ABC is taking a page of out The Hogan Family and dropping the problematic female lead completely, to focus on the family, and rebranding Roseanne as The Conners.
After Roseanne was canceled because of Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets—the most recent ones, anyway—there was a huge question about what was going to happen to the remaining cast and crew who had signed on for another season. As reported earlier, the actors expected to be paid, and the show was extremely successful for the network, so there was definitely a desire to keep it, even if it meant losing the lead. Thank goodness for the spinoff.
According to statements from the network, this spinoff will be a 10-episode series, fulfilling their contract, with the remaining original cast members, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, and Michael Fishman, all returning.
The actors issued a joint announcement, saying:
“We have received a tremendous amount of support from fans of our show, and it’s clear that these characters not only have a place in our hearts, but in the hearts and homes of our audience. We all came back last season because we wanted to tell stories about the challenges facing a working-class family today. We are so happy to have the opportunity to return with the cast and crew to continue to share those stories through love and laughter.”
Deadline reports that, according to a joint statement by executive producer Tom Werner and Roseanne Barr, the two reached an agreement that “will allow Werner Entertainment to produce a spinoff of the Roseanne series for ABC without Barr’s further creative or financial participation.”
Werner also added: “We are grateful to have reached this agreement to keep our team working as we continue to explore stories of the Conner family.”
Barr is also thankful that “200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.” Because the show does not include her character, whom she apparently owns the rights to, she will no longer have any financial ties to this new spin0ff.
The Conners is expected to “debut” this fall and take over the slot that Roseanne previously occupied.
Roseanne’s character being killed off or removed and leaving Dan to lead the family does sound like poetic justice for the mess that was season nine of Roseanne, yet this whole spinoff endeavor leaves a bad taste in my mouth. While this is going to be saving a lot of jobs, I wish that ABC could have been more careful about getting into bed with racists. It says a lot that the network was willing to ignore it until it got so bad no one could.
For those who were watching Roseanne, what do you think? Does the show still have a draw without its titular protagonist?
(via NBC, image: ABC)
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