S10.E01: Twenty Years to Life / S10.E02: Dress to Impress

[kit.kat343]

Quote

Thank you for clarifying that for me. :)  And Andy is Jackie's son?  (Or not, if they end up retconning that?)  Who is his father supposed to be?  Was Jackie married to Andy's father?    Waiting until another episode when they have more time to delve into it and add details is much better than cramming it all into the first or second episodes.  There's only so much that can be covered in a twenty minutes sitcom episode.

All the original episodes are on amazon prime.  and this article might be a good place to start catching up:  http://www.vulture.com/article/roseanne-most-essential-episodes.html

[Steph J]

2 hours ago, Mmmfloorpie said:

Also, getting the teacher from the pilot was cool too.

Weirdly, that was one of my favorite touches. Probably because one of the things I best remember from the original series is the exchange, "Your daughter barks." "My whole family barks."

[callie lee 29]

Retconning Andy would just be so weird.  I get they're pretending the kat sin didn't exist,  with Jackie being gay, Darlene and Becky married to the opposite brother, and dan not being dead.  But if I recall Andy  (fathered by Fred) was definitely the four a few years.  Also, when did Beverly come out? Was that S9??

 

And Ms. Crane!!! I may have screamed a little when i saw her.  That was brilliant. I'll watch just for that. 

Edited March 28, 2018 by callie lee 29

[madpsych78]

7 minutes ago, Miss Ruth said:

Maybe Mark died in the Gulf War.

Iraq War would be more plausible. Gulf War was in 1991.

[VCRTracking]

I also liked seeing Darlene not just being a mom but a great one.

[anna0852]

Just now, VCRTracking said:

I also liked seeing Darlene not just being a mom but a great one.

Yes! The episode blurb for next week is about Roseanne clashing with Darlene over her parenting style. I'm looking forward to Darlene winning that fight. I'm not saying Roseanne didn't do her best and love her kids but so far Darlene seems to be a more empathetic and patient parent.

[ShellSeeker]

I laughed the hardest at Jackie bringing Russian dressing for the salad. Heh heh.

I liked it so much more than I thought I would. Lecy was pretty stilted except for her interactions with Sara. It seems like those two clicked right back into their original chemistry.

[BitterApple]

Whatever happened to the diner? I know Leon and Nancy ended up getting it during the post-lotto episodes, but I don't recall them mentioning it tonight.

I think the early episodes were a little rough, but there's potential to recapture the magic. Limiting DJ's screen time and getting rid of the Wacky Jacky persona  would be a great way to start. Lecy is definitely rusty and needs to deliver her lines more naturally, but I think she'll get better once she gets back into the groove. Harris and Mark are great, very well-casted.

[AntiBeeSpray]

17 minutes ago, Miss Ruth said:

Maybe you should do a little cramming before next Tuesday so you'll be familiar with the characters.  :)

Darlene was going to drive Mark to school until Harris needed Darlene to take her.  That sounds to me like Darlene has a car.

TV Land has been showing them all day on Sundays for some time now.

MARK????

Ever since they've been showing the previews, I have thought that Becky was a little long in the tooth to be a surrogate, so I'm glad that Darlene mentioned Becky's age.  It's just like Becky to lie about her age to Andrea, though.

Maybe Mark died in the Gulf War.

 

Not the old eps. The new ones. It didn't record them. Sorry that I didn't make that clearer.

 

17 minutes ago, tessaray said:

They should be on Yahoo View (that is what old free Hulu is, right?) and ABC's website at some point. I'm not sure how long it takes for them to be posted. 

Cool. Thanks I'll check those out.

Edited March 28, 2018 by AntiBeeSpray

[VCRTracking]

10 minutes ago, madpsych78 said:

Iraq War would be more plausible. Gulf War was in 1991.

Glenn Quinn was such a tragic loss. It wasn't until he was on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel that I found out he was Irish! He was good as the "sexy bad boy Mark" when he was first introduced on the show(the episodes that dealt with Becky and Mark were mostly written by Amy Sherman Palladino who would repeat the formula with Rory and Jess on Gilmore Girls) and then be funny as a dumb but good-hearted lug when he came back with Sarah Chalke's Becky.

