Give up after scandals?
Television history shows otherwise
NEW YORK — You can say this about TV creators in 2018: They don’t give up easily.
Three current shows — “Roseanne,” “Transparent” and “House of Cards” — have been crippled by scandals, but each plans to continue without their disgraced stars.
“The bottom line is fundamentally money,” said Karen Tongson, a professor of English, gender studies and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. “These crews, these actors, these shows that have audiences, that have critical acclaim, are pushed to continue for those reasons.”
The reboot of “Roseanne” had an excellent first season in the ratings — it also earned an estimated $45 million in advertising revenue for ABC — when its future was thrown into doubt by a racist tweet by star Roseanne Barr.
ABC this week said it ordered 10 episodes of a spinoff called “The Conners” after Barr relinquished creative and financial participation in it, which the network said was a condition of such a series.
In a statement issued by the show’s producer, Barr said she agreed to the settlement to save the jobs of the 200 cast and crew members idled when “Roseanne” was canceled last month.
“I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from ‘Roseanne,’ she said, adding, “I wish the best for everyone involved.”
A Barr-less “Roseanne” sitcom might get viewers to tune in, but Tongson doesn’t believe they’ll all hang around. “I think people will be curious to see what they try to do with the exit of its lead. But I’m not sure it will hold necessarily,” she said.
“People tuned in largely because of the volatility of Roseanne — the character and also the personality,” she added. “It has the opportunity to gain different audiences and new audiences by centering certain characters, but I think that some of that tension might be removed.”
“Roseanne” isn’t alone in trying to forge a new TV path without a key member.
“House of Cards,” Netflix’s first original series, was rocked last October amid sexual misconduct allegations against star Kevin Spacey. Robin Wright, who co-starred as wife to Spacey’s Francis Underwood, will be the focus of the upcoming final season.
And Amazon Studios said “Transparent” star Jeffrey Tambor won’t be on the series when it returns for its fifth season. An actress on his show and his assistant allege sexual misconduct; he has vehemently denied it.