Warning: This is a lot of Inside Baseball talk, but it’s an important look at what you don’t see when you watch TV
Tuesday we had breakfast reading about her racist “joke” on Twitter. By the time we finished a late lunch, she was fired and her show was cancelled. We’re not gonna reprint her joke, you can read it here if you haven’t already. We’re not gonna talk about Roseanne’s storied history of prolific lapses in judgment. But we are gonna talk about how one person’s lapse in judgment will affect hundreds or thousands of lives.
Rude & Crew’d
First off, there’s the crew of her show. Yes, the other members of the cast are out of jobs, but they’re gonna get more work and likely have more reserves than the behind-the-scenes crew. Even though the broadcast season just wrapped up, the new season is already underway. The fall schedule is set. Writers are already sketching out stories. Tech crew have been hired. The gang behind the scenes at the Roseanne reboot believed they had a solid gig lined up for 2018-19.
Now they have to look for new opportunities at the time of year when opportunities are scarce. These are the people that drive the show. You never see them, but believe us, you notice when quality workers are missing.
Must The Shows Go On?
Then there are the other shows at ABC. We said that the fall schedule is set. Well, it was set at ABC. Now everything is up in the air.
Tuesdays have been a black hole at the alphabet network. Variety has a great look at how they’ve tried and, for the most part, failed to find a winning combination of shows. But all that changed with the return of Roseanne. It was tops in scripted shows with adults 18-49, and even with some expected drop-off in season two, it was the perfect vehicle to breathe life into Tuesdays.
ABC planned to put a new series, The Kids Are Alright, immediately afterwards. They have high hopes for the series, which no one will see because whatever they put on at 8pm will have minimal buzz. And said buzz will likely be related to the fact that it replaced Roseanne.
The Variety article lists several options for shuffling shows, including Modern Family, but none are optimal.
The point is: the crew from several other series are also in limbo. livelihoods for hundreds of families. Their kids’ tuition. Mortgage payments. Health benefits.
Fan-tastic
Then there are the fans. With 400+ television shows on any and all platforms, these concerns are minor, but important. Roseanne spoke to an often underserved group of viewers. There aren’t a lot of scripted shows that talk to the people she relates to. Everyone deserves to see themselves reflected on the screens, it’s affirming and revealing.
We’ve all made ill-advised posts, especially when you work for a website with “Cocktail” in the name. But no one really cares when we do it. But when an A-Lister makes an A-hole comment, it has a real impact felt by many, but seen by few.
The Critic’s Cocktail Recommendation
Natural Light, in a can. Dan Connor would agree. He deserves a good beer, and the rest of the Connors deserve so much more.
Cheers!
Critic's Cocktail 