Roseanne's 'Conservative Resurrection' Show Crushes Competitors

Now, maybe the folks at ABC will think twice about why they cancelled Tim Allen's show, Last Man Standing.

His show, according to widespread reports, was axed largely because of the 'conservative' values and opinions Allen worked into it.

But the debut of the return of Roseanne with Roseanne Barr Tuesday night had the ABC network grinning. An astonishing 18.2 million viewers tuned in to see this real-life Trump supporter spar with now uber-liberal Jackie, John Goodman reprised his role as her husband. In fact, those ratings were better than the 1997 numbers for the original run's final show! In real life, Barr is an outspoken supporter of President Trump, a true rarity in Hollywood these days.

The show features a mix of conservative and liberal (and in between) characters, there was sharp debate over Trump, Hillary, etc but their names were never mentioned. Roseanne's grandson is obviously having gender confusion issues, and John Goodman got in some sharp remarks.

The best line of the night went to Roseanne. When she was calling everyone to gather for grace before dinner, she icily shot a line at Jackie, saying, "do you wanna take a knee?" An obvious reference to NFL players, only applied to the idea of praying for eating. Pow!

But the show never went 'there' and despite a number of scathing one-liners, you felt like you were watching 'real' people. And there was enough humanity and frailty among the characters that it felt like real Americans today. One of the best moments was Sara Gilbert, who plays Roseanne's oldest daughter, breaking down and admitting she feels like her life would have been better by now. She's been fired, had to move home, and her son's gender issues and school battles are wearing on her. It was handled brilliantly, with Roseanne showing her some humorous but genuine support.

We plan to watch again next week, and apparently so will a LOT of others.