R.I.P. Roseanne

Earlier this year when ABC fired Roseanne Barr for tweeting a comment many found offensive I was confused by my own thoughts. For many years I have been a fan of this comedienne whose humor was steeped in discourse. She could make me laugh and pray at the same time. I also believed she had made a grave misjudgment in the words she chose to battle with, offensive by any definition. And last but certainly not least, I believe freedom of speech is not about the speech but about a freedom we should hold onto with a firm grip, never fearing unjust reprisals.

I concluded my anthology of thought by believing ABC had made the wrong decision and may soon regret their hasty decision.

Tonight, the American Broadcasting Network aired “The Conner's”, the continuing saga of television’s most relatable and sometime hate-able family. Without their star...Roseanne. An episode that would have never been written if Roseanne hadn’t tweeted her infamous tweet. The script for this ‘pilot’ should be placed high on the list of television’s greatest moments.  The writers could have taken numerous directions to explain the sudden disappearance of the Conner family matriarch. They could have weaved closet-racism into the script to support their unpopular decision to fire Roseanne.

But they didn’t.

Instead the writers tackled one of the biggest problems facing families today, opiate addiction. They did so without shining an undeserving spotlight on some poor broken addict. They didn’t write about Rock Bottom, Day One, or Rehab. They didn’t tag addiction as a disease. They didn’t end the program with a PSA asking for donations to a hopeless cause.  They didn’t try to solve a problem destroying families in a thirty-minute sitcom; destruction by a horrific beast called Addiction.  

These heroic writers focused on the survivors. Those living in the pungent wake of an addict. A wake whose depth and width aren’t recognized by the drug abuser. Innocent family members pulled under by a riptide of destruction the addict blindly releases with every pill swallowed, every vein popped,  every flake snorted...every last breath...every coffin lowered.

Opiates were the focus tonight, maybe because everyone knows someone...

I was moved by the writing and the acting in tonight’s episode. Thank you, ABC.

Rest in peace Roseanne. Love you.

Still a fan.