I have to make one confession. I never watched “Roseanne” in its late 20th Century incarnation. Roseanne Barr seemed to be a thoroughly unpleasant person, which is saying something for the entertainment industry. Besides, I was never a big fan of sitcoms, with certain exceptions.

That having been said, what did I think of the revival of “Roseanne,” the one that depicted the title character, decades ago a big liberal, as a fervent Trump supporter? Obviously, I liked it. Sympathetic portrayals of what Hillary Clinton called the “Deplorables” are few and far between on the small or big screens, so they need to be cherished when they arise.

Is ‘Roseanne’ a modern-day Archie Bunker?

It would have been easy to depict the modern Roseanne as a female Archie Bunker, the “lovable bigot” from the 1970s-era sitcom “All in the Family.” However, Roseanne Connor does not seem to have a bigoted bone in her body. She is attracted to Trump because her family, like a lot of other people in the Obama-era, has run into economic hard times and the billionaire populist spoke to those issues. Besides, Roseanne’s extended family is about as diverse as can be.

Roseanne’s sister Jackie, a left-winger complete with one of those appalling pink hats and a t-shirt that says “Nasty Woman” on it serves as a foil for the title character’s born-again conservative populism.

It serves as a tribute to the writing that she is not a caricature (any more than any other person of that type.) A human being lurks somewhere beneath the sloganeering.

The rest of the family

Hot Air informs me that the two episodes that aired Tuesday night had a lot of in-jokes that fans of the previous series will get, but I did not.

One daughter has to move back in with her cross-dressing son for economic reasons. Another daughter is going to rent out her womb for an interfile couple for a lot of money. And so the storylines have been established along with the main characters.

The verdict

The two episodes, by all accounts, were a ratings blowout, with over 18 million people tuning in.

The jokes were laugh-inducing, and the episodes were pleasant to watch. However, one imagines that a lot of people tuned in for the novelty of watching a sympathetic portrayal of a Trump supporter. Can the show sustain the numbers? The previous incarnation was a huge success, so there is no reason why the revival cannot be as well. Let’s face it; the country could use a few laughs with the way things have been going.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED