Vee

I've said this before, but the Johnny Jewel (from Chromatics) album of music for Season 3 (Themes for Television) is stunningly good. Evocative of Angelo Badalamenti's work but new as well. Pieces of it were used in the shadow (Windswept, Shadow, Saturday) but not much. I'm happy with the music mix as is given Lynch's love of silence and tonal sound, but I do wonder what it'd be like to have had it actively scored with more of this.

Here's a playlist:

I like Samantha Bee a lot but I thought I was in some sort of bizarre dream state when I saw that bit. "Did she just do that on TBS??"

I feel similarly about Ivanka Trump, don't get me wrong - but it's just not the look you want to lead with a day after Roseannegate. They are different words, but the way it will be handled is obvious. It was totally unnecessary and changes the media cycle, and allows the media to try to gun for Beltway Both Sides (I think some in the media may play that card in the neverending quest for 'balance' - not all). It was a very foolish, unforced error. That said, I like her and I hope she doesn't lose her show.

I've recovered some - not all - of my old fondness for Kathy Griffin because she's been candid about having done stupid shít lately, and has worked hard to talk about substantive stuff recently. That said she also did a very stupid thing. Did she deserve how she got treated? No, but she still kind of invited some of it, if that makes sense. Don't go on TV and caterwaul, "he broke me!" (She admits that was a huge blunder, at least)

More than anything, though, I think the one-two punch of Roseanne/Bee back to back in the same week - ape, c**t - shows just how far we've been divided as a country in the open and to what ludicrous histrionic extremes even public personalities will go to without taking a breath and having any kind of clarity or common sense. Imagine this kind of TV news cycle even two years ago. Just try it. I can't. It's a long, hard way down and we'll have a hell of a time pulling back up.

I didn't get a sense of that here. They had notes, but that's common.

It's Alicia Witt!

Alicia Witt premieres "Younger," and talks future of "Twin Peaks" TV series https://t.co/6R9R9566h8 pic.twitter.com/ooK96KEmoI

— billboard (@billboard) May 31, 2018

A good (and sad) piece.

“The more I think about it, the more I think [the cancellation] is actually in line with what the show promised.”

I talked to a writers’ assistant from Roseanne. https://t.co/iUTGFxcoOe

— Matt Jacobs (@tarantallegra) May 30, 2018

More and more based on stories like these - that she was well-behaved in a vacuum during shooting, before the PR machine revved up again during the airing of Season 10 - I think Tom Arnold may be right: Roseanne's longtime self-destructive impulses kicked in and urged her to, consciously or unconsciously, destroy everything around her before she could be 'taken advantage of' again. The one thing she was always obsessed with during the original run with her endless perfectionism mixed with tyranny.

Go to bed, old woman.

I didn't say I liked him much.

I've always liked Tom Arnold more than I should. Sue me.

BTS on the show: Pride and Brutal Pressure

Can ‘Roseanne’ Continue Without Its Star? “Possible But Not Probable” https://t.co/9dgmOXxV2c pic.twitter.com/iAtsE2b3yZ

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 30, 2018

LOL. I'm pretty sure they'd just hinge the show on Darlene the single mother and Dan, which they were doing with Darlene and her kids a lot anyway.

That's great.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

given Roseanne's temperament, I wouldn't be surprised if their efforts were met with cease-and-desist letters from her and her attorneys.  Sort of like how Suzanne Somers' initial efforts to move past "Three's Company" on CBS were stymied by the show's producers, claiming that she and the network were infringing upon their rights to the character of Chrissy Snow.

If it's actually being considered then I'm sure her ownership stake is a consideration in mind. If there's no other legal loophole (and there may be), they could give her GTFO money - if she'd take it.

I don't know how long the retooled show would last but hell, The Hogan Family ran years without half the longtime goodwill. I would give it a shot. And while I personally don't need David around full-time (and I like David, but I think the recurring role they were setting up for him here worked) if they got Johnny Galecki back full time that would be a boost in terms of TV star wattage. Not that Goodman, Metcalf and Gilbert aren't potentially enough.

