Roseanne was always a show designed to represent blue-collar America, the working class, who are severely underrepresented in mainstream media and entertainment, and having her character support Trump, especially on the issue of jobs, only solidified her support with conservatives.
The return of “Roseanne” was a smashing success; in fact, it didn’t just surpass ratings expectations, it blew them out of the water, dominating Tuesday night and bringing in viewers of all ages, including a large number too young to have been fans of her original show. In total, the season premiere brought in a stunning 18.2 million viewers, earned a 5.2 rating in the all-important 18-49 demo, and out-gained her original show’s famous finale by 10%.
While industry execs were doing some “soul-searching” after watching Roseanne’s pro-Trump character take the torch to Hollywood’s anti-Trump script, Trump personally called Roseanne to congratulate her on the show’s “huge” success.
And then came the tweet…
The Left took the opportunity to pounce on the real-life Trump supporter, Roseanne Barr in hopes of destroying her career, calling for her firing.
Roseanne immediately realized she made a mistake and apologized. Barr still claims she had no idea Jarrett was black, so the tweet had nothing to do with racism.
Barr followed up her apology tweet by demanding that she is not and has never been a racist, asking fans to look at her history of civil rights for all minorities.
ABC immediately announced her firing.
From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018
Now, only days before “The Connors” is set to debut on ABC without their creator, Roseanne Barr, the Daily Mail is reporting that ABC executives are admitting they may have over-reacted, and are now worried they made a big mistake.
“People want Roseanne – they don’t want the family by themselves”
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 is now bracing for the premiere of The Conners on October 16 which will determine whether the show can survive without its main star.
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.’
