Roseanne Barr, the original creator and star of Roseanne, has broken her silence regarding the series finale of The Conners. After being written off the show in 2018, Barr had remained mostly quiet about its progress. However, following the show’s final episode, she decided to release an official statement addressing the ending of the long-running reboot.
On April 24, Barr’s son and representative, Jake Pentland, shared her thoughts with TMZ. According to him, Barr and her family were still glad that the cast of The Conners had gotten seven solid seasons of work out of the show she built. Their statement reflected a tone of pride but also suggested detachment from the series’ journey after her departure.
Roseanne Barr reacts to ‘The Conners’ conclusion
Pentland revealed that Barr and her family didn’t watch a single second of The Conners after her forced exit. In fact, they were unaware that the series had even come to an end until the news broke publicly. Barr’s first show, Roseanne, was on the air from 1988 to 1997 and got praised for its realistic representation of an American working-class household.
In 2018, ABC aired The Conners without her, following her controversial tweet about Valerie Jarrett. The network labeled her comments abhorrent and out of line with their values and immediately fired her from the show.
A tainted legacy
While Barr’s exit from The Conners was chaotic, her legacy in the history of television cannot be disputed. Roseanne was groundbreaking when it first aired, and even after Barr’s exit, the reboot could benefit from what she created. Barr’s recent statement is a mixture of lingering pride and calculated detachment from the show’s success.
Since The Conners concluded its seventh season, it caps a chapter originally opened more than three decades earlier. Barr’s troubled past with the show’s legacy presents the challenge that could be created by combining public scandal and artistic success.