Five years after "Roseanne‘s" original run wrapped, John Goodman was on the short list to play family patriarch Paul Hennessy — until "Three’s Company" funnyman John Ritter, coming off a series of films/TV-movies, sought a sitcom comeback. “You take John Ritter any time you can get John Ritter,” EP Flody Suarez said at the time.

(Goodman would eventually have "8 Simple Rules" star Katey Sagal as a TV wife on "The Conners".)

https://tvline.com/lists/tv-actors-almost-played-different-roles/john-goodman-8-simple-rules-for-dating-my-teenage-daughter/

It's detailed (https://books.google.com/books?id=O6dQVvEY2fUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=DisneyWar&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_moGDiKSBAxWKkmoFHU3kDxgQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=snippet&q=John%20Ritter&f=false) in the book (https://books.google.com/books?id=RZGJKzojibAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=DisneyWar&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_moGDiKSBAxWKkmoFHU3kDxgQ6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=John%20Ritter&f=false) Disneywar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom (https://books.google.com/books?id=qF5GigayEhQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=DisneyWar&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_moGDiKSBAxWKkmoFHU3kDxgQ6AF6BAgPEAI#v=onepage&q=John%20Ritter&f=false).