I was actually going to write about a book -- maybe later this week.
The e-mails are largely about Roseanne and ROSEANNE.
For anyone who's missed it, ABC cancelled ROSEANNE today over a Tweet where Roseanne said Valerie Jarrett was the byproduct of the Muslim Brotherhood and The Planet of the Apes.
Is that the movie? Is she referring to the movie THE PLANET OF THE APES?
If it's the movie, didn't the humans do the carrying in the film itself? I don't know, I'm not a Charlton Heston fan. If it was the movie, was she referring to the apes or to the humans who are prisoners of the apes? I know the Tim Burton version so much better than the one with Heston.
Regardless, some people were offended and some people pretended to be offended and ABC axed the show.
Can ABC do that?
Absolutely. It's completely legal.
There's no legal ground to appeal the decision -- well Roseanne Barr doesn't have any ability to
it.
I might.
I own stock in ABC. And, from that perpsective, I'm honestly outraged. ABC finally got a hit show and they've cancelled it. They're going to have to answer to stock holders especially if their new season tanks this fall.
Women come forward saying Tom Brokaw harassed and assaulted them. NBC responds that they'll need to look into it.
ABC didn't look into anything. They made an immediate decision.
ABC exists solely to make money. Their decision doesn't suggest that they factored that in.
Again, they just cancelled ROSEANNE -- their number one show. They didn't explore whether or not Rosanne could repent. They didn't explore whether or not they could do a CONNOR FAMILY -- with the rest of the cast (think Valerie Harper and her VALERIE'S FAMILY that became THE HOGAN FAMILY).
They just destroyed their only hit -- which was also the biggest scripted half-hour show on any network right now.
As a stock holder, that really bothers me.
This does not demonstrate that ABC suits know what they're doing.
My ABC stock is stock I've had for years. As far as I'm concerned, it's worthless and has been for some time. Easily a decade it's been worthless. Now they finally have a real hit and they cancel it?
If this time next year, ABC's got nothing to brag about -- every damn head should roll, every executive should be fired. They had a cash cow which they killed. That's not why any of us bought stock in ABC.
It was a stupid, stupid move. It is the height of financial incompetence. The show could have continued with a focus on Darlene. She was already the center of the show.
ABC did nothing to address what they owe stock holders.
I hope the prissy idiot that cancelled the show feels good today because she's not going to feel good in the future. And her ass should be canned within 12 months. This is really outrageous in terms of corporate management.
You had Darlene as the focus, you had her two kids. You had Dan. It would have been very easy to have killed off Roseanne. Or you could have had Roseanne offscreen for half or two-thirds of the episodes while you decided whether or not the actress was sincere in her apology.
You might decide she wasn't.
That's fine.
But do something that shows you put thought into the issue and didn't just have a snit fit because your personal feelings don't mean s**t when you're a network exec. You are supposed to do the hard calls that protect the network. And an immediate decision to cancel the network's number one show? Not very smart at all.
Let's talk Roseanne Barr.
She said something outrageous.
Did she mean to be offensive?
She meant to shock, that's what she does.
Is she racist?
That Tweet could be read as racist.
I've not spoken to Roseanne at any real lenght since she was doing her reality show. I'm busy, she's busy. The Roseanne I know is not a racist.
That doesn't mean her Tweet wasn't racist.
And it could have been intentionally racist. It could have been accidentally racist.
It could have been she just had e-f**king-nough.
'Cause I feel that way right now about a ball-less, nutless Baltimore TV critic who's about to be dropped from our blogroll to the right.
I would love to say the most offensive things about that tiny prick.
So maybe Roseanne was feeling a similar mood when she Tweeted what she Tweeted. Or maybe she just thought it was funny. I have no idea.
What do I know?
I love Roseanne. She's a caring person. That Tweet nor any other is not going to upset me. (If she went after a child, that would tick me off. Kathy Griffin was not an issue to me until the whole thing about the Trump child. I've erased that, however, because she was betrayed by her then-attorney and was basically speaking off the cuff. One of her best friends insists that led to the comments I objected to.)
Roseanne is of a different age and what she says also includes how people used to 'zing.' People of all races. It's not something I would do but I'm not Roseanne. At this site, you do not see the term "Oh my G . ." or anything else that might offend someone with regards to religion.
