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What Happens To Roseanne On ‘The Conners’? Fans React To The Premiere

By Holly Chavez
Published on: 13:17 PST, Oct 16, 2018

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Well, it’s official — Roseanne’s character died on the series premiere of The Conners tonight. Her cause of death was pretty much what you’d expect if you had been viewing the multiple spoilers running around out there in internet land. What’s more, Variety just recently published an article that detailed how ABC wrote Roseanne off the show by creating a storyline where she dies of an accidental opioid overdose.

Earlier, Roseanne Barr spoiled her character’s demise, too, according to Entertainment Weekly. Barr unleashed the spoiler of how her character died of an overdose during a weekend interview on Brandon Straka’s YouTube show, Walk Away.

During the interview, Barr voiced her displeasure on how her exit was being handled, saying,

“They killed her. They have her die of an opioid overdose.

“I wanted to show [opioid struggle] in the show, but I was never going to have Roseanne die of an opioid overdose. It’s so cynical and horrible. She should have died as a hero or not at all … It wasn’t enough to [fire me], they had to so cruelly insult the people who loved that family and that show.”

Fans had a strong reaction to the Roseanne-Barr-less-spinoff even before the “Keep on Trucking” episode had even aired.

One fan reacting to the Variety article wrote,

“I predict the show will do good ratings in week 1 tonight due to the curiosity factor but then after that drop significantly as people realize the show is not good without Roseanne.”

Fans also took to social media with their grievances about Roseanne’s exit, with fans such as Austen Fletcher tweeting out that he’s never going to watch The Conners.

David Benjamin tweeted along those same lines, and he additionally opined that ABC fired Roseanne too quickly.

Dylann Hogan called out for ABC to give the real Roseanne show back and for fans to continue the boycott of the season premiere with the following hastags: #NotMyRoseanne, #NotMyConners.

Others on social media were excited to watch tonight’s episode once it aired. One fan, Frank.y.tweet, commented that Roseanne should take responsibility for her own actions, instead of blaming ABC for what happened. He wrote that if she acted like her own character, none of this would have happened.

Others still gave a thumbs up to “Keep on Trucking,” while another applauded the addition of Mary Steenburgen to the cast. Meanwhile, those tuning in to the new season will not be treated to Roseanne Barr’s wit, but there is still a talented ensemble cast that includes veteran actors John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and now Mary Steenburgen.

Twitter user Jay Michaels made a reference to the racist tweet Roseanne Barr made about Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Barack Obama who is African American. ABC cancelled Roseanne shortly after Ms. Barr tweeted, “If the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Later, Roseanne blamed the racist comment on Ambien and apologized.

ABC wasn’t having it, and they said in a statement that her comment on Twitter was “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”

Cassidy St Denis, another fan, wrote that she had tuned in to watch a comedy — not a dark comedy.

James tweeted kudos to the solid job the team was doing, especially John Goodman. Kelsey Goodwin said the opposite and proclaimed The Conners season premiere a real “snoozefest.”

In a nutshell, the fans are divided about how they feel about Roseanne’s character being killed off on The Conners and the way ABC handled it. They are also split on how good or bad the new show is, and how it will fare regarding continued viewership. What’s certain, is that all eyes will probably be on the ratings tonight, and it should also be interesting to see if the ratings will go up or down this season.

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