‘Roseanne’ minus Roseanne? Here are other shows that soldiered on without their star
T he show must go on? That appears to be the sentiment in the days since ABC suddenly canceled “Roseanne” — one of the biggest broadcast hits of the season — after star and co-creator Roseanne Barr made a racist statement on Twitter earlier this month, and then reordered the series, which will be called “The Conners.”
But can there be a “Roseanne” without, well, Roseanne? The Times decided to take a look back at other major TV shows and how they fared after losing their star.
When the two-time Oscar winner (“The Usual Suspects,” “American Beauty”) was first hit with sexual misconduct allegations by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp, Netflix immediately suspended production on the sixth season of its political drama to assess the situation. The allegations continued to mount, and days later, the company cut all ties with its leading man, throwing out the scripts and starting from scratch without Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood. The streaming service later confirmed that the upcoming sixth season would be its last.
When the star of a television sitcom gets the boot, it is usually a death sentence for the show. However, this wasn’t the case for “The Hogan Family.” The comedy, about a busy mom married to a pilot who is rarely around, started off as “Valerie” and starred Valerie Harper.
Valerie Harper, “Valerie”
The closest comparison to ABC’s “Roseanne” debacle might be this ‘80s family sitcom, in which the former “Mary Tyler Moore” star played a working mother of three. After the series became more popular in Season 2, Harper asked for a raise and a bigger cut of the show’s syndication revenue. When she was denied, she went on strike for one episode. A compromise was reached, but weeks later, producers claimed Harper walked off, while she claimed she was fired.
Harper’s character was killed off in a car accident and Sandy Duncan was brought in as the children’s aunt/pseudo new mother figure. The series was renamed “Valerie’s Family.” Lorimar then sued Harper for $70 million, claiming breach of contract. Harper counter-sued for $180 million and, as part of her suit, demanded that the show stop using her name. At the end of Season 3, the name was changed again — this time to “The Hogan Family.”
Three months later, Harper won her wrongful termination suit and was awarded $1.4 million in lost wages. Despite decent ratings, NBC opted not to renew the show for a sixth season. The series then moved to CBS. However, the show stumbled in the ratings and roduction was halted after just four months.
Charlie Sheen, “Two and a Half Men”
After finishing his third rehab stint in a year, the then-highest paid actor on television got himself in hot water when he made derogatory comments about series creator Chuck Lorre. He was subsequently banned from the Warner Bros. lot, and CBS canceled the remaining four episodes of the season. He then publicly demanded a 50 percent raise, at which time he was fired and replaced with Ashton Kutcher, who joined the comedy as a new character who buys the house that formerly belonged to Sheen’s Charlie Harper.
“Two and a Half Men” lasted four more seasons, although the show never found the same success as it had with Sheen. In the later years, the series killed off Charlie not once but twice, first when he was said to have been struck by a train and the second when it was discovered he was actually alive only to have a piano dropped on him. (In between those, the ghost of Charlie Harper was played by Kathy Bates, who won an Emmy for her portrayal.)
Suzanne Somers, “Three’s Company”
Many small screen actresses went to extremes in demanding higher salaries in the ’70s, but not all were successful. While Valerie Harper successfully staged a strike on “Rhoda” for more money, the breakout star of “Three’s Company” was not so lucky. At the beginning of Season 5, Somers asked for a big salary bump from $30,000 to $150,000 an episode as well as 10 percent ownership of the show’s profit. ABC refused, and Somers skipped the second and fourth episodes of the season.
ABC and producers retaliated again, cutting her screen time down to just 60 seconds per episode when it was written that her character, Chrissy, had moved back to her parents’ house. ABC then terminated her
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”