Edited March 28, 2018 by VCRTracking

[AgentRXS]

30 minutes ago, Zoe said:

But... the original had a live audience too.

I guess its because I haven't watched the reruns in awhile, and I don't watch sitcoms anymore, that it just seemed jarring to me. I totally forgot that the original was filmed in front of a live audience. It just seems outdated in this day and age.

Quote

Whatever happened to the diner? I know Leon and Nancy ended up getting it during the post-lotto episodes, but I don't recall them mentioning it tonight.

The recession probably did them in, if a change in dieting trends/demographics didn't do them in first. I'm more curious to know if the Lobo still exists.....

Edited March 28, 2018 by AgentRXS

[LiveenLetLive]

16 minutes ago, kit.kat343 said:

What is most likely to happen is that a young woman is selected to be an egg donor (usually in her early 20s since at that age her eggs are most likely to be chromosomal normal).   Most reputable clinics will require surrogates who carry the baby to already have children, so they are usually a little older than egg donors.  A 43 year old woman would statistically have 80% of her eggs be chromosomal abnormal, which would lead to miscarriage or babies with down's syndrome or the small percentage of babies with trisomy 13 or 18 that survive but are very sick and usually die by their first birthday.  It would be a highly unreputable egg donor service that would not screen the donor for age, since IVF is really unlikely to work statistically for a 43 year old woman.  A 43 year old woman could be a surrogate, but as an egg donor she would be a very poor choice.  The families can test the embryos and only implant the ones that are chromosomal normal, but it is unlikely that a 43 year old woman would be successful with one round of IVF (not impossible, but unlikely) and the big money only comes from being able to produce a child that's born, so the clinics have some incentive to ensure this will happen.  There's no regulation for the fertility industry, so its like the wild west.  I'm highly concerned that egg donors are being put on really high hormone levels, since some of them are producing a huge number of eggs (some have been 30-34 in a  cycle).  Producing a huge number of eggs puts them at risk of OHSS, which can lead to serious health effects for the donors.  I just went though IVF with my own eggs, and the doctors were very careful to limit the number of eggs I made to protect my health, but it scares me to think of girls in college being pumped full of drugs since the more eggs they make, the more likely a baby can be created for the intended parents (and parents often want all of their children to be genetically related so if they can make 5 or six embryos from one IVF cycle they are likely to be able to complete their family without needing to pay for donor eggs again).    

co-sign your entire post about the ridiculous Becky surrogacy plot--she is too old period to use her own eggs and pumping a 43 year old woman full of hormones is risky need I bring up the unfortunate Elizabeth Edwards who had 2 more children at 50 after she and her husband lost their son? I still suspect that her breast cancer could have been potentiated by fertility drugs. 

[kit.kat343]

I just realized that Mark's teacher was played by the same actress, Judy Prescott, as Darlene's teacher in the first episode of Roseanne.  That had some of my favorite dialogue -  Roseanne was annoyed she had to leave work early to meet with Darlene's teacher about her behavior and the teacher said:  "your daughter barks."  Roseanne replied "My whole family barks!"

[UYI]

1 hour ago, AgentRXS said:

I liked it okay. The live studio audience is a bit jarring. It felt more like a Happy Days rerun in that aspect than an episode of Roseanne. I wonder whose decision that was?

 

Compared to Fuller House, where everyone got applause every time a character first appeared when it returned, it was actually pretty restrained. The only person to get applause upon entering a scene, from what I could tell, was Sarah Chalke. 

[BitterApple]

10 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

Glenn Quinn was such a tragic loss. It wasn't until he was on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel that I found out he was Irish! 

Lulz! If you rewatch the old episodes you'll definitely notice his Irish brogue coming through his pretend American accent. 

[VCRTracking]

Just now, BitterApple said:

Lulz! If you rewatch the old episodes you'll definitely notice his Irish brogue coming through his pretend American accent. 

