Is this a novel idea — or sheer craziness?

Word came this week that ABC had a new idea for a television show: “Roseanne” without Roseanne Barr, who was the show’s star as well as a writer and producer.

Close

ABC fired Barr over a controversial tweet she posted back in May, but the network has decided to keep the show going. Now, instead, the network will air “The Conners” (the family’s last name), which will feature John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman.

The biggest question now, though, is this: Can it work out without the popular protagonist?

“Disney was on the hook for tens of millions of dollars, which they owed this staff, so they figured they’d relaunch it, rename it, and give them 10 episodes,” Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo told host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” Friday night. “One of the staff told me through a friend that they may not get 11. There’s good reason to think that.”

Precisely to Arroyo’s point, in late May, word came that Disney still owed the show’s cast “tens of millions” of dollars, as The Hollywood Reported noted, so a contractual obligation may be the reason for the emergence of “The Conners.”

Roseanne Barr herself said this: “I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.”

ABC has attempted the concept in the past — the notion of keeping a show going without its protagonist — notably with “8 Simple Rules,” in the early 2000s. John Ritter played the dad, Paul Hennessey, and the actor’s sudden passing in 2003 forced the show to kill off his character in the middle of the second season and keep moving forward.

However, the show never truly recovered. In its first season, it spent weeks in the top-20 Nielsen ratings, but it was canceled after the third season due to low ratings.

However, the current situation may even be more different than the “8 Simple Rules” case. Remember, “Roseanne” had a highly decorated decade-long run before it was rebooted this past spring. Ritter’s character, Hennessy, “died” just three episodes into recording the second season of “8 Simple Rules,” so the show was relatively new, even if he was a popular character.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

In contrast, people have been used to Barr as the centerpiece of the Conner family on “Roseanne” for some 30 years (the show’s original run began in 1988). So recreating the concept now could prove to be a daunting task.

Remember, too, a major reason the reboot for “Roseanne” got such national attention is this: Roseanne Barr and the character she played both supported President Donald Trump. In fact, Barr made that clear before the show started up again.

There’s no doubt that having a Trump-supporting character — such a rare thing on TV — may have helped the show’s ratings; the success of the show even helped spur a “Last Man Standing” reboot, starring conservative actor Tim Allen.

Many people don’t seem too enthused by the prospect of a Roseanne-free show that features her supporting characters.

But with the network’s dumping of the pro-Trump actress, it would not be at all surprising to see people refuse to watch the new program solely based on the Trump factor, let alone the previously mentioned attachment to Roseanne the TV character.

Without Barr’s influence, it’s also possible that the new show is not pro-Trump at all. Maybe it winds up following the popular Hollywood route — and goes anti-Trump, in the hope of gaining viewers. We don’t know yet.

Whatever the show ends up doing, many people don’t seem too enthused by the prospect of a Roseanne-free show that features her supporting characters.

https://twitter.com/MEL2AUSA/status/1010001291622445057

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, and other outlets.

(photo credit, homepage: YouTube; photo credit, article: Robert Trachtenberg, ABC)