Will Fox Revive ‘Roseanne’

ABC has announced that they have cancelled their Roseanne revival series, but could Fox end up picking it up?

While there is no indication at this time that the network might be interested, the series has been met with a massive audience response, earning 18 million viewers during the live broadcast of its premiere back in March.

Fox recently announced that they are bringing back Last Man Standing — which was also an ABC series — with Tim Allen, who is also an outspoken conservative comedian much like Roseanne Barr.

The only difference in this particular situation is, Roseanne was not canceled due to ratings or scheduling, but rather, due to offensive comments by Barr herself.

In a recent, since-deleted tweet, Barr made a comment about former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, writing, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=[Valerie Jarrett].”

The comment was met with wide criticism, prompting Barr to publicly apologize for her “bad joke.”

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste,” she wrote.

Following a major backlash over the tweets, CBS News reported that ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey announced the networks decision by putting out a statement that reads, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

It’s not impossible to think that the big ratings of the Roseanne revival could entice Fox to swoop in a scoop it up, but with writers and cast members having already condemned Barr’s words and leaving the show, it seems unlikely that they would want to associate themselves with it.

While Allen was not happy about Last Man Standing being canceled by ABC, he never made offensive comments along the lines of what Barr said.

From Fox’s perspective, there is little risk in picking up Last Man Standing. However, Roseanne comes with quite a bit of risk at this point, with Barr having made that racially-related comment.

While she may retain some of her fanbase after apologizing, Fox cannot base their decision to pick up the show on that alone.

At this time the idea is merely speculation, as Fox has not made any statements to suggest they are interested, but with many on social media talking about it, the network could possibly release a statement in the near future.