I’m guessing most of you are sick of hearing about the Roseanne mess about now, so my feelings won’t be hurt if you scroll past the following stories. The thing is, it’s the biggest TV story out there right now and I kinda feel like I have to talk about what’s going on.
Right, so after saying she was leaving twitter, Roseanne Barr did the opposite of that, and had a complete meltdown:
She blamed her tweet on Ambien (before deleting that tweet and claiming she never blamed Ambien) and then Ambien’s maker had to come out and say that while the drug might have side effects, racism isn’t one.
She apologized some, before then becoming defensive and retweeting a bunch of crazy shit, including one tweet calling for Joy Behar to be fired from The View for calling Christians “mentally ill” (which is actually a gross simplification of what she actually said) and one of Whoopi Goldberg wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Trump shooting himself in the head — which is actually a doctored image. She also rewteeted a call for Bill Maher to be fired for comparing Trump to an orangoutang, and while I could explain to the dummies in the class why the two comparisons aren’t equal, Bill Maher is not the hill I choose to die on.
But back to Barr: she also accused her cast members of throwing her under the bus:
And blamed Wanda Sykes for the show’s cancellation:
It was a whole lot. And it’s a reminder that this controversy and the tweet that cost hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars didn’t come out of nowhere.
CMT, Hulu and TV Land have dropped Roseanne reruns and ABC has scrubbed the reruns from their schedule. They have also canceled their “For Your Consideration” campaign for the Emmys. Now they are trying to figure out what to do with their fall schedule and are taking another look at the pilots they passed over. Charlie Sheen and Bryan Fuller both have suggestions for what can fill the spot. But my vote goes with a revival of Happy Endings.
Jimmy Kimmel has a suggestion, too:
As for the target of the tweet, Valerie Jarrett says the tweet should be turned into a “teachable moment.” Because when they go low, the Obamas go high.
Responses were all over the map to this story: Harris Faulker on Fox News defended the tweet as “free speech” while Tomi Lahren told her followers that “wrong is wrong” and they shouldn’t be defending Barr. And this was Bill O’Reilly’s response?
The world is a weird place right now.
And Zach Braff had some feelings:
And while Roseanne Barr is getting what she deserved, it does suck for the crew and the writers, who may not get severance pay. If it’s any consolation, Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood feels really bad for them. And Mindy Kaling and Lena Denham would like to give John Goodman and Laurie Metfcalf work.
Bruce Helford, the man who would have been showrunner put out a statement that read: “On behalf of all the writers and producers, we worked incredibly hard to create an amazing show. I was personally horrified and saddened by the comments and in no way do they reflect the values of the people who worked so hard to make this the iconic show that it is.”
Meanwhile, there are a few people who have benefitted from this whole mess: ABC President Channing Dungey has emerged as a hero, and writers who have a HOT TAKE!:
The Hollywood Reporter wonders why ABC took a chance on Roseanne Barr in the first place when this was a perfectly predictable outcome.
IndieWire suggests that the show being canceled is the best possible thing to happen both to the show and the show’s fans. It’s a bit of a stretch that only works if you think most of Barr’s fans disagree with her gross tweets.
TV Line points out that this is a hopeful development — for ABC and our culture in general, not for the show or its fans.
And in conclusion, we all know who the real victim is in all of this:
No more Roseanne crap from here down
OH LORD, and the social media troubles for ABC keep piling up. Apparently Bachelorette contestant Chris Farley Garrett has a questionable social media presence in which he liked a bunch of Instagram posts that suggest David Hogg is a crisis actor, that mock transgender people, feminists and immigrants. ARE Y’ALL EVEN TRYING TO VET THESE GUYS, ABC? MAYBE YOU SHOULD HIRE A COUPLE OF INTERNS TO GO THROUGH THESE GUYS’ TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS.
Jimmy Kimmel had some thoughts:
In what should have been the biggest story today, Andrew Lincoln will be leaving The Walking Dead midway through season 9 — he and Lauren Cohan will only be in 6 episodes. Norman Reedus will become the lead of the show. Some are convinced this is a positive development for the series (and I don’t necessarily disagree).
Fox News — FOX NEWS! — has no time for this “Spygate” bullshit. FOX NEWS, Y’ALL, AND NOT JUST SHEP (but obviously also Shep)!
The Jim Henson Company responded to that lawsuit Sesame Street filed against them with a letter from their lawyer, “Fred.” They included Fred’s picture:
I … I’m pretty sure I’m married to Fred …
Michael Jackson’s estate has sued ABC over The Last Days of Michael Jackson.
Netflix insists the Obamas will keep politics out of their programming. BOOO. NO.
Apparently, some of those interesting female characters in Killing Eve were originally male in the books. Unfortunately, this piece doesn’t specify which ones, and I haven’t read the books, so I can’t illuminate which ones.
We now know why Elizabeth Warren is obsessed with Ballers, and the answer is as simple as you think.
This is Us is already preparing to make you cry in the series finale even though we presumably are a long ways away from that.
Morgan Freeman’s lawyers demand that CNN retract their sexual harassment story about him, and CNN is like, “How about nah?”
Renewals
- Rain has been renewed by Netflix.
- Trading Spaces has been renewed for a second season by E!
- The Split has been renewed by BBC.
Cancellations
- The Arrangement has been canceled by E!
In Development
- Locke & Key has been ordered by Netflix.
- Hailey Steinfeld is going to star in an Emily Dickinson comedy that Apple just picked up. What?
- ABC might be looking at a The Middle spinoff.
- Please Understand Me, a new series from Sarah Silverman, will stream on Facebook Watch.
Casting News
- Uma Thurman will star in Netflix’s Chambers.
Mark Your Calendars
- ATL Homicide debuts on TV One on July 9.
- Courtside at the NBA Finals will debut on HBO on June 19.
R.I.P.
Blake Painter, Deadliest Catch star
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of New York City: “Holidazed and confused.” 8 p.m., Bravo
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: The fourth and final season of the Netflix comedy whose cast didn’t disappoint me. Netflix
The Americans: In the series finale, the Jennings face a choice that will change their lives forever. 9 p.m., FX
American Ninja Warrior: Season premiere. 7 p.m., NBC
MasterChef: Season premiere. 7 p.m., Fox
Reverie: In this new series, a hostage negotiator helps retrieve people from a virtual reality program. I don’t know. Series premiere. 9 p.m., NBC
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Goldbergs (repeat) |
The Goldbergs (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
American Housewife (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
American Housewife (repeat) |
| CBS | SEAL Team (repeat) |
Code Black (new) |
Code Black (new) |
| CW | Supergirl (repeat) |
The Originals (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | American Ninja Warrior (new) |
Reverie (new) |