The Juicy Behind-The-Scenes Stories From 'Roseanne'
TV|Humor

The Juicy Behind-The-Scenes Stories From 'Roseanne'

Donn Saylor
Updated September 23, 2021 221.9K views 16 items

Roseanne is widely considered one of the greatest TV sitcoms ever. Millions of Americans have watched the Conner family drama play out in living rooms across the country from 1988 to 1997, then again in a rebooted version starting in 2018. But even wilder drama was playing out behind the scenes - of both versions.

According to insider accounts, the backstage was plagued by Roseanne Barr's erratic behavior, instances of physical violence, a battle with a Seinfeld star, and Barr's train-wreck marriage to Tom Arnold. After the original Roseanne went off the air (following a final season that made no sense), the revived version was canceled after a few months due to a controversy over remarks Barr made on Twitter, and the series was restarted and renamed The Conners - without her.

The beloved comedy still serves up a heaping plate of drama alongside the laughs. These behind-the-scenes Roseanne stories are as funny as they are cringe-worthy.

 

  • Showrunner Whitney Cummings Left The Series Early Because Of Roseanne Barr's Insensitive Tweets

    Showrunner Whitney Cummings Left The Series Early Because Of Roseanne Barr's Insensitive Tweets

    Whitney Cummings, Roseanne's former co-showrunner, departed the revived series less than two weeks before its May 2018 cancellation, prompted by racially insensitive tweets from star Roseanne Barr. Cummings opened up about her departure in her 2019 Netflix comedy special Can I Touch It?

    While Cummings initially cited her "work commitments and... tour schedule" as the reason behind her resignation, she revealed in her hourlong standup that Barr's tweets - and other insensitive statements - were the actual dealbreaker that led to her withdrawal. 

    Cummings also said on the Daily Beast podcast The Last Laugh she wanted Barr to "get off Twitter" and felt betrayed by the star's behavior:

    We all worked really hard on that show and it's just a shame. You put your heart and soul into something for 12 months and it's just for nothing.

  • ABC Ordered A New Series, 'The Conners,' Without Barr

    ABC Ordered A New Series, 'The Conners,' Without Barr

    Less than a month after ABC canceled the rebooted Roseanne, the network announced it would be moving forward with a spinoff series called The Conners. The new series will focus on the Conner family, but won't include its matriarch, played by Roseanne Barr. John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, and Lecy Goranson will be reprising their roles. Goodman told The Times that Barr's character will be killed off, but ABC did not reveal exactly how she would go. 

    “It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead,” Goodman said of his character post-Barr.

     

  • ABC Canceled The 'Roseanne' Revival After Barr Made A Racist Comment On Twitter

    ABC Canceled The 'Roseanne' Revival After Barr Made A Racist Comment On Twitter

    On May 29, 2018, mere hours after Roseanne Barr sent out a storm of tweets that many interpreted as racist, ABC pulled the plug on the Roseanne revival.

    "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in an official statement. 

    Earlier in the day, Barr sent out a tweet that called Valerie Jarrett, a Black woman and former adviser to President Obama, the offspring of the "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes."

    Wanda Sykes, who served as a consulting producer on Roseanne, quickly resigned after the tweet, saying, "I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC."

     

  • Barr Threatened A Producer With A Pair Of Scissors

    Barr Threatened A Producer With A Pair Of Scissors

    Barr had her vision for what her character would wear. She saw Roseanne Conner in flannels, t-shirts, and denim. The head of the wardrobe department, however, had different ideas, which meant Barr typically ended up donning polyester, stretch pants, and loud, tent-like shirts. Barr got so fed up that she threatened a female producer with a pair of scissors. "Bitch, do you want me to cut you?" she reportedly threatened.

  • Barr Was Devastated When Her Ideas Were Credited To Someone Else

    Barr Was Devastated When Her Ideas Were Credited To Someone Else

    TV producer and writer Matt Williams was brought in to develop the show from Barr's original concept, which she had perfected in her trailblazing standup act. He observed her with her family, dissected her standup material, and built up characters and ideas to form a more cohesive show. But that's the job of a developer, not the creator. Understandably, Barr was outraged when she found out Williams was credited as the show's creator - something she only learned at the first episode viewing party. She was so upset she left the party in tears, and no one even noticed. Barr wrote in Vulture:

    It was at the premiere party when I learned that my stories and ideas - and the ideas of my sister and my first husband, Bill - had been stolen. The pilot was screened, and I saw the opening credits for the first time, which included this: CREATED BY MATT WILLIAMS. I was devastated and felt so betrayed that I stood up and left the party. Not one person noticed.

  • Fire Code Violations Shut Down The Set Before Filming Began

    Fire Code Violations Shut Down The Set Before Filming Began

    Call it an omen. That's the best explanation for the Roseanne set getting shut down before the pilot episode began filming. According to reports, the soundstage setup violated fire codes and was scrapped just as the cast and crew were about to start shooting. The situation turned out to be beneficial, as everyone received one more week to get comfortable with the script.

  • Williams Considered Removing Barr From Her Own Show

    Williams Considered Removing Barr From Her Own Show

    Still smarting from the news of Williams's creator credit, Barr worked tirelessly to have him stripped of the title. After encountering countless roadblocks, the actress banned all of the show's producers from the set. Williams pushed back and explored the idea of firing Barr and continuing the show without her, changing its focus to Dan (John Goodman) and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf). Allegedly, both Goodman and Metcalf wanted no part of a Roseanne without Barr. Williams was fired after the show's 13th episode.

