Star killed off in US soapie

– One of television’s best-known families returned on Tuesday without its matriarch, as the character of feisty Roseanne Conner was killed off through an accidental opioid overdose.

Comedy series The Conners, featuring all the main characters in the blue-collar family from Roseanne except for its star and creator, Roseanne Barr, had its premiere on Disney-owned channel ABC, five months after Roseanne was cancelled following a racist tweet by Barr.

Audiences had last seen Roseanne Conner hiding an opioid addiction stemming from knee pain and about to undergo long-delayed, costly surgery.

In the first episode of The Conners, the family is shown struggling to come to terms with the death of Roseanne from what is first thought to be a heart attack but is later revealed to be an opioid overdose.

They find she had been hiding painkillers all over the house, and getting them from a circle of friends who shared medication to avoid costs.

The original Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997 and was praised for its realistic portrayal of working-class life.

The revival in March this year, in which Barr played a supporter of Republican United States President Donald Trump, was ABC’s biggest hit. – Reuters

New York