Roseanne's jab at Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat was "a dog whistle so strong that it might have brought Lassie back from the dead"

The New Yorker

According to Emily Nussbaum, that one controversial joke about "all the shows about black and Asian families" explains Roseanne. Nussbaum says the joke was a racial dog whistle. If it wasn't, why not target shows about white families like The Middle or Speechless? Is it because those shows are "just like them"? "The jab," says Nussbaum, "was clearly aimed at Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat, comedies that share ABC’s Tuesday schedule with Roseanne. The line establishes a few things. One is that the Conners don’t live in the same America as the Johnsons, from Black-ish, or the Huangs, from Fresh Off the Boat. There will never be a crossover episode—no fun clash, say, between an aging Jessica Huang and Roseanne, on a Conner trip to Florida. Instead, the Conners are themselves bored, alienated ABC viewers, unable even to remember titles, just that these are the 'black and Asian' shows."

ALSO:

• ABC having the No. 1 show with Roseanne hasn't happened since Who Wants to be a Millionaire in 2000
• What is the point of Mary Conner? The one black Roseanne family member is nearly invisible
• Johnny Galecki's return was a perfect metaphor for the revival's messiness
• David being back only made sense in an alternate universe
• Did Barbara Bush actually call Roseanne Barr "brave," as Barr claimed? Not exactly
• 90-year-old Estelle Parsons looked really good in her return as Bev