Thursday, March 28, 2024

“Roseanne” MAGA Lesson: The Government Will Bail You Out, So Just Wait if You’re in Trouble

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Roseanne needs knee surgery but can’t afford it. Right away we wonder, she’s over 65, has Medicare, maybe Medicaid– aren’t the Conners on Obamacare?

But hey–there’s a point to be made here somewhere.

Dan’s construction business is failing, so he’s going to hire “illegals” over his pals who are unionized. He doesn’t seem all that conflicted, frankly. After all, one of his workers is also the big cheese at Grey Sloan Hospital on another show.

But I digress.

Laurie Metcalf, with an Oscar nomination, a Tony win and a new Tony nomination, has nothing to do whatsoever. So she vamps. Her character, Roseanne’s sister, Jackie, is just a prop.

This is “Roseanne.”

And what we learned tonight is that flooding in fictional Lanford causes “The President” to declare their state a national disaster. FEMA will rescue the Conners– their wrecked basement full of water will get them a government check. Dan will do the fixing himself and pay for Roseanne’s operation. “The President” has saved them with federal funds. Of course, the Conners are oblivious to the funds coming from taxes. But that’s another story.

And Roseanne? She only wants to wake up to see Dan, not God (because then she’d be dead) after her surgery. Marriage! They are Ozzie and Harriet. Just don’t think about the real Roseanne’s three trips down the aisle in real life. (She’s one-to-one with her buddy Trump on that score.)

And that’s how the first reboot season of “Roseanne” ends, like “Archie Bunker’s Place”– the godawful spin off of “All in the Family.” John Goodman’s Dan was better off dead, frankly.

I had never watched “The Middle,” which follows “Roseanne” on ABC and tonight finished a nine season run. Ultra-conservative actress Patricia Heaton, who starred in “Everyone Loves Raymond” a long time ago, was the star. I watched for five minutes tonight. Heaton is unrecognizable at this point from the doctor she played on “thirtysomething” in the 1980s. Time and plastic surgery are cruel. Then I remembered I was missing the Yankee game.

 

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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