‘Roseanne’ Returns, ‘Splitting Up Together’ Premieres, ‘Tosh.0’ Turns 10

Matt Roush
22 Comments
ROSEANNE - ROSEANNE BARR, JOHN GOODMAN
Adam Rose/ABC
ROSEANNE BARR, JOHN GOODMAN on 'Roseanne'

A selective critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:

Roseanne (8/7c, ABC): As she’d be the first to tell you, the “B” is back. As in Barr, Roseanne Barr, whose groundbreaking sitcom in the late ’80s and ’90s galvanized TV with its unvarnished look at the middle class in a way we hadn’t seen since the Bunkers of All in the Family. The good news is that the Conners are back, with two consecutive episodes, in all of their sloppy glory in this revival. The original cast is intact, including John Goodman as Dan, who gets some mileage out of merely being alive in several meta jokes in the premiere. Tony and Emmy winner Laurie Metcalf also returns as Roseanne’s sister Jackie, and their Deplorable-vs-Snowflake dinner-table fight over modern politics reminds us how relevant this show still can be. The tone of tough, sarcastic love still endures, and informs yet another generation, with Darlene (Sara Gilbert, indispensable) now an unemployed single mom with her hands full and worried about living back home and getting health coverage for her kids—including a son (Ames McNamara) who favors girls’ clothing. Dan and Roseanne lament the high cost of prescriptions, and soon enough the family will be dealing with the timely issue of opioid addiction. Strong stuff as it always was, yet laced with fun jokes like when Becky (Lecy Goranson) is cleaning up the iconic living room and pleads: “Could you please put away anything you got free with a tank of gas?” Happily, the revived Roseanne is hardly running on fumes.

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Splitting Up Together (9:30/8:30c, ABC): On the other end of the ABC comedy scale is this contrived hybrid of family sitcom and adult rom-com about the unconventional divorce of Lena (The Office’s Jenna Fischer) and Martin (Oliver Hudson). They’re now living separately but on the same property, with each parent (of the requisite three kids) switching off weekly between living in the house and moving to the garage. Sheepish Martin is particularly regretful—and who can blame him, because although Lena is a bit of a control freak, Fischer is so appealing and unaffected, even when confronted with their oldest son’s puberty in the opening episode. (Their daughter is a humorless budding feminist, the most tiresome of clichés.) There’s still a spark between these two—otherwise, why make the show? I just wish more of it were actually funny.

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Tosh.0 (10/9c, Comedy Central): Even when very bad, the Internet has been very good to Daniel Tosh, now celebrating his 10th season of web-crawling commentary and comedy, including “CeWEBrity Profiles” and vignettes of hopeful “Web Redemption.” Among Tosh’s adventures as the new season begins: trying to make a fortune in Bitcoin, and learning how to survive a bear attack.

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Inside Tuesday TV: The battle rounds end on NBC’s The Voice (8/7c), which means the “knockouts” are right around the corner. … Dana Delany (China Beach, Desperate Housewives) is formidable in any role, so Bull (Michael Weatherly) has his work cut out for him when he goes up against her on CBS’s Bull (9/8c) as Assistant U.S. Attorney Sylvia Banner, who arrests a doctor for bringing a marijuana-derived oil across state lines. … In the season finale of TBS’s The Detour (10:30/9:30c), the Parkers seek help in an abandoned ghost town, only to be confronted with role-playing LARPers who aren’t playing around.

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RoseanneSplitting Up Together



Conversation22 Comments

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  1. C

    CyanFish

    As always, I'll be watching the NEW episode of "NCIS" tonight. I really liked the first season of Roseanne when it originally aired, so I'll watch the new episodes tonight. The 1978 remake of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" airs tonight on the MoviePlex channel at 9:09pm, and it's worth a re-watch. Donald Sutherland is awesome, Leonard Nimoy has a minor, but pivotal role. Oooh, and "The Lost Boys," is airing on Lifetime Movie Network at 6pm. But the highlight of the night is over at TCM, with another airing of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," starring John Wayne at 6:45pm. Just a wonderful, splendid, fantastic movie. Wait -- then there's "Heaven," airing at 7:30pm on the MGM HD channel, starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. It's an odd movie -- especially as I noticed a dead giveaway to how the movie would end within the first five minutes, and spent the whole movie wondering how it would fit in. LOL!

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    1. C

      CyanCoathanger

      Thanks for constantly reminding us of all the premium channels you get and most of us can't afford.

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      1. C

        CyanFish

        I'm disabled. I don't get out that much. I'd gladly trade the premium channels to be able to go out freely.

        1. C

          CyanCoathanger

          I wouldn't go out at all if I didn't have to. It's too much of a bother.