That said, while Sara and ABC/Werner are reportedly floating the idea I imagine the cast is so disgusted and heartbroken they don't want anywhere near the memories right now. And that's very valid.

Career-wise Metcalf, Goodman and Gilbert will be fine. They don't need a sitcom. Michael Fishman and Lecy Goranson kept busy with their own things, but being on the #1 show in America was definitely a huge step up for them again. This changed their life and now it's changed again.

Roseanne's alleged stand-in for some of the early years tells a story.

John Goodman is not talking much.

I don't believe a spinoff sans Roseanne will really happen, but I'd welcome it.

Meanwhile, Michael Fishman went head to head with Roseanne and it's sad:

You fought, built, and designed Roseanne for inclusiveness. That is why yesterday was so out of character with the last 30 years. It was in your hands from the beginning to the end. No one can deny that

— Michael Fishman (@ReelMFishman) May 30, 2018

Please leave me alone, thanks.

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 30, 2018

Fishman's statement following this:

I have tremendous appreciate for all the fans and their support over the years pic.twitter.com/djHD6l8teN

— Michael Fishman (@ReelMFishman) May 30, 2018

The first season was really not the show that became famous, at least not the brief first half of it Williams ran. It was a start, but it wasn't there. And I think Roseanne was right to fight Williams and win.

And now she's directly attacking Michael and Sara. Nice.

I think Sara and co. genuinely hoped they could fix her. I thought they might be making it work. But some things you can't do with people who are too far gone. She needs serious help, but I guess she's always needed help.

As for enjoying the show again someday, I think so. I guess the good news is thus far Roseanne has no known serial rapists.

41 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I wouldn't be surprised  if Sara Gilbert avoids acting for good after this mess, but like Vee and others have said for the last few months, I do think Sara has given a very strong performance - certainly more than I would have expected. This could have come across as a vanity project for her but her work genuinely didn't, and the bits I saw were much closer to the Darlene of the first 4-5 years of the show, a character I loved, and a character who later became a bad self-parody. 

She really was the glue of the early episodes, especially with young Ames McNamara. She got me in the heart and she brought Roseanne's game up as well. She wasn't the same Darlene as when she was younger, either - she still had bite, but it wasn't all she had. She had matured. It does make me wish she'd consider a similar show elsewhere on her own.

Quote

I'm glad that I got to see a DJ, Becky and Darlene that I would have wanted them to be (or close enough, anyway) and that I got to see Crystal one last time. No matter how much Roseanne ruined this show (over and over), at least she can't take that away from me.

I think Natalie West is pretty happy doing theater and living her life these days, per a recent interview. But yes, it was great to see her.

I'll watch the last few episodes eventually - I'm not ready to deal with this show again right now - but it'll be very bittersweet. So much potential and good work squandered by one ignorant person. I hope someday you watch them. It really had a lot going for it despite everything, but maybe it was an impossible situation from the start. And maybe my overly hopeful viewpoint was the same one Gilbert and co. held dear until it was too late.  I imagine it was the same for some at ABC - I don't believe it was all a cynical business consideration from Day 1, people like Dungey, Sherwood, etc. are still human beings and I believe they genuinely hoped they could bridge a divide, possibly bring Roseanne back from the brink, and make good TV and/or bank. Their immediate reaction to yesterday, as detailed in the stories upthread, indicates it wasn't just about advertisers for them.

That writer's story above - especially the last few answers about their intent being lost - is sad. Because that's what the show could've been, with a different Roseanne. Even just a newly arch-conservative Roseanne would not have been this Roseanne.

She is now RT'ing even more Valerie Jarrett conspiracy theories along with attacks on the cast - people who have stood by her for decades, people like Sara and Michael who stuck their necks out for her and have always been close to her. I wish I couldn't potentially see this ending one very specific, very sad way.

