‘Roseanne’ Revival: Cast Says It’s Like No Time Has Passed As They Reunite In Original Kitchen To Talk Reboot
The Roseanne cast recently reunited in their original kitchen to talk about the upcoming revival of the hit ABC comedy, and it sounds like not much has changed in the 20 years since we last saw the Conners. Well, except the fact that Dan (John Goodman) is no longer dead.
Entertainment Weekly posted a new reunion video of Roseanne Barr and her family of castmates, which includes Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, and Sarah Chalke. In the video, the stars sit at the Conner clan’s familiar kitchen table and talk about the show’s nine-episode reboot.
The 2018 Roseanne set looks almost identical to how it looked when the original show wrapped in 1997, with Goodman commenting that it feels like the series “wrapped last week instead of 20 years ago.”
Goranson, who plays Becky No. 1 on the sitcom, admitted that it felt comfortable to return to the set that she grew up on, Even if it wasn’t exactly the same.
“It felt like walking into a childhood home,” the Roseanne star said.
“I could immediately tell the differences were, as wonderful as the art department is. The feel was the same, but it was obviously not the same couch. And the picture of the dogs playing pool wasn’t up. But I was really impressed by what they had re-created.”
Laurie Metcalf, who plays Roseanne’s sister, Jackie Harris, on the show, admitted that when she was first approached about the Roseanne reboot she knew wanted to “jump right back into that world.”
“Why not revisit these people that were so funny and close and see what they’re up to,” Metcalf said.
Executive producer Bruce Helford, who heads a writers room that includes Barr, Wanda Sykes, and Norm McDonald, revealed that the goal of the Roseanne revival is to show viewers something he feels doesn’t exist on network TV anymore, which is an honest family in 2018.
While the Conners were known as a 1980s/’90s blue-collar family, a lottery win storyline took them a bit off track back in the day. Since the original series was seemingly a fictional figment of book writer Rosie’s imagination, the present day Conners will still be struggling financially. As an example, EW posted a photo from a scene from the first episode of the Roseanne revival, titled “Twenty Years to Life,” in which Dan brings home his and Roseanne’s multiple prescriptions and complains about how expensive they have become.
While Roseanne fans and cast members are feeling nostalgic about the reboot, series star Michael Fishman, who plays DJ Conner on the series, recently posted a video of the “famous Stage 2” where Roseanne was filmed in the 1990s. Fishman revealed that when he was a young boy starting out on Roseanne, Barr showed him the plaque for The Mary Tyler Moore Show that hangs outside the soundstage and vowed that their show would have one just like it someday.
“I watched somebody achieve their dream,” Fishman said. “And now, we’re back, doing season 10, and who knows, maybe season 11, depending on what happens and how fans feel.”
#Roseanne fans
Thank you for supporting @RoseanneOnABCWorking together again is a dream come true. For me the show symbolizes using laughter to overcome life's challenges and chasing dreams. See you March 27! pic.twitter.com/gdO587hd5D
— Michael Fishman (@ReelMFishman) December 30, 2017
Roseanne returns to ABC on March 27 at 8 p.m. ET.
