Hey, will you look at that? “Roseanne” is officially back.
ABC announced Tuesday that the network has ordered an eight-episode reboot of the iconic sitcom after months of increasingly loud speculation.
The reboot, which is scheduled to air next year, will feature all the main members of the original cast ― Roseanne Barr (Roseanne), John Goodman (Dan), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Michael Fishman (D.J.) and Lecy Goranson (Becky).
“The Conners’ joys and struggles are as relevant — and hilarious — today as they were then, and there’s really no one better to comment on our modern America than Roseanne,” said Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, in a statement.
“Roseanne” aired for about a decade during its original run between the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Over that time, the working-class sitcom was often among the most popular shows on television, winning multiple Emmys and Golden Globes and even once tying “The Cosby Show” at No. 1 in the ratings.
The show is just the most recent of many iconic shows to join the popular reboot train, but there is something different about this one. As Wesley Morris wrote in a New York Times articled last year called “TV’s Dwindling Middle Class,” shows like “Roseanne,” which once reflected the concerns of the working class, have almost entirely faded from television in recent years.
So while many of the reboots feel like cynical nostalgia plays, this reboot is filling a void. And in 2017, that’s not nothing.
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