Roseanne was the much-loved comedy which ended in controversy.
The American sitcom first ran from October 1988 until May 1997 – and was praised for it’s realistic portrayal of the lives of a working-class family from Illinois.
Across an initial nine seasons the show built a die hard audience of loyal viewers, who couldn’t get enough of the Conner family and in particular straight-talking Roseanne.
It became the number one show in America and won four Emmys and took home three Golden Globes.
Fans were gutted when Roseanne came to an end after nine seasons and were left stunned by the massive twist during the final episode.
It turned out Roseanne wrote the fictional story herself, the Conners hadn’t actually won the lottery and husband Dan had died from a heart attack.
(Image: ABC)
Two decades later, viewers were thrilled when ABC revived the show for a 10th season with all the main cast reprising their roles.
It was a massive success and renewed for another outing, but then controversy struck when star Roseanne Bar was involved in a racism scandal.
Barr was slammed for ‘racist’ tweets and she apologised for making a “bad joke” shortly before the show was cancelled by ABC.
Some of the characters returned in spin-off series The Conners, which was made in 2018 without any involvement from Barr.
Here is a look at what happened to the Roseanne cast after filming ended.
Roseanne Barr
(Image: ABC)
The titular character of Roseanne was played by comedian Roseanne Barr, the matriarch of the central family.
Playing a character who was bossy and loud, the show was Roseanne’s vision of exploring a working class family and their issues.
Barr was a minor stand-up comedian before the show propelled her to stardom and won an Emmy and Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performances.
While the show was at its peak she divorced her first husband Bill Pentland, then caused controversy for her infamous performance of the US national anthem at a nationally televised baseball match in San Diego in 1990.
After singing the anthem in what many perceived to be a deliberately disrespectful manner, Barr grabbed her groin and spat and was called “disgraceful” by then President George H.W. Bush.
After the sitcom ended, Roseanne went on to launch her own talk show, which ran from 1998 to 2000.
Afterwards she nabbed herself a number of guest roles in shows such as My Name is Earl and The Office US.
Barr even ran for President as the nominee for the left-wing Peace and Freedom Party in 2012 but only got 70,000 votes.
(Image: ABC)
But strangely she has been a big defender of Donald Trump and he even called her to congratulate her on her show’s ratings when it was revived and thank her for her support.
Roseanne was renewed for another season in 2018, but was then cancelled when Barr posted a controversial tweet.
She was accused of making ‘racist’ comment about Barack Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarrett, which read: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
She later deleted the tweet and apologised to Jarrett and ‘all Americans,’ saying she would now be leaving twitter.
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks,” she wrote. “I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste,” she wrote on Twitter.
However, shortly after comedian Wander Sykes, a producer on the show, came forward to say she wouldn’t be working on the second season on the show.
A statement from, Channing Dungey, president of ABC, said: “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
Gilbert continued: “This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love— one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.”
John Goodman
(Image: ABC)
Hollywood star John Goodman played Roseanne’s easy going husband Dan, who it transpired had actually died from a heart attack in season 8.
During that second-last season of the original run, Goodman walked off set after Barr had an outburst and considered leaving for good.
After talks with producers he agreed to stay but had a much reduced role in the final season while he focused on his movie career.
When the show was rebooted they brought Dan back from the dead by having him find Roseanne’s unpublished novel and joke she killed off the most interesting character.
Goodman, who won a Golden Globe for his role in 1993, came back for spin-off show The Conners where he now played a widower.
The popular actor went on to become a Hollywood great, starring in The Big Lebowski, The Flinstones, Argo, The Hangover 3 and doing the voice of Sully in the Monster’s Inc films.
Goodman has spoken about his struggles with alcoholism and has lost almost 50kg of weight over the last decade due to exercise and food journaling.
A frequent Saturday Night Live host, John is currently starring in HBO comedy The Righteous Gemstones.
Laurie Metcalfe
(Image: ABC)
Roseanne’s younger sister, Jackie Harris, was played by actress Laurie Metcalf.
Jackie was a life-long underachiever with low-self esteem who had viewers in stitches when she clashed with Roseanne.
At the end of season 9 it was revealed that Jackie had come out as a lesbian, but she was heterosexual again for the spin-off series.
