The Real Roseanne Show: A Preview

Roseanne Barr is back. And she’s “Barr” again, too! She first popped onto the radar in 1985 doing stand-up on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, then hit it big in 1988 with her series Roseanne. After nine seasons, the show came to a close; since then, she’s written two books and tried her hand at hosting a talk show. Now she’s venturing into the wacky world of reality TV with The Real Roseanne Show, debuting on ABC on Wednesday, August 6 at 9:00 pm.

It seems that Roseanne really wants to start a cooking show to be called Domestic Goddess. The Real Roseanne Show will document the trials and tribulations that she endures as she sets out to get the show off the ground. Working with her son Jake and the first of her three ex-husbands, Bill Pentland (and his current wife Becky), among others, the show teasers promise us a view of the “real” Roseanne. Now, that may be the most frightening part since she is not known to be one of the nicest people in the business. However, the official ABC website also promises to show us the “softer” side of this hard-edged comedienne as she “interacts daily with all of her children, makes sure the kitchen pantry is full, and has a poignant visit with the daughter whom she gave up for adoption.”

After years of therapy and a reconnection with her religious roots, Roseanne, who is now 50, sees this show as her “last shot.” According to one report, she was so desperate to get Domestic Goddess on the air that she pitched it to every network, including ESPN! That said, she is putting a great deal of energy into this venture and opening up her personal life to public scrutiny à la Anna Nicole, Ozzy, et al.

The thing about Roseanne is that she can be really funny. She was “discovered” as a wisecracking waitress in Denver and used her experiences as a working class woman as the foundation for her act. She had a meteoric rise to fame, culminating with her ground-breaking show, Roseanne. The Conners were a blue-collar, working-class family about as far away from the “typical” TV family as a show could get! Real families watched and identified with this dysfunctional group, keeping the show in the Nielsen Top Ten for most of its run. Roseanne was rewarded with an Emmy, two Golden Globes, two American Comedy Awards, six People's Choice Awards, a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award, and a GLAAD Media Award. Sadly, it all fell apart when the star’s ego intruded on the dynamic. The show stopped being funny and vanished into the land of syndication. Roseanne, with her multiple marriages, names, and personalities, started being the joke rather than telling them.

The Real Roseanne Show will air thirteen half-hour episodes, with two being shown each Wednesday starting at 9:00 pm. (I’m not sure what happens to episode #13.) Unscripted, Roseanne could be funny – or not. At a press conference last week, she told the Television Critics Association that she has been advised to “be nice and nicer things will happen for you!” Can Roseanne be nice? I guess we’ll just have to tune in and see!

Donna Reynolds is a freelance writer and technical writer from Syracuse, NY. You can e-mail her at dlrturtle@earthlink.net.

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