Roseanne Barr Rages After Debut Episode Of The Connors Kills Her Character With An Opioid Overdose

October 17, 2018 Crackpots, Television

Roseanne Barr isn’t happy with the way her character’s disappearance from the Conners’ household was explained on ABC’s Roseanne spinoff The Conners on Tuesday night.

“I AIN’T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!” the comedian and actress tweeted just an hour after the episode finished airing. In a more measured joint statement with her friend Rabbi Shmuley Boteach released late on Tuesday, they said the “opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show.”

The show revealed that Roseanne’s character had died in her bed of what the family believed to be a heart attack following a knee surgery. Instead, a coroner’s report revealed, the character had died of an opioid overdose.

Deadline reports:

Down 35% from the Roseanne opener, the debut of The Conners was just 4% better than the mothership series finale in metered market numbers. In fact, despite a massive marketing push, The Conners wasn’t even the highest rated show of Tuesday night. Though The Conners was ahead of This Is Us by 22% in the early numbers, it was the fourth episode of the 16th season of CBS’ NCIS that topped the night with a 8.1/13 in metered market results.

I AIN’T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) October 17, 2018