E! News is reporting that Roseanne will officially return to ABC. As we reported a few weeks back, the show was being developed as a limited series revival set to star Roseanne Barr and the rest of the original cast, including John Goodman, whose character Dan Connor was dead at the end of the original series run. The show will be produced by Roseanne Bar, Sara Gilbert, Tom Werner, and Whitney Cummings. Sarah Chalke, who was the second actress to play Becky Connor on the show, will return for the limited series but will be playing a different role. 

Related: Roseanne Revival In The Works

The show is set to showcase the life of the Connor’s in 2018 as they struggle to get by paycheck to paycheck. Channing Dungey, ABC President, had this to say about the revival.

“We’re rebooting Roseanne,” she said. “It is planned for the midseason. We’re still at the early stages.” Per the network’s press release, the eight-episode revival will find the Connors continuing to deal with “the economic challenges of living pay check to pay check in 2018.”

“The Conners’ joys and struggles are as relevant – and hilarious – today as they were then, and there’s really no one better to comment on our modern America than Roseanne,” Dungey said in a statement.

I’m split as to how to receive this. The show, for its time, was funny. The cast was far more talented than a simply sitcom deserved. Giving actors like John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf a chance to shine in their first big roles is reason enough to applaud the show for what it was able to accomplish. Yet I wonder if today’s audience will want to laugh at circumstances that hit home for far more people than they did in the 90’s. When the big shows of the day are shows like Game Of Thrones, shows that allow people to escape the drudgery of their daily lives, will a sitcom revival dealing with a family struggling to pay the bills really resonate with the audience? Sure, nostalgia will get people watching. Will they stay for the story the producers want to tell?

So what do you think? Are you excited to see the Roseanne revival head home to ABC? What do you expect to see in the new show? Will people want to laugh about circumstances that hit close to home for far too many people today or will nostalgia rule the day? Sound off in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page. 

SOURCE: E! News