Hot on the heels of Fox rescuing and renewing Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing in large part due to the ratings bonanza a Trump-loving, social justice warrior-bashing primetime character can bring in, Roseanne is reportedly easing back on the politics next season. This comes from Deadline, which was on an industry call with ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey, who praised the success of the show while promising to focus more on family over the next batch of 13 episodes.
Despite the big boost from the first episode, which focused on Roseanne Conner’s love of Donald Trump’s presidency because he “talked jobs,” the show has slowly but surely eased off of the political commentary over the back half of the season. Even then, the ratings have been great, and ratings are king for Dungey and the industry:
“We at ABC have not had as much success with [multi-cam comedies] traditionally as competitors,” she said. “Roseanne changed the game in that respect.”
Still, the line from early in the reboot about Dan and Roseanne Conner sleeping on the couch then waking up after missing black-ish and Fresh off the Boat echoes in some people’s minds: “We missed all the shows about black and Asian families,” Dan says. “They’re just like us. There, now you’re all caught up,” Roseanne quipped in reply.
This led to Dungey saying that ABC’s shows would be as “diverse and inclusive as possible. Including “economic perspectives” which were “fresh for us…focusing on a family who is in different economic circumstances than a number of other comedies on our air.”
On paper, it sounds like they want more of the old Roseanne, but is that what they’ll get?
(Via Deadline)
