The reboot, which will feature returning stars Roseanne Barr and John Goodman among others, is set to air midseason. 
 
 It's official: Roseanne is returning to ABC. 
 
 The network has handed out an eight-episode straight-to-series order for a revival of the wildly popular family sitcom headlined by comedian Roseanne Barr. The reboot will debut sometime midseason on the network. 
 
 "We're rebooting Roseanne," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said Tuesday during pre-upfronts call with reporters. The series will return midseason, with a formal date to be announced later. 
 
 Original castmembers Roseanne Barr, John Goodman (despite the fact that his character Dan died of a heart attack during the final season), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Michael Fishman (D.J.) and Lecy Goranson (Becky) are all set to return. Sarah Chalke, who played the role of Becky after Goranson, will also return, but in a different role. 
 
 “The Conners’ joys and struggles are as relevant — and hilarious — today as they were then, and there’s really no one better to comment on our modern America than Roseanne,” Dungey said in a statement. 
 
 The pickup comes almost 20 years after the Emmy-winning multicam went off the air. The revival will again be a multicamera comedy. 
 
 The revival sparked interest from several potential buyers including Netflix, which has revived Full House, Arrested Development and Gilmore Girls. The Roseanne revival was spearheaded by Gilbert, who currently hosts and exec produces the CBS daytime show The Talk. 
 
 Gilbert joins original exec producers Barr, Tom Werner and Bruce Helford. Whitney Cummings and Tony Hernandez also exec produce. Like the original series, independent studio Carsey-Werner Television will produce. 
 
 Roseanne centered on the working-class Conner family in Illinois and ran on ABC from 1988-97. At its peak, Roseanne ranked as the top series on television during the 1989-90 season and drew nearly 17 million viewers for its final episode. The series has continued to air in reruns on TV Land, CMT and Logo. 
 
 The pickup comes as networks, including ABC, have worked hard to better appeal to working-class middle America in the wake of Donald Trump's stunning defeat over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. "[The election] made the ground shake underneath media," TLC president Nancy Daniels told THR in December, "and now everybody is taking a hard look: Are we telling the right stories? Are we reaching the right people?" 
 
 Roseanne is just the latest in a long line of revivals that includes NBC's Will & Grace, as well as 24, Prison Break and The X-Files — which will return with another 10 episodes in 2018 — on Fox. ABC's cult beloved mystery Twin Peaks is also getting the revival treatment, albeit on Showtime. 
 
 Roseanne will be one of two revivals on the Disney-owned broadcaster. The network beat out NBC and Fox to resurrect American Idol only a year after Fox opted to cancel the singing competition. On the unscripted, ABC has also found success with revivals of game shows like Match Game and $100,000 Pyramid. 
 
 Roseanne's straight-to-series pickup will be ABC's lone multicamera comedy on its 2017-18 schedule. ABC recently canceled Last Man Standing and Dr. Ken — its only multicamera shows. The Disney-owned network will start the fall 2017-18 season without a single multicamera comedy on its schedule as pilot Household Name, starring Carol Burnett, is being redeveloped. The format, however, remains popular on CBS, which is home to Big Bang Theory, Mom, Kevin Can Wait, Superior Donuts and Man With a Plan. (Both Big Bang and Mom are executive produced by former Roseanne writer Chuck Lorre.) 
 
 In addition to the Will & Grace revival, launching in the fall, NBC has The Carmichael Show and Marlon, both of which are being held for summer. Fox has been out of the multicam business for a few seasons. 
 
 Here's the full original cast reunited at ABC's upfront: ||||| After canceling the comedy following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet, the Disney-owned network has found a way to move forward with the original cast, creators and likely crew as 'The Conners.' 
 
 Weeks after its stunning decision to cancel Roseanne, ABC is officially moving forward with a spinoff of TV's current No. 1 series — without controversial star Roseanne Barr. 
 
 Following aggressive talks with exec producer Tom Werner, the Disney-owned broadcaster has handed out a 10-episode, straight-to-series order for Roseanne spinoff The Conners (working title). The new take, which will also be a multicamera comedy and premiere in the fall, will follow the Conner family who, after a sudden turn of events, are forced to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before. 
 
 ABC stressed in its announcement Thursday that former star Barr will have no financial or creative involvement in the new series. Werner and Barr reached an agreement that will allow Werner Entertainment to produce the spinoff for ABC without Barr’s further creative or financial participation. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Barr will retain all rights to her Roseanne Conner character and any future spinoffs beyond The Conners or any future reboots of the original. 
 
 "I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from Roseanne. I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved,” Barr said in a statement. Added Werner: “We are grateful to have reached this agreement to keep our team working as we continue to explore stories of the Conner family.” 
 
 Roseanne stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman will star in the spinoff. Additional castmembers and a premiere date will be announced at a later date. "We have received a tremendous amount of support from fans of our show, and it’s clear that these characters not only have a place in our hearts, but in the hearts and homes of our audience," Goodman, Metcalf, Gilbert, Goranson and Fishman said in a joint statement. "We all came back last season because we wanted to tell stories about the challenges facing a working-class family today. We are so happy to have the opportunity to return with the cast and crew to continue to share those stories through love and laughter.” 
 
