicion is the character with the opioid addiction is either Becky or Roseanne herself. According to a BTS interview,

I hated Friends and don't think it'll ever happen. But I said that about Twin Peaks and Murphy Brown. Family Matters was almost always terrible. Please never let it come back. Tisha Campbell keeps claiming Martin may happen but I'm not sure she has any idea what she's talking about. Living Single, I can't see it sadly. ETA: Apparently Martin himself has also hinted at a reboot, but I still think they're just trying to drum up interest.

It's not gonna happen. It didn't when the producers tried to float it in '88 (after the episode where Jackie and Dan ran the house together while Roseanne was away) and Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman both went straight to Roseanne about it, and it will never happen now. If the cast stood in solidarity with her through all her insanity for a decade on the air, they'll do so again today.

Coltin Scott/Stephen Martines/Coltin Fish Tacos (Nikolas #2, GH/Tony #2, GL) is a con man.

I don't think that'll happen, but I do think the focus on Darlene and her kids is deliberate and smart. I also do hold out hope for the cast bringing her back from the brink - she has gone from constantly offensive to sheepish and on the defensive in recent months, with only occasional horrible flashes of really terrible. For Roseanne Barr that is sadly a promising forecast.

Roseanne was at least this unbalanced at times during the original run. I think Sara Gilbert has a better chance of wrangling her in future than others.

Yeah, that's tacky but old. She is Jewish and it's a crass photo shoot but I don't remember what it was for - something meant to outrage.

Roseanne did reverse herself on the loathsome David Hogg shít she pulled. I do think/hope her castmates are beginning to have an effect on pulling her back from the brink, but I may be being optimistic.

I never expected MB to do Roseanne numbers, but I never expected it back at all. I do think it has a very relevant place in the conversation today and I'll be happy to see it, but no, I don't think anyone should expect it to hit these numbers and if CBS does I think they're foolish.

I saw an alt right tweetstorm earlier about how this is all secretly an act on Roseanne's part to be 'subversive' and infiltrate them because of Mark Jr., D.J.'s black kid, etc. It's no act - she's just that contradictory in her feelings. She says and does repugnant things but championed the Mark character, giving D.J. a black wife and child and so on. The hard and somewhat messy facts are, the show's gamble was correct as were Roseanne's own instincts about bringing it back, just as she had similar instincts about how the original show would go to #1 with or without the showrunner she kicked out in Season 1 (Matt Williams). It's done so well because both sides embraced it. Critics seem to like it, the left is very conflicted about it (as am I in some ways), and the alt right also seems increasingly confused the day after. They can't decide whether it's theirs or a false flag. The answer is it's for everyone - and produced by a very liberal production team and an openly gay showrunner, starring a woman who has made repulsive right wing gestures in recent years, days and hours - and that makes it messy. We can't pigeonhole Roseanne, for all her ugliness and behavior I think is reprehensible, like the thing with David Hogg the other day. But she's more than just that, and the show is definitely not alt right propaganda. It's not Last Man Standing. I'm not saying we should tailor more entertainment 'for everyone' - I think that's a fool's errand, I don't have much stomach for it morally right now, and I think very few shows could successfully do that. I think this one could.

My heart bleeds:

I said this both here and in my status update, but that moment is one of the best I've seen on Roseanne since, I dunno... season 6? And it was also clearly deep for Gilbert.