For her role on the show, Laurie won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Her second marriage was to Roseanne co-star Matt Roth, who played her abusive boyfrined Fisher, but they divorced in 2014.
The actress has a very recognisable voice as she did the vocals for Andy’s mum in the Toy Story films.
Most recently, she was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA in 2017 for her role in Lady Bird.
Michael Fishman
(Image: ABC)
David Jacob Conner, better known as D.J., was initially the youngest child and only son of Roseanne and Dan until Jerry came along later on.
The role was actually played by Sal Barone in the pilot, but Barr fought for Michael to get the role after impressing her with a joke at an early audition.
The actor was just six-years-old when he started on Roseanne and grew up on our screens.
Not as as smart as his sisters, D.J. got more loveable as the show went on and returned as a father himself in The Conners while married to Genna, whom viewers remembered as the classmate he once refused to kiss in a school play because she was black.
“It’s funny because Roseanne and I have talked for years, and we always talked about D.J. potentially being in an interracial marriage,” said Fishman. “And I think that’s really important because that’s what families look like now. They’re diverse. They’re really complex.”
While Michael pursued some minor roles after the show ended, he turned his attentions to working behind the camera.
It turned out to be a wise move as he’s been making waves as a producer and director ever since and even directed an episode of The Conners.
Sara Gilbert
(Image: ABC)
Sarcastic and domineering like her mother, Darlene was the second eldest intelligent daughter.
In the show, Sara Gilbert’s character dated her sister’s husband’s younger brother David, who was played by Johnny Galecki.
Art imitated life as the co-stars started dating in real life, but during this relationship Sara realised she was a lesbian.
Sara stayed friends with Johnny despite their split and went on to appear in his show, The Big Bang Theory, as his character’s love interest Leslie Winkle in the earlier seasons.
In the revived series of Roseanne, Darlene loses her job and is forced to move back in with her parents and her two children.
Since 2010 she’s devoted her attention to The Talk, which she created and formerly co-hosted – then became executive producer on The Conners.
Sara shares two children with television producer Allison Adler and a son with ex-wife Linda Perry.
Lecy Goranson
(Image: ABC)
The eldest daughter of Roseanne and Dan was originally played by Lecy Goranson.
However, during the fifth season she left the show to attend college and was replaced by another actress, Sarah Chalke.
She did start to return to the role sporadically for the eighth season while she still attended college but decided not to appear at all in season 9.
The changing actress became a running gag in the show with comments such as, “Aren’t you glad you’re here this week?”
Lecy did come back for the revived season and played Becky again in The Conners spin-off as a widow.
The actress has also appeared in Law & Order, Sex and the City, Damages and Fringe.
Sarah Chalke
(Image: ABC)
When Lecy Goranson left the show to attend university, Sarah Chalke took over the role from season 6 after a season and a half without the character.
Goranson came back for season 8 and Chalke filled in when her school schedule became too much.
Not wanting any more scheduling conflicts, Goranson didn’t sign up to season 9 and Chalke took over completely.
When the series was revived, Lecy was back in the role of Becky so Sarah came back as a new character called Andrea, and they jokingly referenced how alike they looked.
Sarah went on to play Elliot Reid on Scrubs from 2001 to 2010 before taking on a re-occurring role on How I Met Your Mother as Stella Zinman.
She’s since been busy with a string of movie and television roles including appearances on Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and the voice of Beth in animated comedy Rick & Morty.
Most recently, she played Kate Mularkey in Netflix series Firefly Lane in February this year.
Johnny Galecki
(Image: Rex/Getty)
Johnny Galecki made his debut in season four, as Darlene’s on/off boyfriend and Mark’s younger brother.
He was initially introduced as Kevin but the name was subsequently changed to David.
By the end of the show he’d become part of the family having married Darlene and welcomed a child.
Once the sitcom ended, Johnny secured roles in films such as Vanilla Sky and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
However, undoubtedly his biggest part came when he was cast as scientist Leonard Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory in 2007.
In 2018, he was estimated to be the world’s second highest-paid male TV actor by Forbes, only behind his co-star Jim Parsons.
He returned to play David once again in four episodes of The Conners.
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/roseanne-cast-now-racism-scandal-24266435