'People want Roseanne!' ABC Fears The Conners will crash without her and say killing

[TMC]

...her off was a hasty 'knee-jerk' decision

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/22...-jerk-decision

Top ABC brass may have acted too swiftly by pulling the plug on Roseanne - and they now fear the show's replacement spin-off will flop without its star.

Two senior executives at the network have told DailyMailTV that firing the actress was a 'knee-jerk' reaction by ABC's president and admitted that temporarily suspending Barr may have been a wiser decision.

'We didn't think it through properly. What Roseanne did was wrong but we shouldn't have rushed to fire her. It was almost a knee-jerk reaction by Ben [Sherwood] and Channing [Dungey] who should have launched an investigation,' one insider said.

'This would have given them more time to listen to the public, advertisers and cast members to determine the best decision.'

The highly-anticipated reboot of the popular 90s sitcom was axed in May, just three months into its return after Barr, 65, made a racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.

ABC canceled the show and fired the actress just hours later and released a statement calling her comments 'abhorrent' and 'repugnant.'

Although many applauded the network for taking swift action against the actress, the cancellation marked a premature and unfortunate end to the revival which had been considered an overall success.

Prior to Barr's tweet, however, the show had already received criticism for Roseanne's portrayal of a Trump supporter and its attempts to confront social issues involving race and politics.

According to one source, ABC was aware of what they 'were getting' when they hired the outspoken actress and rebooted her show, but the inappropriate tweet was the last straw for Dungey, despite Barr's desperate attempts to save face.

'They could've suspended her from the first few episodes without pay and had her return later on in the season. I mean the season finale saw Roseanne going to the hospital for knee surgery,' the source added.

'While they worked out her fate, her character could have faced serious complications and fought for her life, while simultaneously making Roseanne fight for her career with a national apology tour.

'The morning the racist tweet scandal blew up, Roseanne offered to publicly apologize and do the rounds of every show but Ben and Channing weren't having any of that and wanted her gone. Why not have her front a PSA for the network on racism and cyber bullying?

'Roseanne kept saying on the call before she was fired "What can I do? What can I do?" Fans of her show have watched her character confront prejudice and racism - we could've made this a storyline for her to save the show and redeem her publicly.'

The network fears they have upset viewers by firing Barr and that fans will not watch The Conners out of loyalty to the actress.

'When we greenlit The Conners we thought that the public would tune in to see the family return but what we've discovered is that people want Roseanne - they don't want the family by themselves,' a second source said.

'The marketing and publicity teams are horrified as no matter what promotional material is released - and let's be honest it's been limited for a show that launches next Tuesday - Roseanne's fans come out in force stating that they won't watch the show.

'The comments on social media tend to skew in favor of Roseanne and slam The Conners and the cast members who came back. Even dedicated fans of the Conner family feel conflicted about supporting a show that so swiftly eliminated the show's matriarch and creator.'

'In the end the ratings are all that matter - and there are many people at Disney and ABC who are worried that firing Roseanne will see their Tuesday night ratings drop substantially. And should The Conners flop, Channing and her team will have many questions to answer.

'The whisper across ABC is that they will not even be a quarter of what Roseanne achieved last season.'

The source added: 'Heck who knows - maybe she'll end up as Tim Allen's new neighbor on Last Man Standing.'

[TV Guy]

I didn’t like last year’s episodes, TBH. I do think some of the critics are going overboard on praising the spinoff, because they don’t like Roseanne Barr. Michael Ausiello Of TVLine gave “The Conners” an A rating, and he only gave “Roseanne” a B+. Come on.

[80sTrivia]

Granted, not having Roseanne is a major loss for the show, however many of the remaining actors are multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and Oscar winners/nominees, including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalfe, Sara Gilbert and Estelle Parsons. It's not as if the talent to carry the show is not there. I hope they can pull it off with a sense of class and humor in Roseanne's absence...

[Superswiper]

I just seen the premiere episode, and while Roseanne was never my favorite character in the show, it was so weird without her around.

What would happen if they ever decide to bring her back? Retcon her death like they did Dan in the past and continue the original show? Maybe make the whole show Dan's dream?

[TMC]

'The Conners' Creates More Problems Than It Solves

The whole franchise probably should have ended after Roseanne Barr's racist tirade.

[KatieAnn]

I guess they had to give "The Conners" a chance for the sake of all the people involved in the show who were counting on that income, but really it wasn't all that great a return to begin with, when they had Roseanne. People like Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman have had great careers beyond "Roseanne," and even Sara Gilbert has her talk show, which is successful.

It was something I watched for nostalgia, but that wasn't enough to keep me tuning in for every episode and I didn't even think about watching "The Conners."

[liane60]

Originally Posted by Superswiper

I just seen the premiere episode, and while Roseanne was never my favorite character in the show, it was so weird without her around.

What would happen if they ever decide to bring her back? Retcon her death like they did Dan in the past and continue the original show? Maybe make the whole show Dan's dream?

It was really weird without her, especially when Dan went to bed. Only time will tell what happens to the show. It got 10 million viewers which is good but down a lot from last year. I think it will keep going down. I don't think enough people will watch it to keep it going. I think It's going to be a big mistake for ABC and they will regret letting Roseanne go.

[liane60]

Originally Posted by Superswiper

I just seen the premiere episode, and while Roseanne was never my favorite character in the show, it was so weird without her around.

What would happen if they ever decide to bring her back? Retcon her death like they did Dan in the past and continue the original show? Maybe make the whole show Dan's dream?

Yea it did feel weird without her especially when Dan went to bed. Even John Goodman said filming the show was weird without her.