Roseanne

Yesterday afternoon on MSNBC, I heard Ari Melber say that ABC revived Roseanne because it saw there was a market for racism, and that they only cancelled the show when Roseanne Barr took it too far and their profits were threatened. And later that evening I heard Chris Hayes make reference to the "fact" that the Roseanne show supported Trump, and proved this by playing a clip in which the character Roseanne said that she voted for Trump because nothing else had worked and she didn't know what else to do . . . and she was roundly chastised for this by her sister Jackie. (That, by the way, is the only time the show has made any reference to approving of Trump.) 

So . . . I've been thinking about Roseanne Barr. And Roseanne Conner. 

As I've noted before, I am not a Trump supporter. Quite the opposite. I am hoping that he is impeached later today, as a matter of fact. I shit thee not. And I am not a Roseanne Barr supporter. I think that she is a nasty, brutish, ill-mannered woman. (She also has a net worth of $80 million, by the way. So there is a little bit of distance between the actor and the character.)

But I like Roseanne Conner. I don't agree with her (fictional, let's keep in mind) political choice in the 2016 election, but I understand it. The (So-Called) Liberals have not dropped the ball, they've pulled it away from Everyman Charlie Brown. Again and again and again. Obama? Did some good, sure. Did a lot of harm, too. (Concessions to the pharmaceutical industry which seriously damaged his healthcare plan. Drone strikes / assassinations way up beyond the Bush numbers. (Side note: take a look at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-president-barack-obama-bomb-map-drone-wars-strikes-20000-pakistan-middle-east-afghanistan-a7534851.html and listen to your own heart breaking.) More people deported during his administration than under any other president. Promised to close Guantanamo Bay, didn't do it.) So if you're a lower middle class person who is watching health care costs rise, watching the people on the rungs above you profit while you continue to struggle economically . . . or lose even more . . . I can certainly understand you saying, "Maybe this Trump guy can help us." Desperation does that kind of thing to you.

And besides that, Roseanne was never about politics. All of the comments about it being a show that supported Trump are just bullshit, and can't possibly be coming from people who have actually watched the show. Which I have. Every episode of this incarnation. (And quite a few of the old ones as well, but those were different times (1988 - 1996), and we didn't always have access to shows after they aired.) And you know what? I thought it was a really good show. Funny, but poignant, too.

So I was disappointed to hear that the show was cancelled. I hadn't watched episode 9 yet, and when I heard that ABC was pulling all mentions of the show from their website, I sat down and watched it, as I thought it might disappear from my YouTube TV Home page if I didn't get to it right away. And you know what? It was a really good show. It dealt with illegal workers in a way, but not as a political hot potato, as an issue that affected the characters in very palpable ways. Dan ended up deciding to hire illegal workers because he couldn't afford to bid low enough to get a job with his usual union guys. And he was chastised for that action by one of those workers. And other stuff happened as well. In fact, I'm just now thinking about the nine episodes of this show, and in it I've seen them bring up all kinds of issues without turning them into stupid cliches: a cross-dressing young boy, an octogenarian with a vivid sex drive, surrogate parenthood, working low wage jobs, trying to find a job, opiate addiction, the expense of health care, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And in every case the story was told with sensitivity and an unwillingness to condemn.

It was a really good show.

And as for this cancellation. Well, I know this is an inside thought, but this blog is inside for me, so I'll just go for it. I am pretty sure that Ari Melber's comments about ABC cancelling the show (see above if you are suffering from short term memory loss) are specious and impertinent. ABC cancelled the show because it thought it was the right thing to do, and because not doing the right thing right now can have disastrous consequences for the non-doer. But the reality of that cancellation is that hundreds of people are now out of a job. Hundreds of innocent people. Maybe hundreds of good people. All in order to punish one person who did something that actually had no connection to the show whatsoever. 

I can see why Righties would see this as the Great Politically Correct Machine Blowing Snowflakes in their faces. 

And I had to wonder . . . why didn't they take a different approach? For instance . . . in episode 9, Roseanne was about to get her knee operated on. So episode 10 opens in a hospital waiting room, and guess who just died on the table (and is never seen in this episode)? Yes. Statement made. Show goes on. Why the fuck not?

ADDENDUM: I have no desire to defend Roseanne Barr in any way. Fuck her. But it's worth fifteen seconds of your time to see what she had to say after this debacle.

I think it would be a better world if we would stop putting people into boxes and nailing down the lids. 

Just sayin', sir.

And if that don't suit ya, that's a drag.