Fri-Yay: The Roseanne Reboot and the Trend of Rebooting Old Sitcoms; 227 Marathon on 2/27 on Antenna TV

Friday, January 26, 2018

Fri-Yay: The Roseanne Reboot and the Trend of Rebooting Old Sitcoms; 227 Marathon on 2/27 on Antenna TV

It's time for another edition of Fri-Yay! That means we will take a look back on some sitcom happenings in recent days or weeks or other fun sitcomy stuff. It's a sitcom lover's paradise! Happy Fri-Yay!

by Vincent

One of my most anticipated upcoming network comedies is the Roseanne reboot. For anyone who isn't aware, Roseanne will be returning to TV screens this spring in March with its original cast, and creators have said that, like the original series, it will offer a real and in-depth look at issues American families are facing today. Even though I've been generally skeptical of reboot culture, I'm kind of looking forward to the Roseanne reboot. Roseanne was one of the best working class sitcoms of all time, taking a magnifying glass to working class family life in a way that few shows had done before. In our current political climate, there is a serious divide among working class families along political lines, and it will be interesting to see how Roseanne deals with that divide. There are, arguably, even more hot button political topics involving working class families today than there were during Roseanne's original run (and there were a lot then!), so it will be incredibly interesting to see if the show is up to the task of handling it.

CBS also announced today that it would be airing a rebooted Murphy Brown for at least 13 episodes during the 2018-2019 TV season. Similar to Roseanne, Murphy Brown covered many controversial topics that feel just as, if not more, relevant today than during the show's original run, particularly related to female empowerment and feminism. Murphy Brown, like Roseanne, will see star Candace Bergen returning to her role, so it's possible it will once again recapture the spark the original series had. Still, part of me wonders – why don't we focus on the current sitcoms and allow them to cover these polarizing topics? Some shows are already doing a great job of this, like NBC's Superstore or Netflix's One Day at a Time – which is technically a reboot in and of itself, but feels different enough from the original that it's, essentially, a new series.

Still, it'll be fun to see some familiar faces on TV again – and if Roseanne and Murphy Brown can recapture some of their own magic, maybe I'll warm to the idea of TV remakes. I'm not a fan of Fuller House and I've found the Will & Grace reboot to be patchy with some decent moments, but perhaps Roseanne and Murphy Brown will be the shows to change my mind.

227

Celebrate the classic comedy of 227 on 2/27 when Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast entertainment network airs an 18-hour/36-episode marathon of 227 on Tuesday February 27, 2018. Join Mary, Lester, Brenda, Sandra and the neighbors of 227 Lexington Place on Antenna TV for a "best of" marathon from 5a-11pm ET on 2/27. 227 regularly airs on Antenna TV weekdays at 3pm ET, and weekends at 1:30pm ET. 227 aired on NBC from 1985-1990 originally and starred Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, Alaina Reed-Hall, Jackée Harry, Regina King, Helen Martin, and Curtis Baldwin. The series had 110 episodes in five seasons.