Do we really need a second season of the 'Roseanne' revival? | The Tylt

Below is the synopsis of the "Roseanne" reboot, per Rotten Tomatoes.

Featuring the complete original cast, new series regulars and notable returning guest stars, the revival will explore life, death and everything in between through the relatable, hilarious and brutally honest lens of the Conner household. With the inimitable Roseanne at its epicenter, fresh stories that tackle today's issues and even more laughs from a brilliant cast and crew that haven't missed a beat, audiences old and new will celebrate the homecoming of America's favorite working-class family.

The reboot holds a fresh rating of 75 percent. If you haven't watched it yet, check out the trailer for season one below. 

The episode called "Go Cubs," wherein Roseanne discriminates against her new Muslim neighbors, garnered significant backlash from critics and pundits. Some say the episode is about learning tolerance. Others say the show highlights and sparks conservations about politics in America without stigmatizing liberalism or conservatism. Vox's Caroline Framke wrote:

That thread continued with “Go Cubs,” an episode devoted to Roseanne recoiling from her new Muslim neighbors before learning that, hey, they might just be people after all. It’s not a particularly new premise; in fact, NBC’s excellent and prematurely canceled sitcom The Carmichael Show did an episode with exactly the same plot more than two years ago. But given Barr’s own political views and Roseanne’s reigning spot in today’s pop culture zeitgeist, it became a lightning rod of controversy almost immediately.

At first, Roseanne spends her time spying on the neighbors, insisting to her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) that their huge supply of fertilizer could mean they’re “a sleeper cell full of terrorists getting ready to blow up our neighborhood,” and suggesting that their wifi password would be “deathtoAmerica123.”

Once she’s finally forced to meet Samir (Alain Washnevsky) and Fatima (Anne Bedian) face to face, however, it’s harder for her to keep up the vitriol. A scene in which Roseanne has to ask them for their actual wifi password so her granddaughter can Skype her mother (who’s currently on a military tour in Afghanistan) drives home how badly Roseanne misjudged them with a series of blunt reveals. The neighbors’ outsize fertilizer collection came thanks to an Amazon misunderstanding; their password is “go Cubs” for their favorite baseball team; racist threats have caused their scared son to start wearing a bulletproof vest to sleep.

The Los Angeles Times' Meg James and Yvonne Villarreal reports "Roseanne" is slaying in the ratings. 

Much of the credit goes to "Roseanne," whose success has surprised some analysts. The show, which showcases a struggling working-class family, has averaged more than 19 million viewers an episode, outpacing "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS.

"The last time we had the No. 1 show was 24 years ago," said Ben Sherwood, president of Disney/ABC Television Group. "If anyone came to play a drinking game for how many times we mention 'Roseanne' — you're welcome."

ABC says the sitcom will venture more into family life than politics in season two. Variety's Joe Otterson wrote:

“Roseanne” may not focus on politics going into the second season of the revival, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said.

“I think that they’re going to stay on the path that they were on toward the end of last season, which is away from politics and toward family,“ Dungey said on a conference call Tuesday. The show has drawn both criticism and praise for its depiction of conservative views, most notably reflecting the political leanings of series star and creator Roseanne Barr.

But some TV critics simply don't like the revival. The Atlantic's Megan Garber calls the sitcom reductive:

They're on the nose. They're reductive. They're easy. They conflate partisanship with politics writ large. They suggest an American political situation that is a matter of performance and personality rather than of systemic crisis.

But some TV critics argue "Roseanne" misses the mark. The Nation's Judy Berman wrote: 

The show’s comeback is often framed as controversial, but, so far, that reputation has more to do with the alt-right conspiracy theories Barr spouts on Twitter than with any actual storylines. In fact, by pushing characters’ political allegiances to the foreground but refusing to tease out the implications of those beliefs, the new Roseanne has turned out to be much safer than the original—which, among other groundbreaking moments, included an episode that ABC initially refused to air because it showed a kiss between Roseanne and another woman.