I haven't watched them a while but you're probably right! Olivia D'abo who played Kevin's sister on The Wonder Years was British but who sounded(to my ears) as genuine American.

[Zoe]

4 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Since when do the Conners say grace before dinner?  They don’t, so that was a noticeably uncharacteristic way to weave in some more exposition.

It made me think of when DJ started doing bible study behind their backs. Maybe he took it even further?

[UYI]

33 minutes ago, Bastet said:

 

- I thought Becky wasn’t a Rebecca; I’d assumed she was, but I think when that came up in conversation it turned out she wasn’t – I’ll have to explore that again

 

She is; when Roseanne went to speak to the principal after the school picture kerfuffle ("We're all fingers, here"), she said she was the mother of "Rebecca Conner." 

28 minutes ago, Zoe said:

It made me think of when DJ started doing bible study behind their backs. Maybe he took it even further?

They've always been good people; it's just that now they're actually practicing. ;) 

Edited March 28, 2018 by UYI

[Bastet]

13 minutes ago, Zoe said:

It made me think of when DJ started doing bible study behind their backs. Maybe he took it even further?

They were (non-practicing) Good People, not any of the religions their families brought to the table.  We learned via Roseanne's conversations with both Darlene and Bev, at separate times, that she believed in a god, but organized religion was not a part of their lives - before or after D.J.'s church phase - and certainly not to the extent of delaying a meal to pray.  It was just "Hey, grace would be an easy way to spew out some additional backstory on where everyone is/has been" without regard for the fact there's no precedent.  It's not offensively inconsistent characterization - especially given the lapse in time - but noticeable; no one who was recently reintegrated to family dinner asked, "Um, what, and since when?"

[PradaKitty]

Um... who keeps the same couch for 3O years? 

Loved seeing the cast again - Harris is Darlene3.0 and looks as though she could be Sarah Gilbert’s child.

i just want to know what happened to Andy! 

[ChicksDigScars]

3 hours ago, Snickerdoodle said:

When I worked at Chi Chi’s, I wore an outfit similar to Becky’s. 

Yeah! High Five to my fellow Chi Chi’s waitressing wench costume sufferer!

[Emily Thrace]

9 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Whatever happened to the diner? I know Leon and Nancy ended up getting it during the post-lotto episodes, but I don't recall them mentioning it tonight.

It would be good to get some explanation but I could easily see it having gone under. That might be why they almost lost the house. Or since it was near the highway it could be the real estate was more valuable than the business and they sold it.

3 minutes ago, LiveenLetLive said:

co-sign your entire post about the ridiculous Becky surrogacy plot--she is too old period to use her own eggs

I wonder if the couple themselves isn't up to something shady. Like they were turned away from an agency because the husband had cancer or is legally still married to someone else. Them not using an agency seems weird.  Maybe her husband is dead and she actually met Becky through some grief group? That might be a good reason for Becky to do this,

The surrogate storyline does have some potential if it give us more information about Becky's last twenty years. I find it odd she and Mark never had kids. Its easy to handwave that the pregnancy the hinted at in the finale miscarried but if Becky had a history of infertility you would Darlene at least would point that out. Even if they didn't have money for fertitlity treatments you can foster to adopt for very little money. The waiting list for things like that can be a lot shorter in rural areas like Landford.  The only thing that make sense is if Mark had some kind of drawn out cancer battle that started not long after the finale. (Little Mark is 9 so I would assume he died around that time.)  

 

27 minutes ago, Bastet said:

 Since when do the Conners say grace before dinner?  They don’t, so that was a noticeably uncharacteristic way to weave in some more exposition.  Jackie saying, “… since your husband died” to Becky was similarly awkward; she would have said Mark

Actually in the finale Roseanne made a whole speech about who the family has a lot to be grateful for and needed to stop praying in dark corners and pray out loud. I can buy that it stuck at least for big family dinners. Kinda like my family always says grace at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Also I just realized when I came here DJ's daughter is probably named after Nana Mary.

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, Emily Thrace said:

I can buy that it stuck at least for big family dinners.