I am not a religious person. And when ever they were doing the whole Mohammed thing online -- mock him to show freedom of speech! -- I didn't do it. Isaiah asked me if he could do it. I told him he could use his voice however he wanted. And I meant that.
But I'm not going to mock religion and, you'll note, when we're quoting someone this is how it goes "G*d damn . . ." I'm not censoring the damn. I'm censoring someone's name being taken in vain.
I grasp that this is serious to many people -- whether it's Jesus or Mohammed or whomever.
And our discussions and conversations are about something much larger so I'm not going to put something here that I know is going to offend.
But I'm not Roseanne. She gets laughs by being shocking. I'm not insulting her for that. I am noting any good stand up realizes that the sharpest humor comes from that "Did they just say that?" moment.
I think she should have been allowed to apologize and I think the network should have waited to see how intense the public offense was.
She's a comedian. Was she trying to be funny? I don't know.
But I do know that she doesn't hate any group of people and she's not racist.
If we're being completely honest, I do wonder where she stands on the Palestinian people. (And she knows that.) She is a super pro-Israel government person.
That's where she is, that's not where I am but I don't require that everyone live up to every belief I have. I'm comfortable in my beliefs and if I'm allowed to speak that's all I need to know.
Meaning, I do believe we can communicate and get a larger understanding -- both the person I may disagree with and myself.
If someone was offended by the Tweet, I absolutely understand that. I think it needed an apology and an explanation.
Beyond that?
ABC can legally do what they did.
But it was the network's number one show and those of us who have stock are wondering (I've already been called about a hostile move on the board -- I've not decided where I stand but I don't mind signing what I've got -- not that much -- over as proxy) how the lunatics who okayed this response -- cancelling the show immediately -- are fit to run ABC?
It is a business. The NFL is a business. The NFL waited how long to do something? They waited so long that they may not get the audience back. Those who have left may not come back.
ABC didn't take a moment, the brass didn't reflect for a moment, before making a decision.
Again, they could have put the character Roseanne on ice for many, many episodes to see what the public opinion was. Again, they could have written Roseanne off completely and just had THE CONNOR FAMILY. There are many things they could have done.
There is no indication that any thought went into the decision. It appears that one woman had a whim and her whim killed the network's biggest show. I think her ass needs to be fired.
Roseanne sees Donald Trump as an outsider. And he is one. But because he's a DC outsider, she's convinced that he might be able to accomplish things. And he might, she could be right. Roseanne sees him as someone who can shake things up.
Her feelings towards Donald have left her under attack in the industry.
That's disgusting and we (our industry) should be ashamed of ourselves.
Roseanne Barr and Roseanne are both leftists. Every detail of the show, every episode has been about that. Jackie's even told Roseanne that. It's a real shame that the industry wants to attack and ostracize her -- I'm not talking the events of today.
And it's a damn shame that we can't respect one another enough to be okay with the fact that we don't all vote alike.
This is supposed to be democracy -- I know it never really gets to that point these days, but still . . . -- and part of a democracy is the give and take in the public square, the give and take that we all have a chance to learn from.
ABC didn't want that give and take. They didn't want a debate in the public square.
They just wanted to kill Roseanne Barr.
If they succeed, that's our loss. Roseanne is gifted in many ways, she's caring and full of love.
She was already under attack before this week began and I do worry what happens to her on a personal level in terms of trust and in terms of so much more.
She made a stupid and insulting joke (my opinion). She apologized for it. (Did she do it immediately? I don't know. I've had to piece this together because I spent the day talking about things that matter -- like ending ongoing wars.)
It's a shame that we were not allowed to have a dialogue play out, a conversation take place. I like Canada a lot but some of their laws frighten me because they go against an open debate. We don't have those laws in the United States -- yet. And it's a shame that right now we're closing down a debate instead of having a needed conversation.
I love Roseanne and, knowing her as a person, she is full of love. I hope she's able to express that but if she's not I won't be surprised. That was my biggest concern re: Kathy Griffin and what I kept discussing with our mutual friend. When you push someone against the wall -- and Kathy was and now Roseanne is -- you can leave them with no real choices. Kathy came through it and good for her on that, applause to Kathy. Hopefully, Roseanne will as well.
If you're not getting it, Michael Richardson used the n-word and he was treated kinder -- even in the immediate aftermath -- than Roseanne is being treated right now.
