This should be known right away- I never watched 'Roseanne' but I did get a feel of what the show was about through channel surfing. The lead character seemed to be a caustic, bossy, and yet credible enough common sense elder that the other members of her extended brood could relate to and that's all I know about that.
I also know that she made a ton of money doing what she did. I saw a photograph of her once where she was laying in a bathtub full of money.
'Roseanne' became a brand, like 'Madonna' or 'Stallone' is a brand. Roseanne was a very public figure, and inevitably, public figures get hounded for interviews and in that way they share more about themselves and then Twitter (and other social media) comes along and gives celebrities like Ms. Barr a platform where they don't have to wait to get interviewed, they can just Tweet to their heart's content, and that is what ultimately took Roseanne Barr down. Swiftly, from her lofty perch.
I was shocked at the news, as were many others, shocked at how quickly her career ended- or has it? It certainly has on ABC. Perhaps some other network might take a gamble on the show, with or without her, but ..... ....her brand is tainted now, and situations like hers are hard to overcome, if not impossible. But, there's always the stand-up circuit, talk radio, podcasting, and other such venues.
Nicolae Rosu- Unsplash.com
I don't care either way, don't care what she does, she probably still has many bathtubs full of money stashed away somewhere so if she simply faded away into the sunset I don't think she'd be hurtin'.
But before all this is over and she recedes from the front page, I would like to thank ABC for taking a stand, for it's decisiveness. No further blathering about it, no lawyers getting involved, no arguing taking place on other networks for or against, just her brand (at the moment) rapidly growing smaller and smaller, and probably soon to disappear, in the rear view mirror.
Even so, I celebrate her ability to express herself. Our first amendment right to free speech is what this country prides itself on. Go ahead and say whatever you want. But in this case what ABC so astonishingly and refreshingly demonstrated were two things. The first was that ABC management was ultimately more powerful than a star on its network, a star that was bringing them in a lot of money. The second thing was that Roseanne wasn't going to get any support for her views while she was standing on ABC's far-reaching platform. ABC certainly felt that a threat to their brand was imminent and If there was going to be any possible confusion about their moral position vs. Roseanne's in the public's eye, ABC decided that total separation with Roseanne would make that point perfectly clear.