I thought about that, but Darlene and family are already living there (only a matter of weeks, but still), it seems Becky drops by regularly, and Jackie is new again but Roseanne is pissed that she's there, so even if they do now incorporate this ritual into extended family dinners when they didn't previously (we saw Thanksgiving, Christmas, and everything in between and it wasn't part of the ritual), it seems an odd occasion for Roseanne to take up chatting with her god.  It was probably the clunkiest bit of exposition for me.

[chocolatine]

You guys, I just remembered that Lecy played a pregnant redneck on Sex And The City who pretended she wanted Charlotte and Harry to adopt her baby just so she and her husband/baby daddy could score a free trip to NYC, so she's not a stranger to a dodgy surrogacy/adoption storyline.

[UYI]

7 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I thought about that, but Darlene and family are already living there (only a matter of weeks, but still), it seems Becky drops by regularly, and Jackie is new again but Roseanne is pissed that she's there, so even if they do now incorporate this ritual into extended family dinners when they didn't previously (we saw Thanksgiving, Christmas, and everything in between and it wasn't part of the ritual), it seems an odd occasion for Roseanne to take up chatting with her god.  It was probably the clunkiest bit of exposition for me.

Perhaps she used it that time in particular as a way to troll Jackie before they made up? Then again, someone would have brought up that they don't do this regularly. Yeah, I don't know. 

[threebluestars]

I am curious if they were trying to make the audience wonder who Darlene and Becky were married to, only because they never said any names. Darlene said "I don't have a partner" and Jackie said "since your husband died" - no names used.

I noticed what looked like a lift of some kind on the stairs?

Also not surprised the same furniture and stuff is there. My house has the same dining set and same living room couches from 25 years ago.

[Hellohappylife]

I felt so happy watching the Conner’s again!

I was afraid it was going to Feel like the Full House reboot,which is so cringe worthy & horrible but that’s another story!

I agree with others,it’s like the conner’s never left tv.  Dan & Roseanne have the same chemistry as before,they’ve always been my favorite tv couple! I love jackie’s Craziness,she’s always reminded me of my own aunt. 

I won’t lie,I almost cried during darlene’s Conversation with Mark about how it’s okay to be “weird”  her tears and emotions felt so real!

Do the conner’s still own the Restaurant or have jobs? 

I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough,I’m just glad this show is back! 

[chocolatine]

4 minutes ago, Hellohappylife said:

Do the conner’s still own the Restaurant or have jobs? 

Apparently Dan still does drywall - that's the "polish" on his nails that Mark was referring to. Roseanne said Darlene could request her as an Uber driver, but I think that was a joke.

[Maharincess]

2 hours ago, Stacey1014 said:

The thing that threw me off was watching in HD. The picture overall seemed different compared to watching the older episodes. 

It looked weird to me at times too, in certain scenes it looked they they were doing it in front of a green screen and adding the set afterwards. 

[sheetmoss]

25 minutes ago, threebluestars said:

I am curious if they were trying to make the audience wonder who Darlene and Becky were married to, only because they never said any names. Darlene said "I don't have a partner" and Jackie said "since your husband died" - no names used.

I noticed what looked like a lift of some kind on the stairs?

Also not surprised the same furniture and stuff is there.

I looked to see what the storyline was for next week's eppy - it said Dan gets Roseanne a stair lift

    I wonder if this was the 2nd episode tonight?

 

The Connors' weren't rich or had lots of extra $ - so I can still see them having the same furniture... used to old school thinking where your furniture was supposed to last you for life

Edited March 28, 2018 by sheetmoss

[eskimo]

I think they settled season 9 and the finale as best they could with that scene in the garage where Dan and Roseanne look at and discuss the infamous book.  

