‘SPLITTING UP TOGETHER’ ON ABC

The ABC television network is having a busy mid-season with a slew of new comedies and other series programming.

For one new show, ABC has adapted a TV program from Denmark for its comedic inspiration.

Similarly titled as the Danish version, “Splitting Up Together” stars two recognizable television faces as a couple with three kids that decides to call it quits but for financial reasons decides to share, to some extent, the family home.

Jenna Fischer’s Lena and Oliver Hudson’s Martin, married for 12 years, apparently hit a dead-end long ago, and so they just matter-of-factly tell family and friends at a dinner gathering that they are “pulling the plug.”

It would appear that Martin wanted to be the “fun parent” and shirked a lot of his marital responsibilities, from taking out the garbage to other small chores. When it was revealed that he didn’t even dance with his wife at their wedding, you wonder how they even got this far.

Now the divided household requires each parent to live in the main house for a week, taking care of the kids, while the other takes up residence in the converted garage. Since they have an incredible Craftsman house, it’s no wonder that neither party wishes to relocate.

As with most situation comedies, “Splitting Up Together” should rely on its lead characters being more than one-dimensional while uttering the occasional funny circumstantial dialogue.

After all, Jenna Fischer in “The Office” and Oliver Hudson in “Rules of Engagement” had good runs in network comedies which demonstrated their abilities to be a perfectionist and a self-absorbed egotist, respectively, traits that work for both in the new series.

The underlying theme of “Splitting Up Together” appears to be whether this former couple, living in such close quarters, might actually reconcile their relationship and become a solid family unit.

If that’s really the case, does this series have the ability to sustain a long run for the “will they or won’t they” dynamic? I have no idea how this question was ever resolved, if at all, with the Danish program.




‘ROSEANNE’ ON ABC

After its initial TV debut nearly three decades ago, “Roseanne,” a working-class family sitcom that ran for nine successful seasons, has been rebooted with most of the original cast in place on the ABC network.

The original program was innovative for its focus on the family dynamic where both parents were dealing with everyday problems while juggling work and parental duties to make ends meet.

Not much has changed in the Conner household in the intervening years, except that Roseanne Barr’s Roseanne and John Goodman’s Dan have settled into dealing with aging problems, such as taking a lot of medications and handling the usual family rifts.

The new series kickoffs with Roseanne waking up in bed with her husband Dan and saying to him, “I thought you were dead” and he replies, “Why does everyone think I am dead?,” which is apparently the quick and easy way to deal with the fact that he supposedly died in the original ninth season.

In the first episode, “Roseanne” also tackles the fallout of the 2016 election where friction remains between Roseanne and her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), who shows up wearing a “Nasty Woman” T-shirt and the ubiquitous knit cap that was prominent in the Women’s March on Washington.

Looking to tackle social and political issues appears at the initial glance as a way to involve the family in a wide-ranging discussion on issues from health care and jobs to oldest daughter Becky’s (Lecy Goranson) desire to become a surrogate mother for a huge payday.

The Conner household has expanded to now include daughter Darlene (Sara Gilbert), now divorced and broke, with two children, the youngest one a precocious grade-schooler whose wardrobe is, well, a bit too unorthodox for his new classmates.

One thing for sure about the revived “Roseanne” is that the one-liners remain sharply funny. When asked about family medical history, Roseanne says, “All of your relatives died of alcoholism. The ones that didn’t drink were killed by the ones who did.”

Without keeping score, it would seem a lot of the good lines naturally go to Roseanne, but others definitely get in their licks. Not thrilled with Becky’s plans for surrogacy, Roseanne retorts, “Don’t have a yard sale in your uterus.”

During the winter TV press tour, a critic asked if the reboot taps into nostalgia, and Roseanne Barr replied that “I think it’s fun to check back in with the family that you knew and felt you knew so much about and that you enjoyed so much.”

Time will tell if the star of “Roseanne” was on to something about a longing for a vintage show, but in the meantime this new “Roseanne” is off to a good start, at least for the viewers who remember the original series.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.