‘Roseanne’ Spinoff ‘The Conners’ Moving Forward As Roseanne Barr Gives Approval For Show To Go On Without Her

The Roseanne spinoff is close to a green light, with a report that The Conners is quickly gaining the studio approval needed to save the show along with a sign-off from Roseanne Barr herself.

Almost immediately after ABC axed their top-rated show in the wake of Roseanne Barr’s racially charged Twitter tirade, there was speculation that the show could be revived minus its titular star. Now, Deadline is reporting that ABC is close to giving the approval that will move the show forward, and Barr herself is helping pave the path for it, even though it would cost her considerably.

“I hear Barr is expected to sign an agreement that would remove her from the potential spinoff and prevent her from suing over it,” reporter Nellie Andreeva noted. “Terms of the agreements are unclear but it may involve a one-time payment from production company Carsey-Werner to Barr in exchange of her relinquishing any rights so she won’t be entitled to any profits from the spinoff.”

Without Roseanne’s approval, it’s likely that The Conners would never make it to the air, the report noted. Network executives were reportedly adamant that they would no longer have any involvement with Barr, so her willingness to sign off was key to getting the deal done.

That comes as a bit of a surprise given Roseanne Barr’s behavior following her show being canceled. She has alternated between attacking executives and expressing regret for her decisions, and a recent report claimed that she still did not understand the reason for her firing. Barr has offered a number of different explanations for her tweet, initially claiming she was under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien and more recently saying that her comparison of a woman of color to an ape from Planet of the Apes was really a reference to the anti-Semitism from the 1970s movie series.

A report this week claimed that the actress and comedian was still having a difficult time understanding why she was fired and has been ranting to friends. Radar Online reported that Roseanne believes her tweets were a joke and didn’t understand why others don’t see it the same way.

Roseanne had a major freak-out while you were sleeping https://t.co/SVD6ez9iGO

— Raw Story (@RawStory) June 16, 2018

The approval for the Roseanne spinoff is expected to come within a week, Deadline reported. And there is already a positive sign that it could happen — ABC has not yet ordered a new show to fill in the Roseanne time slot, the report noted.