[Luciano]

It's been 20 years. Between health scares, losing relatives, economic crises, having a kid and daughter-in-law deployed to a war zone, and the general state of the world post-1997 (the last time we saw this family), I don't think it's a huge leap to have Roseanne turn more towards faith/prayer than she would back then. The family seemed to be uncomfortable with organized religion (Dan and his Pat Robertson-loving family that gave him the willies) but this was just saying grace, not evangelizing to each other. And Roseanne managed to use it to annoy her sister too, so it's not like she was above weaponizing it.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Luciano

[itsjustme]

I didn't know how much I missed Jackie until she showed up on my screen again.

Edited March 28, 2018 by itsjustme

[MsJamieDornan]

3 hours ago, pixiestix said:

I enjoyed seeing the cast together again, but I wish they would have taken the first two episodes to answer more questions rather than making it so political and in-your-face. I realize they were trying to make the show relevant to 2018, but I felt bombarded with too many "issues" throughout.....some current issues, some old, but ongoing issues. In just two episodes they addressed the election controversy, Russia, gender identity issues, bullying, guns, weapons at school, homosexuality, my body-my choice, prescription drugs, etc was too much.  I think it's great, and relevant, to include real, relevant issues into the show, but I wish they wouldn't have done it all at once...it took away from the flow and humor that I used to love about this show.

Totally agree.

The first episode had me nervous. No one But John Goodman seemed to fit right back in character, the others struggled a bit.  The second episode flowed much better. The Becky and Darlene fights still make me laugh.

[MsTree]

Geez people...this is a SIT-COM!

[FEAniba]

7 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I really liked this.  Emma Kenney is definitely a great addition to the cast.  The 2nd episode was better then the first.  I really liked the storyline with Mark and how Darlene and Roseanne handled it and ultimately even Dan mostly came around.  

Not sure about Lecy.  She is the weak link of the show so far but I think once she gets comfortable with the roll again it will even out.  

The show has always had a weird social commentary but now it’s just gotten a little more overt about it but I think it’s handling it mostly well.  I am definitely in for awhile.

Loved the Darlene is gay jokes.  I don’t know why.

Sara was much weaker imo.

[Chas411]

UO and it's probably because I started watching the show in later years but I preferred Chalke as Becky. I think she's s much stronger actress than Goranson.

[GoldenGirl90]

4 hours ago, PradaKitty said:

 

Um... who keeps the same couch for 3O years? 

 

My grandma still has the same couch that my dad and his siblings grew up on in the 60s.

[brokenwing29]

I liked Harris but I'm a stickler for details and it annoyed me that they made her younger than she should be. What would be so bad about having a 20 year old character versus a teen? She could be down on her luck and still living with her mother or a college student or a working girl who pops in now and then.

I'm not surprised Roseanne Conner would vote Trump but I am kind of surprised at the actress Roseanne's political views. For one, she is a Hollywood actress, and most of them are quite liberal. Also, she was accepting of gays long before it became okay to be, so it is odd that she would be so conservative. At one point it seemed like she was making everyone on the show gay. I remember the kiss between Roseanne's friend (can't remember her name) and her girlfriend caused a major stir. If they keep up with Roseanne expressing her political views in every episode she is going to start coming off like a female Archie Bunker. Lovable at times but with some antiquated ideas. Pretty sure that is not what actress Roseanne is going for though.

The author of a blog I sometimes read, who has a gender-fluid 11 year old, said that Sara Gilbert had consulted with her about the Mark character. The only thing that really surprised me about little Mark was his quick and definite reply when Dan asked if he felt like a girl or a boy. I'm not knowledgeable about such issues, though, so I am glad they are doing their homework.

I was also glad that Becky's age was mentioned in regard to her being a surrogate. On Fuller House, Kimmy (who is about Becky's age) is going to be Stephanie's surrogate and no one even mentioned how that might not be a good choice.

Like someone above, I was also confused about DJ's daughter. I had it in my mind that he probably married an AA woman and either adopted her child or married someone and they adopted together. I know genes can be unpredictable, but it just doesn't seem that this little girl could be his biological child. (Same on the Netflix show Everything Sucks - they cast a white father for the African American lead, though I hear on that show it was done for a reason that will be revealed). I never cared for DJ. He was about a year younger than me and I always thought the character was written as a whiny immature brat at times - he did become more bearable later. Is it definite that his wife will be the same girl he didn't want to kiss for the school play in the original show? That's kind of a nice tie-in with the history of the show if so.