And since we're on SON, OLTL's own chimes in:

Thinking of production and crew involved.🙏🏽 But so proud of @ABCNetwork for doing the right thing! https://t.co/rLg2SySuzw

— David Fumero (@davidfumero) May 29, 2018

More details on yesterday:

Roseanne Confessed, Too Late, to ABC After Racist Tweet: 'I Was Stupid' https://t.co/oBLAAOe8tf pic.twitter.com/ChY2PjxTEZ

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 30, 2018

After having tweeted a racist remark and then apologizing for it on Tuesday morning, actress Roseanne Barr got on the phone with a group of executives who would decide her fate.

The group included her longtime agent John Burnham, her manager James Moore, Disney-ABC Group President Ben Sherwood and “Roseanne” executive producer Tom Werner.

 

They wanted to know something simple: what was she thinking in comparing former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes” on her Twitter account?

 

Barr admitted that she was wrong. “I was stupid. Ignorant. It was a mistake. I feel terrible,” she told them, according to an individual with knowledge of the call.

 

But Barr did not seem to understand that her fate — or that of her show — hung in the balance. “She did not appreciate the gravity of the situation, for sure,” said the individual, noting that Barr dismissed her own remark as “comedian s—.”

 

Indeed, she seemed to think she could apologize and move on.

 

The ABC executives were hoping that Barr might have some better explanation for what they considered a wholly unacceptable remark — intoxication, a medical problem or maybe even that Russian hackers had taken over her account. Barr has since said that she was “Ambien tweeting” at the time.

 

Because in the absence of that, Disney and ABC executives knew quickly that they were not going to be able to move on from this exchange.

 

The top executives in charge — Sherwood, Disney CEO Bob Iger and ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey — awoke Tuesday to learn that in the middle of the night the star of their number one-rated show had gone off on a rant against Chelsea Clinton, journalist Chris Cillizza and — bizarrely — Valerie Jarrett.

 

All agreed that the “Planet of the Apes” tweet was abhorrent, unacceptable. And after the group call with Barr, they circled up and discussed whether there was a punishment that would measure up to the offense, if there were steps Barr or the network could take to move forward.

 

There wasn’t.

 

“It was quite clear, calm, and … not nearly as dramatic as you’d expect,” said an executive with knowledge of the internal decision. “We canceled the number one show on television, but there was no wringing of hands, it was very clear and calm.”

More at the link.

Ugh. From a TV Line piece recapping the latest:

She also “liked” a supporter’s tweet that called her TV daughter Sara Gilbert a “backstabber” for not coming to her defense.

She is now blaming Ambien. She appears to have downshifted in mood and is suddenly retweeting rebuttals of all her horrible whatabout tweets quoted above (not that that excuses a thing). Granted, we've been saying it for like thirty years but this woman needs serious help.

Here's @therealroseanne's apology. pic.twitter.com/YWZ6i6WWq7

— Kate Aurthur (@KateAurthur) May 30, 2018

Of course, these things become your values when you let them. And she has done that many times in recent years.

14 minutes ago, Khan said:

I wish someone would figure out some way to keep the rest of the cast and crew employed.  Maybe "The Connors" isn't doable, but what about scraping together some pilot for a new series, or something?  

As I have said, I would welcome a CBS sitcom with Sara Gilbert and the boy who played Mark titled by another name. Darlene was a linchpin of the new season, possibly even more than Roseanne herself.

Oh God, she's still tweeting.

2. Roseanne has taken down the retweet above and in the meantime she’s retweeted this which is also fake. pic.twitter.com/WBZwhH1xD1

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 30, 2018

3. More retweets from Roseanne pic.twitter.com/u8G5bpZ5oU

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 30, 2018

>>>>> https://t.co/VtdsZslCnw

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 30, 2018