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"Roseanne" - 2018 Revival on ABC


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"The Conners":  well , they pulled it off.  Like the original "Roseanne" AND the reboot, there's an honesty about the show that allows it to mix drama and comedy--a mix not found in virtually any other show (but granted I don't watch many of them).

Usually if an actor left a sitcom (or died), they had their character do one of 2 things:  they would be out of town taking care of sick relative (Joseph Kearns in "Dennis the Menace"; Alice Pearce in "Bewitched) or they would get abruptly transferred to PAKISTAN (Bob Cummings in "My Living Doll"   Don Defore and Whitney Blake in "Hazel"--resigned and fired respectively).   I don't remember:  did they kill Valerie off immediately when "Valerie" became "Valerie's Family"?

Again, I paid no attention to real-life Roseanne Barr's loud-mouth politics or her tweets (and I don't know why anyone was listening to her in the first place).  I'm in the minority who enjoyed her in her own SHOW.  The rest of the cast is so very strong, yes, but I wish they hadn't killed Roseanne Conner off.  I was hoping Barr would eat enough crow that she could return to her own series.  But this is a series that brought Dan back to life, had Becky and Becky2 in the same episode so maybe they could do it. Like one of those "Dallas" dreams. 

I'm amazed how good these reboots are:  Conners, Will&Grace, Murphy Brown.  (haven't seen others).  I never would have predicted it.  Will, Grace, Jack and Karen could be the PARENTS of the originals.  It's been 20 years since the debut season.

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I caught the first episode last night and really liked it. There are a lot of cast members in this. 

After, I was flipping around channels and saw Archie Bunker's Place on one of the retro channels, oddly competing against All In The Family on another retro channel. I got to thinking, would Archie Bunker's Place technically be a reboot? The Conners seemed to now share a lot with that show. Both took one of the leads and killed them off, yet still continued on with a few of the same characters while adding new. So would Golden Palace also be a reboot or a sequel? No one got killed off in the change over but we retained all but one of the characters (even though Bea did show up once or twice) and added new, with a new location. For it to be a reboot does it have to take place in the same location with a certain percentage of the original cast?

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6 hours ago, Luvsbway said:

I caught the first episode last night and really liked it. There are a lot of cast members in this. 

After, I was flipping around channels and saw Archie Bunker's Place on one of the retro channels, oddly competing against All In The Family on another retro channel. I got to thinking, would Archie Bunker's Place technically be a reboot? The Conners seemed to now share a lot with that show. Both took one of the leads and killed them off, yet still continued on with a few of the same characters while adding new. So would Golden Palace also be a reboot or a sequel? No one got killed off in the change over but we retained all but one of the characters (even though Bea did show up once or twice) and added new, with a new location. For it to be a reboot does it have to take place in the same location with a certain percentage of the original cast?

I would call Archie Bunker's Place, The Golden Palace, and The Conners "continuations", because they happened immediately after the parent show's end. But who knows what to call anything today. News came out recently that Diablo Cody and FOX are remaking Alice, and every source called it a reboot. I take reboot to mean that a show will have the same cast and characters, but obviously that won't be the case. It's a remake. It also begs the question- why bother? There's no way that Diablo Cody is going to write in a similar style to Bob and Madelyn, so why even attach the Alice name? Couldn't you come up with your own sitcom about a single mother who aspires to be in showbusiness?

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I hate the term reboot. It's terribly overused and applies to too many things. It's essentially replaced remake and gets thrown around very loosely these days.

A sequel series should be called a revival, IMO, while a reimagining with a new cast and creative team is a remake. Those concepts are not the same yet both get branded "reboot" left, right and centre. Overuse of the word also prevents the new show from developing its own identity; it anchors it firmly in the shadow of its predecessor. The media does like shoving everything inside their pre-made little boxes, don't they?

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When a show that has previously run on Broadway comes back it's either referred to as a revival or a revisal. A revival is essentially the same show, and it may, but most of the time does not have a same cast member who previously played the same role in the original. A revisal is a show that comes back but is done an entirely different way, but again it could have a performer from the original but they may be playing a new character. 

Example- A Chorus Line revival had the exact same staging, costumes and choreographer. Pippin, who some of us saw with Lucie, turned the whole show in to circus performers telling the story and being the characters. 

Could these terms be used for TV, maybe?

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58 minutes ago, Luvsbway said:

When a show that has previously run on Broadway comes back it's either referred to as a revival or a revisal. A revival is essentially the same show, and it may, but most of the time does not have a same cast member who previously played the same role in the original. A revisal is a show that comes back but is done an entirely different way, but again it could have a performer from the original but they may be playing a new character. 

Example- A Chorus Line revival had the exact same staging, costumes and choreographer. Pippin, who some of us saw with Lucie, turned the whole show in to circus performers telling the story and being the characters. 

Could these terms be used for TV, maybe?

I agree that the theatre terms would be appropriate for TV as well. Revivals for those that are continuations, revisals for those with a whole new cast and concept.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would wager that The Conners isn't totally out the door yet. Ratings have been trending down, but then again, the show has barely been on the air for a month (even Life With Lucy got more of a chance!). It's hard to tell what the hell the networks are thinking anymore. Prospects for a twelfth season of Murphy Brown have suddenly turned grim within the last week, despite the show having remarkably consistent numbers for a revival (noticeably higher than Will & Grace's average this season).

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 years later...
22 hours ago, Mot Morenzi said:

Has anybody been watching this show lately? How’s it doing?

Hey Brian, Happy New Year!! :HALKING:

Last I read, this is ABC's highest-rated comedy series and IMHO with good reason: the writing and performances are as good if not better as they ever were even compared with the "mother ship" that was "Roseanne".  There's been some WUNDAFUL acting, particularly from the sisters -- Lecy Goranson in particular I've been happily surprised, EP Sara Gilbert as expected and of course, the now incomparable Laurie Metacalf steals nearly every scene she's in.  John Goodman, also ever the pro, anchors the show and is often simply not given enough to do.  I honestly thought this show was not the greatest idea initially and thought perhaps it would run its course after the inaugural season, but 4 seasons in I think they've soldiered on and given us some above-average comedy, many fine dramatic moments and have all shown -- unlike say, the many later incarnations of "the Bradys" -- how to have iconic, beloved TV characters grow, evolve and mature, not to mention move on after the (on screen) "death" of the family matriarch, the focus of the (original) show.  Bravo, Connors! 

Oh and I suppose it only fair to mention, I was lucky to see a first-season episode in person and was most impressed at the production values, how everyone interacted, etc. etc.  I also had gone to attend one of the first "Live" episodes they were gonna do but was turned away due to the often times "not enough seats for the amount of audience that wants in" situation. 😯

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