Roseanne is about to die.
Not Roseanne Barr.
Roseanne Conner.
Allow us to explain…
On Thursday evening, ABC announced that it has ordered The Conners to series, confirming that 10 episodes of this spinoff will start airing this fall on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
The sitcom will be a spinoff of Roseanne, the wildly popular show from the 1990s that was revived by the network earlier this year and earned tremendous ratings during its resurrection.
Roseanne had been renewed for what would have been its eleventh season overall… only for its lead star to finally be too racist on Twitter for the network, prompting cancelation in late May after she wrote some abhorrent stuff about a former White House advisor.
Got all that?
Original cast members John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman will all reprise their beloved roles on The Conners.
Barr, however, will have no association with the program at all.
“I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from Roseanne,” Barr said in a statement yesterday, adding:
“I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.”
Barr, of course, has not typically been this reasonable and restrained in the wake of her firing.
She said on social media at one point that she’s only been receiving backlash because she’s Jewish.
But anyway. Back to that whole death thing that we mentioned up top, right?
ABC has not revealed how Roseanne (the character) will be written out of the spinoff, but it seems impossible to imagine any way this show will make sense unless the family matriarch is killed off.
The network also said in a press release that “a sudden turn of events” will force the Conners “to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before.
This statement also read as follows:
“The Conners’ stories demonstrate that families can always find common ground through conversation, laughter and love. The spinoff will continue to portray contemporary issues that are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago.”
As for Goodman, Metcalf, Gilbert, Goranson and Fishman, many of whom have spoken out against Barr?
This is what they had to say about the spinoff:
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.
Additional cast members for the series, along with a premiere date, will be announced at a later date.
Finally, to be clear, Barr will have no financial or creative involvement in the spinoff whatsoever.
