Much has been made about the return of Roseanne and her status as a Trump supporter — both in the show and in real life. The rating success of the show and the opening episode’s commentary on the current political climate got many people talking and crowning the president as one of the reasons the show returned to such large numbers. This is likely not the truth and according to Sara Gilbert, the rest of the season will put it to the test because Trump will not return to the plot.
In fact, Gilbert says that the president’s name never actually makes an appearance in the show during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live:
“The Conners aren’t Trump supporters. Roseanne’s character is a Trump supporter — she’s the only one — and we never say his name, actually, in the show…
“The show is not about politics. It’s not about anyone’s position or a policy, it’s really about what happens to a family when there’s a political divide, which is something that I think the entire country can relate to and something we need to talk about. So, with our show, it’s never about ‘doing an issue’ or ‘doing politics,’ it’s: How do these things affect a family unit?”
All of this really makes sense and as many have pointed out, the success of the show is more likely the result of a classic sitcom making a highly publicized return. If you look around on television, there is probably an episode of Roseanne on right now and the revival has been in people’s minds for an entire year leading up to its premiere. Compare it to the success of Fuller House on Netflix. It is not the Trump show, despite what many of the headlines and reports would have you thinking of this past week.
The Hollywood Reporter also says that Gilbert had told them that the show doesn’t focus on politics past the first episode, with Whitney Cummings adding the following:
“We keep saying that the first episode is going to piss off liberals and the other eight are going to piss off conservatives.”
It would seem that she was definitely correct about the first episode, so we’ll just have to pay attention to see if she’s right about the rest.
(Via Bravo / The Hollywood Reporter)
