Why ABC launched the dice without Roseanne Barr

On May 29, ABC canceled its spectacular revival of the success of Roseanne, Just hours after her creator and titular star sent her now infamous racist tweet. But on television, what is dead can never die: Roseanne is back on Tuesday night, reincarnated as The conners, a "new" sitcom featuring all the same writers and stars of the old show – with the notable exception of you-know-who. It would be easy to reject Roseanne Minus Roseanne is the kind of ridiculous idea on which decades of jokes about the cynicism of network television have sprung. In fact, it is easy to imagine a scenario in which the public will reject this reboot of a revival. But the fact that the chances of success are long does not mean that ABC was wrong to roll the dice on The conners.

On the one hand, despite its title, Roseanne long ago ceased to be a show primarily on Roseanne Conner. Of course, her domestic goddess routine was the DNA on which the original series had been built, and her talent as an actor and producer is why the series became a hit when she first premiered there exactly 30 years old this week. "Roseanne was obviously extremely important to the show," said executive producer Tom Werner, whose company produced both Roseanne and The conners. "But John Goodman has always been just as important. And the kids provided a lot of scenarios. Whatever title it implied, Werner adds, "I've always thought the show was about the Conner family. This was particularly true of last season's wake-up call, which put Darlene (Sara Gilbert) on her struggles as a single mother before and at the center of many episodes. As a writer and actress (no matter what she thinks about her exorbitant remarks), Barr takes nothing away from Barr's achievements, as she acknowledges that the series has evolved into something bigger than the comic character of Barr. 'a woman.

It is also likely that Barr has a large and vocal fan base – which has grown in recent years to include very conservative voters and supporters of President Donald Trump – many of his former cast members are in fact Biggest stars in 2018. Goodman, through his collaborations with the Coen brothers and other roles, has built an impressive feature film career (with the Golden Globe nominations and Screen Actors Guild to prove it) and is part of of the Saturday Night LiveThe most popular recurring guest hosts. Laurie Metcalf has been nominated for a Tony Award in the last three years and won the award in 2017 and 2018; past 2016 and 2017 bask in congratulations for his turn in Lady Bird; and in 2016 won the Emmy Awards nominations for three different shows. And Gilbert has been a regular television presence over the last ten years, with roles in screenwritten shows and as a producer and executive producer of the long-running CBS show she's created, The speech. For ABC and Werner, the green light decision The conners is better understood not as a choice to continue without Barr and more as a way to make a show with Metcalf, Goodman and Gilbert. "I mean, who would not want to broadcast such a show on the radio?" Said Andy Kubitz, executive vice president of ABC for Programming Strategy and Programming.

And while Kubitz's colleagues in most other TV channels were actually jumping on a show with the combined power in stars of The connersABC, currently in last position among the top four networks, has programming needs that have made this show a particularly good bet. His comedy brand is entirely devoted to family sitcoms, The Goldbergs, fresh off the boat and Blackish at its best half-hour (and the longest), Modern family. Unfortunately for the Net Alphabet, it is not at all unrealistic to imagine a scenario in which these four shows will chain their respective series over the next year or two years, joining the recently deceased group. The environment. Even if they do not all leave, ABC is still in need of a new anchor comedy, given the decline in the number of Nielsen in these programs for veterans. Good grades for the Roseanne The stimulus gave the network exactly that, of course, so it's not hard to understand why he wants to at least see if The conners has the ability to attract a similar crowd. "If we can capture even half of RoseanneLast year's audience, we will be the new number one show of the season, "said Kubitz. Another possible advantage: at least on paper, The conners should be the perfect platform to launch ABC's most promising new fall comedy, the 1970s series. The children are wellwhich also revolves around a noisy family of blue-collar workers.

Despite many strong incentives to do The conners It took about a month for ABC and producer Werner to understand the spin-off. According to Kubitz, his boss, Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, wanted to "let the dust rest" after the sudden cancellation, to see "what parts and what parts remained to pick up and go up." whether the continuation of the show was financially feasible, "we needed to know [if] distribution always wanted to do it, "adds Kubitz. "And then we had to figure out if we could really have enough time to put everything back in order."

Although information on a possible fallout manifested itself very quickly after the Roseanne cancellation, Werner said that continuing was barely a slam-dunk. "The fact is that no one needed to do the reboot originally, and certainly no need to do Conners,He said, adding that ABC's programming needs were sidelined by the desires of the cast and the remaining writers, as well as his desire to keep the hundreds of members of the show's crew. said: "Could you come and present the show? ", I did not think that answer the question in our mind, in the same way that we had done it a year earlier: Is it a show worth it? We wanted to make sure internally that we could continue to make episodes we were proud of – and then we could talk to ABC. "

Once the creative concerns are resolved, Werner says everything else has fallen into place. While Gilbert, Goodman and Metcalf all had another job, "I think the actors feel – I would not say obligation, but respect the legacy of the series," he says. "They were excited to see if there could be another chapter in the life of the series." Surprisingly, the money did not seem to be a problem for the rest of the spin-off. "Everyone was happy with the financial arrangement of the show last year," said Werner, explaining that, Roseanne recovery was much better than expected, ABC did not seek a better financial deal for the Barr-Free group. The conners. "The negotiation has been relatively simple," says Werner. Kubitz agrees, saying the new deal is not a "radical change" compared to the one ABC did to resurrect Roseanne. "We pay, I think, a modest increase in percentage, nothing major, the Roseanne license fees to this license fee, "he says. ABC and Werner also stated that Barr will not have any financial interest or be paid for The connersand his name does not appear in the credits of the new show.

As to how the public will react to The connersKubitz and Werner both refuse to give an idea of ​​the show's performance in Nielsen. Kubitz fully expects that some of the viewers who watched Roseanne Last season, she had no interest in a new show without her, either because of her love for the character she played, or because they think ABC was wrong to send her away. "There will be people who will not even try," he concedes. "Does this worry us? I do not think so, because I think it's an excellent TV show that carries a good message and addresses some of our audience. I hope people will give it a chance. "

Kubitz also rightly notes that The conners made its first in the framework of what announces as a pretty hard fall for almost all television shows, especially the coming series. Great successes such as The dead who walk and The Big Bang Theory have seen their audience halve compared to last year, even as a very lively reboot like that of CBS Murphy Brown relatively few viewers compared to the resumption of last season. same Roseanne lost about 40% of its audience between its first outing in March and what turned out to be its finale two months later. The fact is that even though Barr had never dismissed his racist tweet and Roseanne was back this fall, ABC would surely look much smaller numbers of Nielsen for the show this season.

But as noted earlier by Kubitz, The conners do not need to do Roseannesize assessments to be a success for the network. ABC's biggest comedy, Modern family, opened its season last month with just five million viewers, while NBC The right place has survived its third season while its audience the same day is regularly less than three million. ABC obviously hopes to do better than these two shows, but if The conners It can capture around six to seven million viewers each week and continue to receive reasonably good results from a younger audience. It would be a success for the network. And if the public decides not to be interested in a show without Barr? In this case, ABC and Werner can at least feel reassured to know that they were able to write the last chapter of the Conner clan on their own terms. "We met last year and we felt great joy," said Werner. "Everyone did not want the last note of the show to be canceled [on] a discordant note. "