Roseanne to continue without Roseanne as spinoff series The Conners
Roseanne is returning, but without its namesake.
America’s ABC network has announced it has given a series order to The Conners – a spinoff series starring original Roseanne cast members John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman.
Roseanne Barr, who played the matriarch in the long running and recently revived and then cancelled show, won’t be in the new series and ABC says she will also not have financial or creative input into it.
The actor recently courted controversy due to a racist statement made on her Twitter, prompting ABC to swiftly cancel the recently revived sitcom.
The Conners is slated to debut later this year and will take over the slot that Roseanne was set to occupy.
However, fans of the series don’t seem too keen on the idea, with many people taking it as an opportunity to lampoon the announcement on social media.
Perhaps Melania's jacket was about the Roseanne reboot?
— Moshe Kasher (@moshekasher) June 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/mikerblackman/status/1009976594260099072
[episode one of the new new roseanne show]
*two men in suits knock at door*
JOHN GOODMAN: how can I help you gentleman
SUIT 1 (removing hat somberly): sir, there’s been an accident at the shithead factory
— america's lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) June 22, 2018
Gilbert, Tom Werner, Bruce Helford, Dave Caplan, Bruce Rasmussen, and Tony Hernandez will serve as executive producers on the spinoff, which hails from Werner Entertainment.
“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,” an ABC spokesperson said in a statement.
A vocal Trump supporter, Roseanne became the target of vocal backlash from fellow celebrities when she compared black former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett to an ape.
Fellow Roseanne actor Sara Gilbert slammed Barr’s comments as “abhorrent”.
Barr later retweeted a post that suggested the cancellation was payback by the Obamas after she mocked the couple’s $50 million Netflix deal.
She is yet to comment on the spinoff announcement.
-with AAP