ABC has been forced to admit defeat after “The Connors” was beaten in ratings by literally every other show on television. What was once one of the top sitcoms around has become little more than an expensive disaster week after week for the network which decided to can Roseanne Barr because she sent one ill-mannered tweet. Fresh out of options, ABC is now seeing the light.
Back in May, ABC made the decision to remove Roseanne Barr from her hit show after she posted on Twitter, saying former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett looked like the offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” Jarrett, who is black, was born in Iran to American parents, of which Barr claimed to be unaware.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement.
Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger voiced his support for the cancellation, tweeting, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
Barr deleted her tweet about Jarrett not long after posting it. She followed it up with an apology that read, “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste. I am now leaving Twitter.” [Source: Variety]
Despite all of ABC’s virtue signaling, however, it now appears that the network majorly regrets the decision to fire Roseanne. As many viewers predicted, “The Connors” simply doesn’t have the necessary star-power without the star of the show. Tuesday night’s ratings were bitter confirmation of this for ABC.
“The Conners” dropped in everything last night–total viewers, key demo. In the nightly ratings battle. the “Roseanne” spin off continues to trend downward. Last night, “The Conners” was beaten by everything- “NCIS,” “The Voice,” etc. This was their first really objective run, no World Series, nothing to distract potential viewers.
But the key demo sank, which isn’t a good sign. And the total viewers were down by 180K, which is a lot, frankly. People are leaving and they’re not coming back. ABC has ordered 1 extra episode to the original order of 10. Sounds to me like a finale. Someone wakes up and says they dreamt Roseanne died. There’s a cackle from the next room. Fade to black. [Source: Showbiz 411]
The main characters in “The Connors” — John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Sara Gilbert — are each being paid $375,000 an episode. At that rate, actors like Lacy Goranson and Michael Fishman probably get paid something like $100,000 apiece. And then there the kids and DJ’s ex-wife.
ABC won’t be able to keep up with those salary checks, plus the numerous production costs, with the show’s ratings in the dumpster. That’s probably why insiders have begun to sound the alarm:
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.’ [Source: Daily Mail]
It would seem that very few people are enjoying “The Connors” without Roseanne Barr. When ABC ripped the heart out of the show, what did they expect to happen?
