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.
