‘Roseanne’ Writers Learned About Show Cancellation Via Media

The Roseanne writers reportedly learned that the show was cancelled with the rest of the world, through social media and the news.

Roseanne was cancelled on Tuesday morning — the same day its writers were scheduled to meet for the first time. The staff had been meticulously constructed out of new and returning talent. According to an interview in The Hollywood Reporter, the writers knew right away that they wouldn’t get started on Tuesday.

“I drove in to work. It was the first day for the writing staff of the next 13 shows,” recalled executive producer Dave Caplan. “We knew that it was going to be a kind of a bittersweet greeting of the new writers because we had really wonderful talent scheduled to write the next 13 episodes.”

“We also knew that we couldn’t start [that day],” he went on bluntly. “We hadn’t found out that ABC had canceled the show yet, but we also knew that none of us were in the frame of mind to start writing the show under the circumstances. We got together as a group for the first time and there was a lot of bittersweet hellos — and a couple hours later, a lot of very difficult goodbyes.”

Later on, Caplan confirmed he and the rest of the writers found out about the cancellation through the news before they received a call from ABC executives.

“We found out first through the press,” he recounted. “We weren’t sure if it was accurate. But then we heard from Tom Werner that the show was canceled. We all knew it was a possibility but the suddenness of it was a shock.”

Caplan said that even before the network reacted, he knew that Barr’s latest Twitter diatribe would haunt him for the entire day.

“The day began by reading her tweet and I was immediately horrified. I really wasn’t sure what to do because I didn’t feel like there was really any response to it. It was so far over the line and so loathsome that I suspected there might not be any coming back from it. Frankly, I knew that that was a possibility — and rightfully so,” he said.

This past season, Barr worked as the head writer, staying in the writer’s room and overseeing the entire process. Caplan said that “she was quite reasonable with the writers. She knew that a lot of the writers did not share her political beliefs — although a lot of us had come from firmly middle-class or lower-middle-class backgrounds. She was reasonable to work with at that point.”

That may have changed, as Barr was not present with the rest of the writing staff on Tuesday. However, she later offered them a specific apology on Twitter.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!” she wrote in a now-deleted tweet. “I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people,and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet. I will be on Joe Rogan’s podcast friday.”