Some old Roseanne writers say they don't recognize the show anymore 

By Sam Barsanti  |  May 13, 2018 | 4:02pm
Aux Features TV

The politics of the Roseanne reboot have been an unavoidable topic of conversation when it comes to the show, with the real Roseanne Barr’s heel turn toward far-right bullshit and conspiracy theory insanity infecting that the blue-collar values of the show’s Roseanne Conner, and four writers who worked on the old show recently told BuzzFeed that they have a hard time recognizing the character they knew from the original run. Writer Stan Zimmerman, who worked on Roseanne for two seasons, said that “a lot of people involved in the show were surprised when she turned right-wing,” because “that was just not the person or her character that we had known.”

The show’s justification for TV Roseanne’s love for Donald Trump came in the new pilot, when she explained that she was drawn to him because he “talked about jobs.” One of the former writers said it seemed like the new staff had simply “picked an aspect of what Trump was saying that would fit into the original Roseanne character” in order to align her a bit with Barr, even though doing so meant ignoring some stuff that the original version of Roseanne “would’ve questioned”—like how a rich guy like Donald Trump would have any awareness of what life is like for a family like the Conners or how he’s a big racist and misogynist.

Another writer, who chose to remain anonymous because they work in TV, pointed out that ABC pulled a Black-ish episode about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem but it’s perfectly willing to give Barr a platform even as she accuses Parkland survivor David Hogg of doing a Nazi salute on Twitter. Of course, it’s also worth noting that at least four other writers who worked on the old Roseanne did return for the new show, and while the four BuzzFeed spoke to are disappointed that right-wing politics have infected the series, they all seem pretty happy with literally everything else about it (which is a common reaction, apparently).

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