Report: ABC Executives Are Already Feeling Regret For Firing Roseanne

“The Conners” airs this week. I could be wrong, but I think the first episode will see decent ratings, just due to the curiosity factor. (That’s the only reason I’d be tempted to tune in. It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with actual entertainment.)

Even though the first episode hasn’t even aired yet, ABC executives are already expressing regret. They’re afraid the reboot is going to TANK.

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.’

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Ya think? I could’ve given them that advice. Heck– I think we did give them that advice. They canned Roseanne WAY too fast.

“They could’ve suspended her from the first few episodes without pay and had her return later on in the season. I mean the season finale saw Roseanne going to the hospital for knee surgery,” one source said, according to the Daily Mail.

“While they worked out her fate, her character could have faced serious complications and fought for her life, while simultaneously making Roseanne fight for her career with a national apology tour,” the source continued. “The morning the racist tweet scandal blew up, Roseanne offered to publicly apologize and do the rounds of every show but Ben and Channing weren’t having any of that and wanted her gone. Why not have her front a PSA for the network on racism and cyber bullying?”

“Roseanne kept saying on the call before she was fired ‘What can I do? What can I do?’ Fans of her show have watched her character confront prejudice and racism – we could’ve made this a storyline for her to save the show and redeem her publicly,” the source added.

Yep. There are many other ways executives could’ve handled the situation, but they caved to the mob.

‘When we greenlit The Conners we thought that the public would tune in to see the family return but what we’ve discovered is that people want Roseanne – they don’t want the family by themselves,’ a second source said.

‘The marketing and publicity teams are horrified as no matter what promotional material is released – and let’s be honest it’s been limited for a show that launches next Tuesday – Roseanne’s fans come out in force stating that they won’t watch the show.

‘The comments on social media tend to skew in favor of Roseanne and slam The Conners and the cast members who came back. Even dedicated fans of the Conner family feel conflicted about supporting a show that so swiftly eliminated the show’s matriarch and creator.’

I can’t believe it took them this long to arrive to these conclusions. We’ve been saying this since the beginning!

‘What we’re expecting is for there to be some tune in so fans can actually learn how Roseanne departs, but from there the worry is the ratings will freefall.

That’s my prediction as well.

‘In the end the ratings are all that matter – and there are many people at Disney and ABC who are worried that firing Roseanne will see their Tuesday night ratings drop substantially. And should The Conners flop, Channing and her team will have many questions to answer.

‘The whisper across ABC is that they will not even be a quarter of what Roseanne achieved last season.’

Yowza.

Will you be tuning in to the first episode, just out of pure curiosity?

h/t Daily Mail