I liked that they had David and Darlene's marriage not work out. It's realistic as many people do divorce and Darlene always kind of bossed him around. It didn't seem like a balanced relationship. Though it seems that Darlene has matured a great deal and has softened up. Also liked that they named their son after David's brother. I guess due to the kid Mark's age, original Mark has probably been gone at least 10 years.

I had actually forgotten that the Connors had a fourth child until Roseanne brought up Jerry. I do think they will get around to mentioning Jackie's son. Except for the thing about Harris's age and a few other things, they are being pretty good about these details.

[Hellohappylife]

1 hour ago, brokenwing29 said:

I liked Harris but I'm a stickler for details and it annoyed me that they made her younger than she should be. What would be so bad about having a 20 year old character versus a teen? She could be down on her luck and still living with her mother or a college student or a working girl who pops in now and then.hi

Good point about the age gap.

but they basically already did that story line in the past with Darlene going to school in Chicago. It would be pointless & repetitive to me anyways,for them to mention Darlene having a daughter if she is never even shown or on screen to interact with. 

I‘d rather watch how darlene’s character is dealing with motherhood, with kids who are in high school/ elementary. Not college. Especially when Becky always seemed like the one who would end up with kids,stuck in landford.

I don’t really care to know anything about Jerry that storyline was a stupid choice back then on the writers part Almost like an attempt to keep the show interesting just like the lotto fiasco was ridiculous. 

Would be interesting to see Jackie as a mother to a teen, but I will live if they don’t as well.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Hellohappylife

[BooBear]

10 hours ago, SparklesBitch said:

Overall, I think they nailed it. :) 

I loved it. I *missed* the Connors. And I feel like they are right back on my screen.

Agree that Roseanne was a little stiff in the first episode and that there was something wrong with Becky's voice. I also don't love the surrogate story but it is something that I could see someone in that world doing and Roseanne was always good hitting the middle America plots.. I would like to know what happened to David but I am going to guess that will come out eventually. 

Normally I might be annoyed at the Mark storyline but since Darlene herself was the tomboy of her generation I think it really works. 

[Runningwild]

6 hours ago, UYI said:

Perhaps she used it that time in particular as a way to troll Jackie before they made up? Then again, someone would have brought up that they don't do this regularly. Yeah, I don't know. 

It has been 20 years. Right? 10 years ago I wasn’t going to church or praying. Now I do both. People can change. 

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, brokenwing29 said:

Like someone above, I was also confused about DJ's daughter. I had it in my mind that he probably married an AA woman and either adopted her child or married someone and they adopted together. I know genes can be unpredictable, but it just doesn't seem that this little girl could be his biological child. (Same on the Netflix show Everything Sucks - they cast a white father for the African American lead, though I hear on that show it was done for a reason that will be revealed).

It cold be that the little girl that got cast was the best for the part, despite not “looking biracial”, as in she was the best actress. It also could very well be that DJ adopted her. Many many people look nothing like their parents (especially if their parent is of another race) but are still biologically related. The little girl could be the splitting image of her mother.

I wasn’t bothered or confused- but I’m someone who’s constantly assumed to be biracial (I’m not) and who continually sees light skinned black actors portrayed as biracial on tv so this is a welcome change. 

I do hope the girl can act. I do think it was a throw back to the episode where DJ didn’t want to kiss a black girl when he was younger. 

 

As a whole I was so happy to see the Conner family back on my screen. John Goodman was a treasure and the little boy playing Mark will probably be the standout of the child actors. 

 

@FEAniba I giggled at the Darlene is gay jokes too. 

Edited March 28, 2018 by Scarlett45

[llewis823]

10 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Hated the surrogacy storyline. Is it really surrogacy when you're using your own eggs? Becky would essentially be having her own child and giving it away. Sounds highly unorthodox.

I wholeheartedly agree. And that was Dan & Roseanne's problem with it as well - that she'd be giving away their grandchild.

