Roseanne Barr suffered the disgrace of being fired from her own hit sitcom after “Roseanne” made an acclaimed comeback — quickly trashing her revived career with a bizarre racist scandal. The ABC network wasn’t ready to say goodbye to their successful reboot, however. It was quickly announced that “Roseanne” would be returning with John Goodman and Sara Gilbert as “The Conners.” A repentant Roseanne originally gave the project her blessings, but insiders said that the bitter star was really enduring a double humiliation. In fact, an earlier generation of network bosses had tried to turn “Roseanne” into “The Conners” back in the 1980s! That’s after the comic made life hell for ABC executives during her constant battles with network bosses starting when her sitcom premiered in 1988…
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The rising star made her deal after turning down the role of Peg Bundy on "Married With Children" — and quickly made it clear that she was running the show at ABC. Insiders quickly ran to tell
The National ENQUIRER about her vicious fights with producer Matt Williams. "One day," said a source, "she didn't even comment on the script. She just threw it against the wall!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Williams was fired, but Roseanne was soon feuding with new producer Jeff Harris — after personally hiring him! She went on strike at the end of 1989 after learning Harris had tried to fire new writer
Tom Arnold, who was also Roseanne's new boyfriend. Harris left in March 1990 with an open letter in
Variety, saying he was off to "the relative peace and quiet of Beirut."
Photo credit: Getty Images
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ABC executives were now ready to dump Roseanne — having seen NBC turn "Valerie" into "The Hogan Family"
after firing Valerie Harper from the show. The ENQUIRER reported that producers made an offer to "Designing Women" star
Delta Burke. At the time, Delta was making her own headlines as she battled producers over her weight gain.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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"Roseanne's producers told Delta exactly what she wanted to hear," said a studio source: "'Your weight isn't a problem on
this show!'" Meanwhile, "Designing Women" producers were ready to replace Delta with "WKRP in Cincinnati" star
Loni Anderson! Other ABC insiders, however, insisted on waiting to see if Roseanne's new marriage to Tom eased the backstage tensions.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Instead, Roseanne and Tom bought a 600-acre farm in Eldon, Iowa — with Tom threatening to take his new bride out of show business for good. "We hate it in Hollywood," Tom said. But, once again, Roseanne kept working on the show, and put off her dream of ditching L.A. until she moved off to her Hawaiian macadamia nut farm in 2007.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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ABC executives had new worries when Roseanne kept trying to lose weight — before making headlines for accusing her father of molesting her as a child. Roseanne's siblings rushed to their dad's defense, with Roseanne later saying she was wrong to call herself an "incest" survivor. Meanwhile, Roseanne and Tom were also taunting ABC executives about their plans to have a baby.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Instead, Tom and Roseanne would be divorced by 1994 — a year after Roseanne changed her working-class character's look
with a lot of plastic surgery. She then had a "miracle baby" with new husband Ben Thomas, and promptly threatened to quit her hit show to move to London. "I love British TV," she declared. "It's great!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
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By then, Roseanne was the biggest star at the struggling network. The comic took advantage of her clout to turn her show into a version of
"The Beverly Hillbillies" — modeling the changes after her favorite British show, "Absolutely Fabulous." Viewers were shocked when the Conners suddenly won a $108 million lottery and joined high society.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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An unhappy
John Goodman was soon written off the show, with Dan Conner suffering a fatal heart attack. ABC brass watched their former hit series limp to an end with a final weird twist, as the lottery win was revealed to be a fantasy of Roseanne Conner's after Dan's real death.
Photo credit: Getty Images
10 of 10
The rising star made her deal after turning down the role of Peg Bundy on "Married With Children" — and quickly made it clear that she was running the show at ABC. Insiders quickly ran to tell
The National ENQUIRER about her vicious fights with producer Matt Williams. "One day," said a source, "she didn't even comment on the script. She just threw it against the wall!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Williams was fired, but Roseanne was soon feuding with new producer Jeff Harris — after personally hiring him! She went on strike at the end of 1989 after learning Harris had tried to fire new writer
Tom Arnold, who was also Roseanne's new boyfriend. Harris left in March 1990 with an open letter in
Variety, saying he was off to "the relative peace and quiet of Beirut."
Photo credit: Getty Images
ABC executives were now ready to dump Roseanne — having seen NBC turn "Valerie" into "The Hogan Family"
after firing Valerie Harper from the show. The ENQUIRER reported that producers made an offer to "Designing Women" star
Delta Burke. At the time, Delta was making her own headlines as she battled producers over her weight gain.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"Roseanne's producers told Delta exactly what she wanted to hear," said a studio source: "'Your weight isn't a problem on
this show!'" Meanwhile, "Designing Women" producers were ready to replace Delta with "WKRP in Cincinnati" star
Loni Anderson! Other ABC insiders, however, insisted on waiting to see if Roseanne's new marriage to Tom eased the backstage tensions.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Instead, Roseanne and Tom bought a 600-acre farm in Eldon, Iowa — with Tom threatening to take his new bride out of show business for good. "We hate it in Hollywood," Tom said. But, once again, Roseanne kept working on the show, and put off her dream of ditching L.A. until she moved off to her Hawaiian macadamia nut farm in 2007.
Photo credit: Getty Images
ABC executives had new worries when Roseanne kept trying to lose weight — before making headlines for accusing her father of molesting her as a child. Roseanne's siblings rushed to their dad's defense, with Roseanne later saying she was wrong to call herself an "incest" survivor. Meanwhile, Roseanne and Tom were also taunting ABC executives about their plans to have a baby.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Instead, Tom and Roseanne would be divorced by 1994 — a year after Roseanne changed her working-class character's look
with a lot of plastic surgery. She then had a "miracle baby" with new husband Ben Thomas, and promptly threatened to quit her hit show to move to London. "I love British TV," she declared. "It's great!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
By then, Roseanne was the biggest star at the struggling network. The comic took advantage of her clout to turn her show into a version of
"The Beverly Hillbillies" — modeling the changes after her favorite British show, "Absolutely Fabulous." Viewers were shocked when the Conners suddenly won a $108 million lottery and joined high society.
Photo credit: Getty Images
An unhappy
John Goodman was soon written off the show, with Dan Conner suffering a fatal heart attack. ABC brass watched their former hit series limp to an end with a final weird twist, as the lottery win was revealed to be a fantasy of Roseanne Conner's after Dan's real death.
Photo credit: Getty Images
