It has been 30 years since Roseanne premiered, kicking off a nine-season run during which the show won four Emmys, three Golden Globes and the prestigious Peabody Award.
The show was a sitcom, but one that realistically captured the lives of a working class family living in the midwest, and did not shy away from more serious topics such a domestic abuse, teen pregnancy and homophobia.
And now it is set to return, with nine new episodes airing on ABC starting next month, and the show has not lost any of its real-world edge.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Barr again confirmed that her character would be pro-Trump while also revealing she will be grandmother to a gender fluid grandson and a black granddaughter.
The show will also deal with her husband Dan, played by John Goodman, possibly losing his job to an illegal immigrant, the family’s relationship with their Muslim neighbors and in a episode the actors and writers seem most proud of, the opioid crisis.
‘People think this show is more political than it is. It’s more about how a family deals with a disagreement like that,’ said Sara Gilbert, who will reprise her role as oldest daughter Becky and serve as executive producer.
‘But I get it, it creates website clicks.’
Taking on new problems: Roseanne Barr, front, with from left, John Goodman and Sara Gilbert, Wanda Sykes, as well as Whitney Cummings and Bruce Helford in The Hollywood Reporter
‘They were all Trump slams’: The 65-year-old said she wanted her character’s conservative voice heard, telling the writers: ‘You guys have to have a Hillary slam’
Barr confirmed that her character would be pro-Trump while also revealing she will be grandmother to a gender fluid grandson and a black granddaughter
Barr makes it clear however that this will be a balanced show, a point that is made early on in the program when the family argues about the president.
The politicians are never named, but Barr says that she had to push and make sure that the woman who wears a ‘pantsuit’ was mocked just as much as the man who won the election.
‘I thought everybody was pretty liberal, so I was keepin’ an eye on it, making sure that it was evenhanded,’ explains Barr.
‘But the day we went to shoot, I got with the writers, and I’m like, “You guys have to have a Hillary slam.” Cause they were all Trump slams.’
Whitney Cummings, who was brought on as the co-showrunner for the series alongside Bruce Helford, says that Barr’s vision was a nice wake-up call for the writer’s room.
‘We so often surround ourselves with people we agree with, so going into the writers room was often like, “Eeeeek,”‘ says Cuimmings.
‘We were challenging each other, and I definitely wanted to go back into my Huffington Post or Vulture cocoon where everyone agrees, but it’s really important to be with people you disagree with when you’re writing to make sure you’re not being elitist aa**holes.’
Barr was quick to acknowledge the contribution of her writers, noting: ‘It’s a great writers room. The best one I’ve ever been in.’
Among those writers are some very, very famous names, who were no doubt attracted to work on what many critics believe is the greatest sitcom of all time.
In addition to Barr, Cummings and Helsford the writing staff includes Wanda Sykes and Norm McDonald, who worked on the show during its original run.
It is a diverse group, which has shaped the direction of the revival according to the group, who as an example cite the fact that Roseanne’s granddaughter’s race is never acknowledged in the first nine-episode run.
‘It was Wanda who put it into my head, and it came through in the script: Not only does there need to be some diversity in this show, but we have to show that everybody is going through the same problems,’ says Helsford.
Barr reveals that she especially wanted to have a black granddaughter after an episode in the first series where her son DJ refused to kiss a girl because she was black.
‘I like diversity, and it’s so much a part of the working class where it is not so much part of middle-class stuff. And I know so many people who have mixed families,’ says Barr.
‘My godson is African-American, and we’ve known him since he was 3. Now, he’s 23. And the conversations that my family was able to get into because of that with his parents and his siblings is just a wonderful part of my life.’
She adds: ‘And if we get another season, I’d like to discuss that more.’
Twenty years on: The original cast of the working class family are back, now coping with modern day problems including gender assignment
Sykes meanwhile sees the original series as similar to balck television programs in one key way.
‘The thing about the Conners is they were a Midwestern family who have limited means, and you don’t see that a lot on TV — except for black people,’ explains Sykes,
‘Black people are allowed to be poor on TV. But when the Conners came on, it was like, “Here are real people talking about real problems.”‘
And the ongoing addiction to opioids in this country will be one of those problems.
‘Another taboo we addressed was the opioid crisis, which is this thing we’re seeing in the news, but it’s not being tackled on TV, certainly not network TV,’ said Cummings.
‘But what I’ve always loved about Roseanne is the show’s ability to have these incredible dramatic moments in a multicamera sitcom with an audience sitting there, not laughing ’cause an incredible dramatic moment is playing out, whether it was when DJ wouldn’t kiss the black girl at the school play or Jackie’s domestic abuse. We thought maybe this could be one of those episodes.’
And Barr still refuses to hold back, much to the chagrin of her cast mates.
That includes on social media, where she has long been open about her pro-Trump politics.
‘I’ve wanted her off social media forever,’ jokes Gilbert.
And Roseanne, 65, made sure her character’s conservative voice was heard.
The way they were: The original Roseanne show ran on ABC from 1988 to 1997
‘I thought everybody was pretty liberal, so I was keepin’ an eye on it, making sure that it was evenhanded.
‘But the day we went to shoot [the pilot], I got with the writers, and I’m like, “You guys have to have a Hillary slam.” ’Cause they were all Trump slams.’
That point of view is shared by much of middle America.
Writer Wanda Sykes dished: ‘The thing about the Conners is they were a Midwestern family who have limited means, and you don’t see that a lot on TV — except for black people.
‘Black people are allowed to be poor on TV,’ the 53-year-old continued.
‘But when the Conners came on, it was like, “Here are real people talking about real problems.”‘
Meanwhile, Roseanne, Sara Gilbert, 43, who plays the star’s daughter Darlene, and showrunner Whitney Cummings took on the difficult subject of gender identity.
‘Darlene’s son is gender fluid, and we fought about that one,’ Roseanne revealed.
Whitney added: ‘The word, even. Is it “gender fluid?” “Gender nonbinary?” ‘
Sara had the last word on that one, saying: ‘But he’s not gender fluid; he just likes to dress in more feminine clothing is where we landed.’
Barr also said she was ‘way too old to be fighting’ and had ‘nothing left to prove.’