With the shocking cancellation of the ABC comedy -- and the network pulling its support -- it’s very likely the show will be ignored by the Television Academy.
On Tuesday, Roseanne was promptly canceled by ABC after its star, Roseanne Barr, posted a racist tweet. The news came following the show's successful first season of its revival. Production on the next season -- which had already been picked up for 13 episodes -- was scheduled to begin filming in August.
Within 24 hours, the fallout had been swift: Barr was dropped by her agents; the show’s cast and crew widely condemned her comments; Hollywood praised the network for its decision; Hulu and Viacom announced they were pulling reruns of the series. Now, the demise of the beloved series is likely to spill over to the 2018 Primetime Emmys, which is ramping up its awards season -- and the most adversely affected could be the individual cast and crew members not named Barr.
ET has learned that ABC is suspending its For Your Consideration campaign for the show’s 10th season, which will likely include the canceling of any future events and pulling ads from any upcoming special Emmy-related issues. In fact, TVLine reports that an upcoming Emmy-related event scheduled on June 3 will continue as planned, “but the showcase will focus on other ABC Entertainment/ABC Studio Shows.”
This comes after the network formally submitted eligible entries -- including its biggest hits like Black-ish, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor and Scandal -- for the 2017-18 season. According to Goldderby, Roseanne has been submitted for Emmys’ top categories, including Best Comedy, Best Actress (for Barr), Best Actor (for John Goodman), Best Supporting Actress (Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf) and others.
All eligible entries up for consideration were due April 27, with ballots opening for the nomination round beginning on June 11. While submissions cannot be pulled, the Television Academy can make its voice heard when it comes to voting and how it chooses to recognize (or not recognize) the series.
Early predictions for the revival, which broke ratings records when it premiered in April, had Roseanne eyeing its first Best Comedy nomination in its 10-season history, with Goodman, Metcalf and Gilbert among those being considered for individual acting nominations.
Despite Barr’s most recent tweet, its road to the Emmys was always going to be a bumpy one. The show, while celebrated by critics and fans alike, was also met with controversy -- largely over Barr’s personal politics, including past media gaffes and her support of President Donald Trump, as well as the some of the season’s politically topical storylines.
According to Vanity Fair, some Emmy voters were already turned off by the show and its lead star.
“You can’t put some alt-right scumball on your network and give her a platform,” said Deb Zak, an animation producer. “I don’t care if somebody has a conservative viewpoint, that’s fine. She has a hateful viewpoint.”
“I cannot support Roseanne and separate art from politics,” another producer told Vanity Fair following Barr’s earlier controversial tweets about Parkland school-shooting survivor David Hogg and Trump.
With that said, the Academy could still rally behind individual actors, like Metcalf, who has won three Emmys for playing Jackie and is coming off an Oscar nomination for Lady Bird and a Tony nomination for Three Tall Women, or Goodman, who has defied cancellation odds in the past by winning for Aaron Sorkin’s short-lived Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
“I would hope Roseanne's hateful tweets don't indelibly color the work that was done on the show because a lot of talented people worked really hard to make an emotionally honest show and we'd hate for that to be tarnished by all of this,” executive producer David Caplan told The Hollywood Reporter.
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