Back in 2018, Roseanne Barr was fired from the revival of her self-titled series following racist posts on social media. The Conners would go on to success without her, and we haven’t heard a great deal from her since then, at least as far as her professional career is concerned. It appears that’s because she’s been working on her comeback. It turns out Barr has been working on a new show and she’s about ready to start shopping it.
In what has to be said is one of the strangest elevator pitches for a show in recent memory, Barr tells Variety that the show, a creation of herself and former Roseanne producer Allan Stephan, will focus on her character, a farmer who is “saving the United States from drug gangs and China.” She also compares the show to The Sopranos and also Coen Brothers movies. Barr explained…
It’s silly and out there [It will contain] very offensive ideas and a lot of swearing. I live with my daughter and her husband and their six children on a farm. And they have goats running through their house and stuff. It’s based on my life as a farmer in Hawaii. They save America with guns, the Bible, petty crime, and alcoholism. It’s kind of like the Coen brothers thing.
Needless to say, this description is fairly wild in itself. Roseanne Barr has certainly made no secret of her conservative politics of late, and it seems that part of the idea behind the new show is to lean into all of that by focusing on a character inspired by the woman herself.
There are certainly elements of Roseanne’s previous success in this concept, as it will follow working-class characters. She calls the show both “silly” and "cartoony,” indicating comedy will be a significant part of it. However, the comparison to The Sopranos and the fact she will apparently be fighting drug gangs also indicates there’s a lot more going on and there might be more dramatic elements to the show.
The series, which doesn’t appear to have a title right now, is now being shopped around to prospective distributors. Based on the facts that, as Roseanne says, the show will have a lot of swearing, and that the first season is only planned to be four to six episodes, we can safely say this won’t end up on a traditional network, but any cable channel or streaming platform is certainly a potential home.
Roseanne is the latest to have a career rocked by scandal to attempt a comeback. Armie Hammer is starring in his first movie in years. Sometimes stars are welcomed back after significant time away, other times, they are not.
Barr seems to already be prepared for the possibility that there may not be any takers for the new show. However, she insists that even if that happens, she’ll still make the show, as she’s convinced the idea is something people want to see. She continued...
If Hollywood doesn’t buy it, then I’m just gonna make it myself. Does anybody in [Hollywood] like America or the people who watch TV? Because the people who watch TV would really like to see a show where working-class people win against the enemies of America.
Whether or not it's a show an audience wants to see, first Roseanne has to find business people in Hollywood who want to see it.
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