ABC/Robert Trachtenberg(LOS ANGELES) — The Conners, the Roseanne Barr-free Roseanne reboot spin-off, launches next week, and star John Goodman told Jimmy Kimmel Monday night that he’s “thankful” she allowed the show to live on.
Roseanne was fired by ABC last spring, after a racist tweet about former President Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett — just as the rebooted Roseanne was launching to great ratings. She gave ABC permission to continue the show without her, and waived any financial compensation she would have received as the creator of its characters.
Goodman, her onscreen husband, recently revealed he was “heartbroken” by the situation, but insisted he “knows for a fact she’s not a racist.”
To Kimmel, Goodman admitted he took the cancellation hard. “[L]ast year, it was so miraculous and so unreal that when it went away it was almost like a dream. And I thought, ‘OK, I’ll be a big boy and handle this,’ and I just crashed for a couple of weeks.”
Goodman added he’s happy the show will go on. “She is missed, definitely. But after that many years it’s like a family,” and Roseanne waiving any money allowed all those people to keep working. “She gave up a lot for us to be able to do the show and I can’t thank her enough.”
“It was very weird doing the first show without her, because she’s my buddy,” Goodman recalled. “I mean we’d just sit there, and she’d make me laugh and I’d make her laugh, which is always fun because there’s always a danger of her p**ing herself,” he said to laughs.
As for her character’s fate, Goodman is keeping mum this time — after spilling the beans during an overseas interview that her character would be killed off.
The Conners debuts Tuesday, October 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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