[Ottis]

This had an "All in the Family" feel to me, from the live audience to the multi-generational household whose members have to reconcile different views on social issues. That said, there was too much jammed into this first hour IMO, from politics to surrogacy (and lying about her age, which could have a negative impact on the baby), to gender identification to money woes to aging to health care to on and on and on.

There were some terrific lines. And while a few readings were stilted, hopefully that gets better.

I liked it. My main memory of the original series, which I only watched for a couple of years and then lost interest, was that Roseanne was the anti- Cosby Show - people who reflected reality more than all the happy families then on TV. I really liked that honesty. I think I'll like it this time, too, if they can just address one or two things at a time. The whole discussion between Dan and Roseanne on their pills and how they divided them up due to reduced health insurance coverage was very real for many people. 

[Chicken Wing]

I like the revival so far. I'm not sure which of these first two episodes was better, though the writing/acting in the first one was noticeably more stilted and forced. My thoughts overall:

So, as far as the original series finale reveal that Roseanne was writing a book about her life and everything we saw was actually a fictionalized version of the real Conner family -- looks like they've made that reveal in itself part of the book. So everything that we saw happen, really happened that way. Fine with me.

Roseanne and Jackie fighting over the election: I wholeheartedly buy into the Average Joe from Lanford being a Trump voter, but I'm having the most difficult time wrapping my head around Roseanne Conner being one of them, no matter what kind of financial or economic situation the family was in, given what we know, or at least knew, about her and her ideals. Yeah, people change, circumstances change, and we haven't seen these characters for 20 years, yeah yeah yeah, but I can't let go of the idea that this is less influenced by blue-collar reality than Roseanne Barr's real-life politics, and so it just rings too artificial and meta to me. I do hope the politics talk is only confined to that first episode.

As far as where the characters are now: That all rang true. Roseanne and Dan are exactly where you'd expect them to be -- right in the same place, living in the same house, doing the exact same things and struggling to get by the exact same way they always have. Because that's just life. Darlene was the unexpected star of the family, the first one to go to college, was destined for great things -- and maybe she did do some great things over the years, but in the end she was subject to job loss and economic uncertainty, to the point of having to move back home with her two minor children, like anyone else. Becky working as a waitress is actually pretty much where her destiny left off when the original series ended. After running off with Mark, it was clear that she wasn't really going places. (When did Lecy's voice get so deep?) I can also totally buy her signing on to be a surrogate, especially if she's being paid $50K, because it's an opportunity to pull herself out of the financial doldrums and achieve some goals -- and I can see her doing this without really thinking through the complications and ramifications. And is it really being a surrogate when you're using your own eggs to carry your own biological child? Isn't that just agreeing to conceive a child and then letting someone else adopt it? Also, why would you want to use "donor" eggs from a 43-year-old woman? It'd be fine with Becky just being the one to carry a baby, but having it be with her eggs and therefore her biological child just added an unnecessary layer of unrealistic that will bug the crap out of me until this whole surrogacy idea is resolved.

Absent characters: David. I can't wait for Galecki's episode, whenever it is, because I would love to know why David and Darlene split up and what happened to him. Mark (adult Mark) being deceased was pretty much the only acceptable option with Glenn Quinn having died as well, but I want more details on when and how and what Becky's life turned into between then and now. I think I read an article where they said Mark's death will be addressed in one of these episodes, so that's good. Jerry and Andy. Glad for a throwaway line about Jerry's whereabouts; have no need for an appearance or even another mention about him. Just an acknowledgement of the character's existence is good enough for me, just because I hate when shows retcon away their own continuity. And so I hope they do eventually mention Andy, though again, as with Jerry, I could care less about an appearance.

