Roseanne - Yes, I'm talking about this

Roseanne: Yeah, I'm Talking About It

At this point, almost three or four weeks out, it seems like this isn't even a conversation piece anymore. But given the fact that I haven't written my opinions in a very long time, you'd perhaps forgive me for being a little late to the party. I'm still catching up to the fact that I've been silent all these years.

I guess this isn't too late to talk about given the news that yesterday ABC revived a spin-off show with everyone BUT Roseanne in it. So I guess that means I had my finger on the pulse of this topic bringing it back almost beyond its life. The Conners will totally be this generation's The Hogans, and if you get that reference, you're too fucking old - just like me. But in the following topic, you'll see why ABC was in the right to do this regardless of some blowhards' racist shit on twitter, as the characters in the show touch on the real heart of America in its current state.

First off, I won't defend what she tweeted. Mainly because, let's face it, tweeting in itself is a narcissistic thing in general. Ironic as it is for me to say, not everyone should have a voice. Or at the very least the context of said voice should be known. You can tell from the tons of other post where I am coming from and if my credentials match up in being able to spout stuff that isn't just ignorant bullshit.

But Twitter and the modern age of social media has given everyone a voice and that is the biggest problem. Not every one can be trusted to have a soap box to yell shit from. You have to earn that through a long history of actually having your words matter. We live in an America that is all about putting the spotlight on one self. I'll get in to that in another post some time down the road if I continue this endeavor of writing, but let's get back to the queen of controversy. 

Look, let's point it out first. ABC is a fucking idiot to bet it all on... racism. They have known for many many MANY years now that Rosanne is a piece of shit. I won't defend her. She is human garbage who was given a voice in a grand platform and has used it solely to highlight how much human garbage she is.  ABC should have accepted the fact that Roseanne Bar has been a goddamn racist piece of shit for decades now, and yet they still allowed her to have a come back show because the risk was less than the reward of having a tent pole high ratings piece on their network.

But for the moment, we need to look inward in to what America is now.  I know, we had glory days way back when. We keep bringing them up in how we saved the French's ass in the war or how we were all about Freedom blah blah blah. But much like the middle aged fat ass we choose not to look in the mirror reflection at, we lost our way. We are no longer that same person. We allowed the worst aspect of our society, something we had for a long long long time now, don't get me wrong, we allowed that to be okay. We got out of shape and clearly aren't willing to look at ourselves and what we have become lately.

Because the show itself was a pretty harsh realistic look in to what and who we are today. A society that would rather allow the elderly to become Uber drivers in a shitty gig economy to supplement the soon to be dried up social safety net in medicare and social security. She is a highlight of what the average American deals with now. And it's pretty fucking sad.

A society that no longer cna make ends meet and has to worry about a natural disaster to flood the basement in order for the uncaring government to give out a handout in the way of... well, state of emergency funding. A society were the gig economy is the only way to get by and that means losing the power of unions and workers rights. A society were we are so knee deep in foreign conflict that it's a norm to have a spouse in active duty and have to worry about getting a window in the late hours of the morning for a child to even communicate with their mother stationed in a war we have little interest in other than what big business can make off the oil there.

There was a lot of buzz early in its run when it was stated that Roseanne would have voted for Trump. I mean, yes, I wasn't a huge follower of the show back when it originally aired, and she did have a lot of pro-gay and left leaning material in it, but at its core, that's probably the case. I say this because THAT'S WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED, AMERICA!   Blue collar workers voted against Hillary. Many voted for trump because he made a lot of nice words, most didn't actually think he'll come through with the shit he said, but they just didn't want Hillary to win. simple as that.

Then you have the liberal pleasing side. One of Becky's kids is a gender fluid, give no care about much of anything sort of attitude, and you know what, that was a pretty interesting take since I have no seen that in any sort of modern television, though to be fair, I haven't watched much of any "Modern Family" because it offended my sensibility that it was ripping off Arrested Development too much.

Then you have Roseanne's character. which.... well, is pretty much as American as it can be. She is on pain killers and riding a line of addiction because she doesn't have the means to pay for a minor surgery that will fix her knee pain. Yeah, if that's not America, then I don't know what the fuck is. Our medical system is pretty goddamn fucked to the point that folks will just take the short term over medication by big pharma than be able to ever think of affording minor surgery.

Then you have John Goodman, oh, you're a wonderful actor, my friend. But you have Dan as a contractor who has to deal with the undocumented worker situation creating a bidding market to have to cut his rates and not be able to hire his own friends. I mean, maybe it's for the best that Dan didn't get the chance to open up his small business of a motorcycle repair shop with DJ because they would have just been fucked by Trump's tariffs raise anyway. But clearly these are issues that effect the average blue collar worker and contractors to stay competitive with folks who are willing to take a much cheaper pay to get work.
Darlene's husband, real actor who died Mark, is dead on the show and she has to deal with being a widow at a much younger age than you would expect. That shit in the show was real. now she struggles in making ends meet in a shitty bartender gig. It seems pretty American.

 You have DJ. who has a bi-racial child and his wife is overseas and he's dealing with being a war vet that has to struggle with the ships in the night sort of deployment relationship that our country's struggles internationally have created. That is a rather new item to be seen in American television.

While I talked about Becky's kid a little already, it's worth noting that Becky had to move in with her parents because of financial instability and a lack of a job and a broken marriage with two very conflicting sort of children in her life. One, already mentioned and the other who is the standard rebellious type.

When you look at it, the new season of Roseanne was essentially a mirror of the American blue collar family that you would see if you go through the center part of this country. Why we didn't like it or at least complained about it doesn't seem to be mainly because of Roseanne Barr's stupidity, but because we don't want to look at it from afar and realize that this is us. THIS IS AMERICA.