Could a Roseanne-less 'Roseanne' exist? Even if there were a way to set up a deal with the remaining cast members, ABC won't do anything if Roseanne Barr made money off the series, and as a producer of the original, it would be hard to cut cut her out of the contract completely. Looking forward to the future of 'Roseanne' is one issue--looking back is another one entirely. Re-runs of the original 'Roseanne' series have been pulled off of linear TV as well as Hulu. For the moment, you can still find old episodes on Amazon Prime. This brings up the age-old issue of separating the art from the artist. Other shows like 'The Cosby Show' and 'Dukes of Hazard' have also been temporarily pulled off of networks that were syndicating them. In the case of 'Cosby,' that show is likely gone for good following Cosby's conviction. But in the case of 'Roseanne,' an argument could be made that her episodes from decades ago have a special place in pop culture history and deserve to be available somewhere, thought probably not a place supported by ads.
KCRW
