The Roseanne Revival Couldn’t Quite Figure Out How to Tackle Trump

This post contains spoilers for the Roseanne revival premiere.

Is anyone still wearing pussy hats these days?

I kept asking myself that question during the Roseanne revival’s premiere episode, which aired Tuesday. The episode revolves around Roseanne Conner—who voted for Donald Trump, much like the real Roseanne Barr—and her feud with her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), who shows up at Roseanne’s house decked out in a bright pink knit cap and “Nasty Woman” T-shirt. The two have apparently been at odds ever since the election; when Jackie comes over for dinner, fights ensue.

But these arguments are not the same Jackie v. Roseanne screaming matches fans will remember from the original series—tiffs that were often punctuated with deeply personal one-liners like, “Well, have another shot of pancake, Roseanne.” The fights in the premiere instead feel manufactured—like they were written by an artificial intelligence that spent a few days scouring insults from Russian bots.

Some of the premiere’s political jokes landed—like Jackie bringing Russian dressing to dinner in order to annoy Roseanne. (Those two always did have a flair for pettiness.) But other lines—like Jackie scolding, “All you people go straight to the violence; every one of you, wrapping yourselves up in the flag and clinging to your guns”—feel less authentic. Since when do the Conners own a gun? (Apparently, since sometime between the first iteration of Roseanne and this one.) Other insults land as though they were reverse-engineered from various controversies, like when Roseanne begins dinner this way: “First, let’s say grace. Jackie, would you like to take a knee?”

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter before the premiere, Roseanne Barr said the sitcom’s writers and producers worked hard to make sure its portrayal was politically even-handed. Barr noted that she asked the writers to include one “Hillary slam” in the first episode, since the initial draft skewed more toward Trump insults. That “slam” turned out to be, “Aunt Jackie thinks every girl should grow up and be president—even if they’re a liar, liar, pantsuit on fire.” Jackie’s reply? “I think we know who’s liar and who’s on fire, Roseanne.”

Truthfully, none of these insults had much burn to them—but the premiere did set up several fascinating dynamics that will likely continue to play out, even as the show’s commitment to directly addressing the election fades. (Of the three episodes ABC made available before the revival premiered, only this one focused overtly on Washington politics.) In this iteration of Roseanne, Conner son D.J. is an Army veteran with a black daughter whose wife is still serving overseas. Roseanne and Dan’s healthcare doesn’t cover what it used to, which is unfortunate because both Dan and Roseanne are on a lot of meds. Darlene has moved back home because she lost her job, and Becky is considering egg donation in order to start a nest egg for herself—and pay off some credit card debt.

And even the premiere includes at least one surprising twist, which comes when Jackie reveals why she’s really so upset with her sister. Apparently, Roseanne railed against Hillary Clinton throughout the run-up to the election: “You kept saying what a disaster it would be if she got elected, and how I wasn’t seeing the big picture and everything was rigged. And then I go into the booth—and I voted for Jill Stein! . . . You did such a good job of making me doubt myself, and feel so stupid that I choked, which helped him get elected.” (Stein, coincidentally, was the candidate who secured the Green Party nomination for president over Roseanne Barr in 2012, who ultimately ran as a member of the Peace and Freedom Party.)

Roseanne’s response to Jackie’s lament was vintage Roseanne: “Well, the important thing is that you voted.”

Eventually, the two reconcile. Jackie, true to form, offers the first mea culpa: “I guess I didn’t mean to imply that you’re some right-wing jackass. I should have tried to understand why you voted the crazy way that you did.” And Roseanne, true to her nature, was even less apologetic: “And I should have understood that you want the government to give everyone free healthcare because you’re a good-hearted person who can’t do simple math.”

The take-away here doesn’t do much to solve the political divide—between Roseanne and Jackie, or between the groups that they represent. As in real life, neither was willing to concede that their point of view might be wrong. Roseanne has always been a series that spoke for more people than just its main characters—so here’s hoping that in the episodes to come, if the conversations pivots back towards Washington, it finds something a little more insightful to say.

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