The new kids: Harris. You know how parents wish for their child to grow up and have a kid that tortures them the same way that they themselves did? Harris is Roseanne and Dan's revenge on Darlene. I think the actress was perfectly cast and I'm liking her so far. Little Mark is a good addition, and I loved the second episode for his storyline. I loved that Dan was concerned about his dress choices not because he's old fashioned or macho or that he himself has a problem with it, but because he (not unrealistically) worries that his grandson will be bullied by his classmates, because one reality that has never changed from one generation to the next is that kids will never run out of ways or reasons to pick on other kids and they can be shockingly cruel. Mark's conversation with Darlene was great; she's a great mother, and he seems like a very bright and perceptive kid. D.J.'s daughter Mary. Well, we didn't see or hear much from her, so I can't really form an opinion yet. Very cool to give D.J. a biracial child, and a throwback to "White Men Can't Kiss" -- and the ultimate throwback, since it appears that the girl in question from the episode is his wife now (Gina). Also realistic that D.J. would end up joining the military. Not necessarily because D.J. specifically was military-bound when we last saw him, but realistic in terms of the options available for kids like him growing up in towns like that with only so many options on what to do next.

Surprised by some comments here questioning basic Roseanne character/plot details. It honestly never occurred to me that people who didn't watch the show originally and/or barely remembered the characters or how they connected would even care to watch this. Why watch a revival of a show you don't remember? There's always Wikipedia.

All in all I'm really happy with the revival and I'm already counting down to next Tuesday. Shame we only get nine episodes. I feel like that's not nearly enough time to cover everything that I think I want them to cover, and I don't even know what that all is. I just know I want more. More Conners!

[Ray Adverb]

I never watched much of the original show, but I do remember a scene where Dan found out Darlene was pregnant and was upset about this.  I know the 9th season ended in 1997.  This I remember pretty distinctly because I remember a student in my 10th grade history class talking about the finale with our teacher.  Since that was close to 21 years ago, any child conceived during the original show would have to be 20 years old, minimum.  I don't know what the name of this child is, so I didn't immediately find anything wrong with Darlene's older child being in high school.  I was just left wondering where this early 20s child was.

 

When I heard this show was coming back (only 3 days ago) I immediately decided they would have to cast Sarah Chalke in some role.  I am glad they did not disappoint.  But her hair is a lot darker than it was during Scrubs....

 

The political dispute between Roseanne and Jackie seemed REALLY heavy handed.  Do people really get that passionate about it in real life?

Edited March 28, 2018 by RayAdverb

[Skyfall]

10 hours ago, readster said:

Funny how many people are posting images and asking for them to bring Last Man Standing back since they said that Roseanne can talk politics, so why can't Tim Allen do it too. However, I agree, I think it's ABC was tired of Tim Allen's version of politics and at the same time. I fault ABC for not stepping in during season 2 and saying: "Just stop, and let's move on." Back to Roseanne, I did feel the 2nd episode was better. Everyone was in their place, but I have to agree with Becky story line is just off. Surrogacy doesn't work that way, it is the woman who wants the baby egg and then go from there. I agree, just it feels like with Becky I know she wants to get her life back together which apparently has been shit for years. But this... was just off. 

The thing with LMS was Tim Allen was expensive and only getting even more expensive all the while the ratings weren’t changing much. Add in that fans were growing tired of the show and were starting to jump ship during the (now) final season it made sense to end it there. I’m betting that Rosanne isn’t nearly as expensive as Tim Allen and if they are about equal this is a short season AND I’m expecting bigger ratings than LMS ever pulled so it’ll be more balanced.

[jonesingjay]

7 hours ago, PradaKitty said:

Um... who keeps the same couch for 3O years? 

It's not the same couch. Similar looking though. 

[Chaos Theory]

First seasons of shows are usually extremely short.  Ten to twelve episodes are usually the norm.  Which is short by regular network standards.  I am not sure of the ratings but if they are good and stay good and the cast stay happy and ABC is happy with them then ABC might expand the episode count next season.  Or maybe not.  There are plenty of very good shows that do put out 10-13 episodes a season and the tight episode count keeps them on point.

Plus a lot of these actors do have careers they might want outside of this show.  Roseanne might be a love project for them but they are probably not making the kind of money they are use to.  

Edited March 28, 2018 by Chaos Theory