The reboot of Roseanne was recently cancelled after star of the show Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist comment at Barack Obama's former senior advisor, Valerie Jarret. The tweet caused ABC to immediately cancel the show, which tore some fans apart, and also left ABC with a hole in their schedule for the Fall. However, it was announced yesterday that Roseanne will continue, just without Roseanne.
Technically, the series will be a spin-off and will be called The Conners, (at least for now.) According to Buzzfeed:
The 10-episode spinoff will feature every lead actor from Roseanne except Barr. Yes, Darlene (Sara Gilbert), Dan (John Goodman), Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), Becky (Lecy Goranson), and D.J. (Michael Fishman) will live their lives after, according to the logline, "a sudden turn of events" rocks their family.
Let's say it now: Roseanne is most certainly going to die. In the season finale, she was getting long-awaited knee surgery — tragedy seems likely to strike.
As soon as Roseanne was canceled, a plan was hatched to create a spinoff. Gilbert, who masterminded the original revival of the show, and who was an executive producer on the most recent season; showrunner Bruce Helford; and Tom Werner of Carsey-Werner (the production company behind Roseanne), got together the week of the axing to brainstorm ideas. And indeed, Werner, Gilbert, and Helford are executive producers of The Conners.
The trickiest part was figuring out how to pull off a new show without Barr's involvement, even if only to pay her for the intellectual property of her creation: that she not profit from a new show was a sticking point for ABC. According to the network's press release, "Roseanne Barr will have no financial or creative involvement in the new series."
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