There are some serious conversations between Roseanne producers about possibly creating a spin-off based on the Roseanne revival, without its co-creator and main character, Roseanne Barr.
After Barr went on a racist twitter rant last week, ABC decided to cancel her show after airing for only one season. “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” says ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey.
The premiere of the Roseanne reboot was welcomed with over 18 million viewers just three months ago Pre-production of season 2 was already underway when it was abruptly halted after Barr’s Twitter frenzy. Season 2 was scheduled to air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. this fall on ABC.
The Tweets That Went Viral…
In a series of tweets, Barr attacked Valerie Jarret, Chelsea Clinton and George Soros. On May 30thshe tweeted, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby= vj.” After apologizing to Jarrett and deleting the tweet, she went after Chelsea Clinton and George Soros. She tweeted, “By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes right Chelsea?”
Over 200 cast and crew members unexpectedly lost their jobs because of the tweets. Barr tweeted them an apology, but made a dig at the writers in the meantime. “Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet.” Barr has also been known to be a supporter of President Trump in real life and on the show.
If the spinoff is given the greenlight, it is expected that it will be connected to the first season of the Roseanne reboot. The first season of the revival was mainly focused on three characters, Roseanne (Barr), Dan (John Goodman) and Darlene (Sara Gilbert) who moved back home with her kids. The spinoff would be focused on the adventures of Darlene and her kids.
Tom Werner, executive producer of the original Roseanne series and the reboot, along with Sara Gilbert are reportedly leading the efforts to continue the show in order to keep the writers and crew employed after the abrupt cancellation. Gilbert says that Barr’s tweets were, “abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with show.”
Could There be a Potential Lawsuit?
But, there are still obstacles that need to be cleared before this reboot can happen. The production company, Carsey-Werner owns and produces Roseanne. But, Barr was one of the executive producers and has ownership/backend of the series. Therefore, there are rights and legal issues that need to be settled before production of a spin-off is okayed.
In a similar case, a few years ago after Charlie Sheen was fired from,Two and a Half Men, the show continued on without him. This resulted in Sheen filing a $100 million dollar lawsuit in order to cover his backend, but WBTV settled with Sheen and paid him $25 million instead. If the Roseanne spinoff is seen as a new series, then this could impact Barr’s backend claims, but her case would not be as strong as Sheen’s.
Even though Barr gets credit for creating the character of Roseanne Conner, the show Roseanne was created by Matt Williams. This could allow producers to move forward with the new series that would not feature Barr’s character and without her blessing.
Roseanne co-stars Laurie Metcalf, Lecy Goranson, Emma Kenney, Ames McNarma and Jayden Rey are all on board to continue the show somehow, someway. More information is soon to come about the possible Roseanne spinoff series.
Featured image via Wikimedia/LeahMark
