Since then, a few eagle-eyed commuters have spotted a curious element of the activation on New York’s shuttle train between Grand Central Station and Times Square: When some of the subway doors close, they reveal what appears to be a Make America Great Again hat.
ABC has wrapped one of the New York shuttle trains to recreate the living room of Dan and Roseanne Conner (played by John Goodman and Roseanne Barr). The subway seats are camouflaged to look like the Conners’ famous couch, down to the appearance of the iconic afghan. Meanwhile, the ends of each subway car are patterned after a fireplace, with photos of the Conner family and other trinkets on the mantle. The walls feature portraits of Barr, Goodman and the cast.
While the hat’s lettering is blurred in the activation, ABC confirmed that the object is, indeed, a Make America Great Again hat. It was not added to the campaign to be provocative; instead, along with the rest of the subway activation, it’s a faithful depiction of the contents inside the Conner’s working-class home in fictional Langford, Ill.
During this new season of the series, the hat hangs on Conner’s back porch and is visible behind the kitchen set. It also can be spotted during the new opening credit sequence. The hat isn’t referenced or worn during the revival, at least in the three episodes that ABC provided to press, although the “Make America Great Again” slogan is used as a punchline in the premiere episode.
During the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in January, executive producer Bruce Helford said he thought Roseanne’s revival could help families who are split over Trump. The Conner family “represents a full cross-section of values of beliefs. Everybody in the family has a different take on things. And we wanted to get that debate going in a very honest way, in a very real way.”