Roseanne Cast Interview On Set & On The Couch

Big fan of the hit TV show, Roseanne? Read this exclusive Roseanne Cast Interview On Set & On The Couch with Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman & special appearance by Roseanne Barr. Disney & ABC invited me out to L.A. to interview the cast & tour the set of Roseanne. All opinions are my own. Travel and accommodations were covered.

Roseanne Cast Interview On Set & On The Couch

Same couch. Same cast. New show. It’s been over 18 years since the end of the hit sitcom, Roseanne. 222 episodes recorded over a span of 12+years on a worn couch draped with a familiar quilt. And as I walked onto the set during the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Press Event (yup, secret revealed!), you can almost smell the 1988 aura. Taking a walk down memory lane in this exclusive Roseanne Cast Interview, we sat down with stars Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, and Michael Fishman to find out why these actors had “more to say.” Take a photo tour on-set, see who’s back to reprise their roles, go behind-the-scenes of the new Roseanne revival and see exactly why America needs this show in 2018. And be sure to scroll down for our surprise visit from Roseanne Barr too.

Photo credit: Louise Bishop/MomStart.com

Where are the characters now? And what really happened to Dan?

So what happened to the characters of Roseanne? First of all, Dan is really alive. The cast laughed off the fact that the last season of Roseanne was kind of a hot mess and promise that the hour-long first episode will explain and recap what exactly happened. According to Michael Fishman, “It’ll all make sense for fans.” During our exclusive Roseanne cast interview with Lecy, Sara and Michael, they all dive into their new character back stories – now 20 years later.

Lecy Goranson explains where Becky’s life is now.

Becky is a widow and she is a waitress. And she really likes to drink. But I also think she’s very strong. I mean she’s struggling, but she’s fighting. She’s fighting to have her life together. And she’s a little arrested, but she’s working on it.

Sara Gilbert reprises her role as Darlene.

Darlene is basically a single parent. David has been in and out slightly, over the years. I don’t think she’s fully moved on when our season starts. But she’s just been getting by with these two kids, and she’s moved back home. She always dreamt of being a writer, and that dream, as happens in life, gets knocked down the totem pole. Part of her arc over the season is seeing if she’ll go back and chase that dream or take a safe path to take care of her kids.

Michael Fishman is still attached to DJ.

[DJ is] married. He has a daughter. DJ came out of the military and is kind of struggling to re-establish himself. His wife is actually still active in the military. So, there’s that juxtaposition of feeling strongly connected and proud of what he did, but a little frustrated because he isn’t quite ready to move on and not sure of what he wants to do next.

Photo Credit: ABC/Robert Trachtenberg

Who’s back? Who’s new?

2 Beckys + 1 John Goodman + 3 new characters + a lot of favorite guest stars = 9 PACKED Roseanne episodes. The cast of the 2018 Roseanne season certainly won’t disappoint on any fan-level. Sara Gilbert revealed:

Sarah Chalke is involved. She’s not playing Becky, but she’s playing another role that’s linked to Becky [new character Andrea]…in a few episodes. There’s so many people that we had over the years. Because it’s only nine episodes and we’ve added three characters, it’s already difficult to service everybody who’s here. I think we’ve gotten a couple, but I wish there was room for more.

Here’s the confirmed cast list according to ABC:

The series stars Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner, John Goodman as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner-Healy, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner-Healy, Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy and Jayden Rey as Mary Conner.

Fan-favorite guest stars from “Roseanne” will reprise their roles in the revival, including Estelle Parsons as Beverly Harris, Sandra Bernhard as Nancy Bartlett, Natalie West as Crystal Anderson, James Pickens, Jr. as Chuck Mitchell and Adilah Barnes as Anne Marie Mitchell.

Roseanne Set Photo Tour

TV set visits always give me a mini thrill. You feel a part of the action with crew bustling around, possible actors around every corner and items that really could date back to 1988. But the set of Roseanne feels so different. It’s worn. Tired. Used. Full of history.

You feel at home among the settling dust and clutter of the living room. You don’t mind touching the knick knacks. The odd ends feel right.

Then I moved into the kitchen. Remember the phone, the pantry, the troll on the kitchen window sill?

And even found a sweet hidden memorial to Glenn Quinn (aka Mark Healy, Becky’s husband).

Photo credit: Louise Bishop/MomStart.com

Roseanne Easter eggs & inside jokes

The cast didn’t forget about the hardcore original Roseanne fans. Be sure to look for Roseanne Easter Eggs throughout the season – as a special “thank you” to the true lovers of the show.

Michael Fishman and Sara Gilbert both hinted that the infamous chicken shirt is back in the first episode of the show…somewhat. Lecy Goranson admitted “The funny thing about the chicken shirt though is that the original chicken shirt is lost. Now you can buy a chicken shirt online. So, they bought the chicken shirt, but they had to realign it so it would look like the original one.”

A lot of the crew are from the original show as well, bringing back more Easter eggs and running jokes on-set. Sara Gilbert laughed, “We’ve seen the meat stinks shirt. I saw Wellman’s Plastics shirt the other day. Somebody was wearing one of the jackets we got Season 1 or Season 2.”

Look for John Goodman’s combat boots. Those are the original boots from 25 years ago.

And who the heck is Mr. Laughy? Lecy Goranson revealed, “There’s this iconic photo that used to be on set of Michael as a little boy and he had a bowtie (Fishman admits this photo came from his preschool graduation). We used to call him Mr. Laughy. That image was Mr. Laughy ’cause he looked kind of like a vaudevillian, old-time kind of comic, or almost like a ventriloquist doll. And then there was a t-shirt made of it.” Look for Laurie wearing the t-shirt of Mr. Laughy during a scene with Roseanne this season.

Why does America need ‘Roseanne Revival’ now?

It’s been 18 years since the last episode of Roseanne. Why is 2018 the year of the Roseanne revival? What can America expect from these 9 new episodes? Sara Gilbert passionately spoke about why Roseanne in 2018 makes sense.

It’s this very real thing of loving the people you work with and then loving the characters and loving the show and being proud of it. I think that’s the unique part that makes it possible for all of us to come back. There’s more to say.

It doesn’t really feel like a sitcom. Sometimes we’re doing it, and it’s “wow, this is heavy,” but we handle everything with humor. People deal with all these heavy topics. You want be able to make an impact and help people see their stories represented on television.

I felt like our country is so divided. This is a working class family that can have varying political views even within the family but still love each other. I thought what a great way to try to help unite people, have people listen to each other. I strongly believe that we can disagree without being so divided.

Oh, we met Roseanne Barr too.

Roseanne returns to TV in 9 all-new episodes with a special hour-long premiere on Tuesday March 27, 2018 from 8-9 pm EDT. Then see Roseanne in the regular 8-8:30 pm EDT time slot beginning April 3, 2018.

Follow Roseanne for the latest updates: Twitter | Instagram | #roseanne

Are you excited for the return of Roseanne? What is your favorite Roseanne memory?

I was invited to attend an all-inclusive press trip to cover this Roseanne Cast Interview, with post sponsored by Disney. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more Disney insider information, movie updates and entertainment!

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