Why The Roseanne Revival is Good For Television

Against all odds it seems like the Roseanne revival is actually good for television. When the series went off the air decades back it was considered for the best since things were starting to get stale and the show didn’t have much direction left to it at that time. The actors split and went their different ways and did their different things as they took on guest roles in various shows and some went to the movies and tried their hand there. In fact it seems that the only real success stories came from John Goodman and Johnny Galecki when it came to feature films, but that’s neither here nor there. Laurie Metcalf has done well for herself as well and the others have done a fair job of making a living for themselves.

But a return to Roseanne seemed like a stab at something that was more like a shot in the dark with a prayer for the best without expecting the worst. So far though things have seemed to go fairly well. The Connor’s are a crazy bunch, this can be said without judgment or rancor, but they’re entertaining all the same. Dan and Roseanne are still together obviously and the kids, well, things haven’t gone so well for all of them but they’re still their old selves. DJ is back from being overseas in the Army, Darlene has two kids and has moved back in with her parents, and Becky, one of them, is now a surrogate for the other Becky that took over during the original series. Yes, it works out somehow.

Jackie is of course still Jackie but now has a 9-year old son that likes to wear skirts and colors that ‘pop’. You can easily think that if this had been tried years ago that a lot of people would have thrown a fit at the attempt. But nowadays it’s something that doesn’t even make people bat an eye since it’s becoming the new normal, and is being treated as such thankfully. The Connor’s are still one big clan and drive each other up the wall like usual, but that’s the draw of the show. No one drives you crazier than family, as the Connor’s so easily prove, but that’s what’s important about the whole message of the show. Since the original series it’s always been about family and what it takes to keep everyone moving forward while trying to do your own thing. Roseanne an Dan have been doing their best for so long that you would think that it’s their time to finally just be grandparents and enjoy a life spent in each other’s company, but that’s not how family works, is it?

So yes, despite not believing that the show would work, I’ll admit that the showrunners have done some good things and gone back to the formula that worked in the first place as much as possible. That perhaps is the only reason why the revival is worth watching and why it should continue to be something worthwhile.