      2. G

        GoldSubmarine

        Truth is, I don't think I could find the time to watch very much more programming even if I did subscribe to more channels. My bill is already around $200 including internet and phone. They told me if I ditch my phone service my bill will rise, so I use it for a fax that I hardly ever use anymore. Once in a while when I'm in the mood , I call them and complain about the lack of premium channels and sometimes they give me some free months of premium channels like HBO or Starz. I barely ever watch them anyway. For me the broadcast networks still provide the bulk of my shows.

    2. R

      RedQuill

      Morjana...I ENJOY your mentioning/describing the unique movies you run across each day!!!

      The channels you mention are easily found for Verizon FiOS subscribers...

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      1. C

        CyanFish

        Thank you so much. Best wishes.

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      2. C

        CyanCoathanger

        I don't mind her mentioning the movies (although most of us probably can't watch them or don't have the time since we're watching regular TV programs). It's the name-dropping of all the networks that we don't/can't get because it costs too much money, and that includes: Showtime, TCM, MGM, Retroplex, STARZ, STARZ Encore Action, STARZ Encore Westerns, THIS, FLIX, Movies, IFC, and any HD channels.

  2. R

    RedCupcake

    What happened to my post?? Hmm. Well, as I said someplace, it's only NCIS for me (mainly out of habit) and maybe some shows on NatGeo about Nazi craziness. Not sure how those sickos thought they could get away with all they did, but....

    So what about the finale of The Alienist? In general I liked it, but there were a LOT of things we saw this season that never got explained or wrapped up. It's almost like the first half season is a whole different story than what we saw in the 2nd half. An;yway, I would have liked to see more follow-up on some of these issues.

    Have to say, I think Sarah's scene telling Kreizler about her father was the most "acting" we saw out of Dakota Fanning all season. Maybe her character was SUPPOSED to be stoic and emotionless, though; maybe she thought that was the price she had to pay or being the first woman in the NYPD. Also, I'm going to admit that all season long, I thought that John Moore could easily pass as Castiel's older brother (from Supernatural). 😀 Another also: we finally heard about Kreizler's arm issue, and I have to say that him not using that arm was much more noticeable in the finale than it had been in all the earlier episodes. In fact, until someone mentioned it, I never noticed that his right arm was 'useless' or not used regularly.

    1. C

      CyanFish

      I gave up on "The Alienist" after the first episode. I do like "dark" on occasions, but this was a bit too dark for my tastes.

      1. R

        RedCupcake

        Yeah the first episode (or maybe first few) were pretty gruesome. Ironically, the gore factor decreased as the series went on.

    2. C

      CyanCoathanger

      What did happen to his arm? i must have missed that part.

      1. R

        RedCupcake

        He told Sarah the story... apparently his father had mood issues (possibly now known as manic-depressive or something) and he began hurting Lazlo. It was hard to hear, but I think the father twisted his arm behind him, or did something bad enough to Lazlo's arm that it ruined it. I do wish it was easier to hear the dialogue. Did you hear Sarah's story about *her* father?

        1. C

          CyanCoathanger

          I think I did, but I don't remember it. I must have been half asleep while I was watching it. I should watch the last 2 episodes again.

  3. R

    RedQuill

    Noticed that on truTV's Adam Ruins Everything... tonight's "The First Factsgiving" episode lists "The Pilgrims did not break bread with Native Americans" and "No romance existed between Pocahontas and John Smith"...

    1. C

      CyanCoathanger

      Not so hard to believe.

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  4. G

    GoldSubmarine

    ABC comedies for me. Roseanne and Splitting Up Together look funny to me. At least according to the previews.

    I watched American Idol last night. Some really good talent on this show. Hopefully some stars will be born.

    1. C

      CyanCoathanger

      Splitting Up doesn't look all that appealing to me, and it doesn't sound like Matt likes it very much either.

      1. G

        GoldSubmarine

        I'll reserve my opinion after I watch it. Most critics disliked Dr.Ken, but I laughed a lot with that one. The comedies I miss most from last season are Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing and The Real O'Neals.

  5. C

    CyanCoathanger

    If it weren't for the comedies, I wouldn't be watching anything new tonight, and I'm not usually a big comedy fan. I'll watch Roseanne, LA to Vegas, The Mick, and Baskets.

    I used to watch Tosh.0, but I stopped several years ago....not because I didn't like it but because it always conflicted with other shows I liked better. If they don't come up with more shows I like on Tuesdays, I might start watching it again.

    One Strange Rock was excellent last night! Even if you've seen dozens of documentaries about nature and the planet, this one is really different.

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      1. C

        CyanCoathanger

        I think I told you I quit watching Black Lightning after a couple of episodes because I just didn't get into it. I didn't care for The Terror, so I won't be watching it either. I wish I could have kept up with Arrow, but I let it go too long to catch back up with again. I'm all caught up with Legends but still 2 behind on iZombie.

        1. This comment was removed by its author.

          1. C

            CyanCoathanger

            I have about 5 seasons of Arrow to catch up on. I'd never do it even with Netflix.