Here’s What Tom Arnold Though Of The Roseanne Reboot — It Ain’t Pretty
Roseanne premiered last night to mixed reviews — some thinking it was bringing families together, others thinking it divided them even further.
But Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr’s ex husband, had a particular opinion.
“When [The Hollywood Reporter] asked me to review the new Roseanne reboot, I promised objectivity,” he said. “But, of course, I’d been the audience warm-up guy for the Roseanne pilot in 1988 and worked my way up on the show from writer to producer. In fact, by the time Roseanne fired me in 1994 — destroying the trophy case in my office, canceling my credit cards and promising I’d never work in show business again — I’d been executive producing and playing Arnie for a few years. So you can see why these delightful memories would make it hard not to be prejudiced.”
He continues: “I was happy for Roseanne and the other actors, but I also knew the new show’s success would rest on one thing: Who will Roseanne Conner be in 2018? Because today’s Roseanne Barr is more polarizing than ever. No longer a feminist-pacifist voice for the working folks, she’s now a far-right Trump-loving troll who’s gone hard against liberals and Hillary supporters and even #MeToo women,” he writes about Barr, who is a supporter of President Donald Trump. “That is not the Roseanne Barr I knew, but that’s OK so long as that’s not the Roseanne Conner she brings back to TV.”
“Bottom line: If you want to watch a show because it’s the voice of your political point of view, right or left, do not watch the Roseanne reboot. You’ll be disappointed. But if you’re a fan of the original Roseanne, especially the glory years — you know, the ‘Tom Arnold years’ — this is as good as it’s going to get,” he says. “Roseanne has done everything from pulling my hair transplants immediately after surgery to saying I had a 3-inch penis on SNL, so I figure if I can give the show another shot, maybe other people could too.”