  • Executives Gave Barr A Cheap Gift When The Show Hit Number One

    Executives Gave Barr A Cheap Gift When The Show Hit Number One

    When a show makes it to the number-one slot in the ratings, it calls for a celebration. Executives at ABC did celebrate Roseanne reaching number one... sort of. Instead of gifting Barr with a glitzy present suitable for the occasion, executives gave her a piece of chocolate. Yes, really. Barr wrote in New York magazine:

    ABC sent a chocolate "1" to congratulate me. Guess they figured that would keep the fat lady happy - or maybe they thought I hadn't heard (along with the world) that male stars with No. 1 shows were given Bentleys and Porsches. So me and George Clooney [who played Booker on the show] took my chocolate prize outside, where I snapped a picture of him hitting it with a baseball bat. I sent that to ABC.

  • Barr Kept A Running 'Enemies List'

    Barr Kept A Running 'Enemies List'

    Perhaps taking a cue from Nixon's infamous enemies list, Barr kept a list of people who had displeased her. And it was no secret. Barr prominently displayed the memo on her dressing room door. It read: "THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO BE FIRED IF THEY'RE NOT NICE TO ME. PEOPLE WHO I AM THE BOSS OF - EVERYBODY... ALL PRODUCERS, ALL WRITERS, ALL SUBJECT TO CHANGE." She updated and amended the list regularly, and even added the name of ABC's president.

  • Tom Arnold Tried To Strangle A Producer

    Tom Arnold Tried To Strangle A Producer

    After Barr divorced her first husband, Bill Pentland, she married Tom Arnold four days later. She then hired Arnold to be a writer on Roseanne. The decision caused considerable friction, as Arnold thrived off of creating chaos on set. He routinely battled with other writers and executives, including producer Jeff Harris. Harris resigned after Arnold allegedly tried to strangle him.

  • Barr Originally Wanted Tom Arnold To Play Her TV Husband

    Barr Originally Wanted Tom Arnold To Play Her TV Husband

    Before they started dating, while the show was still in developmental stages, Barr pushed to have Arnold cast as her TV husband, Dan Conner. Producers felt Barr was not a natural actress and preferred to surround her with pros. That's where John Goodman came in. "The linchpin - and, I’m convinced, the key to the series - was John Goodman," said Williams. "We brought him in the room, he looked at Roseanne, and said, 'Scoot over.' She said, 'Shut up,' he plopped down, and it was like they had been married for 16 years."

    Goodman agreed it was a perfect fit from the beginning. "I went in there, and it was just easy as pie. We got along great. For some reason, I just knew I had the job."

  • Barr Had A Ton Of Plastic Surgery Between Seasons

    Barr Had A Ton Of Plastic Surgery Between Seasons

    After Season 5 of Roseanne wrapped, Barr underwent a massive amount of plastic surgery. The work included a nose job, cheek implants, eye enhancements, chin reshaping, and an overall facelift. Doctors told her she would heal by the time Season 6 began filming, but that wasn't the case. "The doctor dropped the scalpel in my face," Barr told Larry King, "so I had to go back and be cut open again to remove the scalpel from my face." The show's makeup department tried to cover up the scars so Season 6 could commence, which is why Barr looks so orange in those episodes.

  • Barr Made The Writers Wear Numbers

    Barr Made The Writers Wear Numbers

    With a number-one show bearing her name, Barr was empowered to make some unorthodox decisions to let everyone know who was boss. One of her most unsettling choices was to force the show's writers to wear numbered t-shirts. She stopped referring to them by name, opting to call them by their number instead. The writers attempted to laugh it off in the press, but they knew Barr was serious in her intentions. "I wanted to strip them of their huge, colossal self-entitlement," Barr admitted years later.

  • The Original D.J. Was Fired

    The Original D.J. Was Fired

    Few noticed at the time, but the D.J. Conner who appears in the pilot episode is not the same actor who the world now knows and loves as D.J. Conner. Sal Barone was originally cast in the role, but was replaced in the second episode by Michael Fishman. There were two reasons for this. First, several months had passed between the filming of the pilot and the filming of the second episode. Barone, who was eight at the time and older than D.J. was supposed to be, had grown noticeably. Second, Barone and costar Sara Gilbert reportedly fought on set.

  • Barr And Arnold Started A Feud With Julia Louis-Dreyfus

    Barr And Arnold Started A Feud With Julia Louis-Dreyfus

    There is any number of power-mad men and diva-like women in Hollywood with whom Barr and Arnold could have clashed. The person they chose to target, however, was neither power-mad nor a diva. Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus had an excellent reputation in Hollywood. But when Louis-Dreyfus parked in Arnold's spot, the actor left a threatening note, and an all-out war erupted. Arnold told The A.V. Club years later:

    We had this stupid skirmish where Julia Louis-Dreyfus told me how offended she was that I wrote a nasty note, and I told her how offended I was that she parked in my spot or whatever, and then Roseanne took a picture of John Goodman’s ass and put it on her car and in soap wrote 'Julia Louis Dry-puss.' Very, very mature, very adult.

  • Laurie Metcalf And Matt Roth Were Married In Real Life

    Laurie Metcalf And Matt Roth Were Married In Real Life

    Actor Matt Roth joined the cast in 1992 as Jackie's much younger boyfriend, Fisher. His character eventually becomes abusive toward Jackie. But the real-life relationship between the two actors was nothing but love. Metcalf and Roth dated, and in 1993 had a baby together. They married the same year and went on to have two more children. Metcalf and Roth divorced in 2014.