Television makes room for Trumpism: the persistent “family crisis” in ABC’s rebooted Roseanne

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 2018 reboot of ABC’s hit sitcom Roseanne was a significant attempt from a major network to reach a new “pro-Trump audience.” Turning its back on the feminist perspective of the original show (1988–1997), ABC green-lighted a rebooted Roseanne, defending it as a “cultural forum” at a time of national division. The historical interdependence of television, family and women coupled with the attempt from a national network to turn Trump voters into Trump publics leads to a renewed debate over the persistent idea of a “family crisis”. Exploring the politics of the reboot shows how it produced fictive stories based on the definition of Trumpism in which “the” family, standing in for “the” people, must be protected from financial difficulties and modern values (e.g. surrogate motherhood, youth emancipation, or immigration). Using the nuclear-family household—television’s best-charted territory since its beginnings—storylines champion a “family crisis” constituted by economic redistribution, welfare programs, or countercultural resources, and staunchly defend familialist solidarity.