 ABC says the new take will explore issues with parenthood, dating an unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging and in-laws in working-class America. The series will take over Roseanne's Tuesdays at 8 p.m. time slot. The Conners hails from the creative team behind what was to be the 11th season of Roseanne, including showrunner Bruce Helford, Gilbert, Dave Caplan, Bruce Rasmussen and Tony Hernandez. The series hails from Werner and Werner Entertainment. 
 
 "The Conners’ stories demonstrate that families can always find common ground through conversation, laughter and love. The spinoff will continue to portray contemporary issues that are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago,” ABC said in a statement. 
 
 Despite multiple reports that the network was open to a new take on Roseanne, the decision to move forward with a new version of the series should still be seen as a surprise, given the considerable obstacles that had to be overcome in order to move forward. 
 
 A major point of contention was to find a way to reinvent Roseanne that would not financially benefit Barr, which was said to be a top demand from ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey and Werner. The series was created by Matt Williams (the show's first showrunner, who departed in season one after clashing with the actress) and is based upon a character (yes, singular) created by Barr. 
 
 As THR previously reported, Barr had agreed in principle to walk away from the characters she helped create in order to allow the cast and crew to pursue a spinoff. But since Barr would be entitled to substantial fees and backend on a Roseanne spinoff, the actress had to waive those rights before a new take could move forward. The last key hurdle was over what, if any, one-time payment Barr was to receive as "go-away money," as one source put it. 
 
 Talks to continue the series heated up almost immediately following the cancellation after exec producer Werner, whose Carsey-Werner banner produced the original series and the 10th season, became highly engaged in finding a new path forward. (Werner's longtime partner, Marcy Carsey, recently said that she would not try to revive the comedy following its cancellation.) 
 
 The move to breathe new life into the franchise comes as Disney was on the hook to pay stars Gilbert (who plays Darlene), Metcalf (Jackie) and Goodman (Dan) for the since-scrapped 11th season. The trio, along with Barr, negotiated new deals for the 13-episode season at $300,000 per episode (up from $250,000 for season 10). They expected to be paid for at least 10 episodes since their options were exercised. What was less clear was if and how the writing staff, including showrunner Helford, were to be compensated. 
 
 Following the cancellation, ABC found itself in a unique position. Roseanne was due to return in the fall and open the network's Tuesday lineup as ABC was briefly poised to head into the 2018-19 broadcast season without TV's top show and without a new series from Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Scandal) for the first time in years. Roseanne was expected to drive at least $60 million in ad revenue for its 11th season, according to Kantar Media. ABC, sources said, may have been on the hook for "tens of millions of dollars" after axing the series. 
 
 ABC on May 29 canceled Roseanne after Barr's racist tweet directed at Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama. The star, who has been an outspoken advocate for President Donald Trump, later apologized and said she "begged" Disney-ABC TV Group president Ben Sherwood not to cancel the series. (ABC declined comment on that at the time, though multiple sources within the network contend that conversation never happened and Barr has since deleted that tweet.) 
 
 In a memo to staff following the cancellation, Sherwood apologized to the then-unemployed staff of Roseanne and expressed hope that the network could find a way to work together down the road. The new incarnation of Roseanne saved those jobs as staffing season had already been completed for all the broadcast series and many involved with the production turned down other jobs to stay with the comedy. 
 
 Roseanne was slated to return in the fall for an expanded 11th season of 13 episodes as ABC looked to build on the show's momentum. In a victory lap of sorts, Barr was the centerpiece of ABC's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers in May. (Barr joked in introducing Sherwood onstage that he was the man behind her Twitter feed.) The revival was part of a larger effort by Dungey — broadcast's lone African-American network topper — to cater to the underserved community who turned out in force to elect Trump. The success of the Roseanne revival has prompted other broadcast networks to pick up a wave of multicamera comedies in a larger push to program for middle America. (To that end, Fox revived Tim Allen comedy Last Man Standing a year after ABC's cancellation.) ||||| "It was time for us as a country to shake things up and, you know, try something different," the actress tells reporters of her support of Trump at TCA. 
 
 It didn't take long before the subject of Donald Trump arose during a panel Monday previewing the return of ABC's Roseanne at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. 
 
 With ABC bringing the working-class Conner family back to primetime, it's no surprise that Roseanne Barr's personal politics are playing a role in her TV counterpart's voting history. When a reporter asked about Barr and John Goodman's leading characters being Trump supporters in the new season, Barr tried to deflect the question before she eventually offered up some insight. 
 
 "In The Roseanne Show, I've always tried to have it be a true reflection of the society we live in. I feel like half the people voted for Trump and half didn't, so it's just realistic," she said, adding that she's tried to make the show a realistic portrayal of the working class, in particular. "And, in fact, it was working-class people who elected Trump, so I felt like that was very real and something that needed to be discussed and especially about polarization in the family and people actually hating other people for the way they voted, which I feel is not American." 
 
 During her 30 minutes before reporters Monday, Barr was pushed multiple times to explain how her politics impacted the show. At first, she deferred the question to showrunner Bruce Helford, who said the writing staff — which counts Barr as it did during the show's original run — "had a lot of discussions" about the characters' personal beliefs. "What we wanted to do was find a way for this family, which represents a cross-section of values and beliefs, [to] get a debate going in an honest and real way — whether that's pro- or anti-Trump or Jill Stein, it was really about getting dialogue going in an honest way," he said. "There's no agenda on anybody's part." 
 
 Helford reiterated something ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey admitted last year — that the Disney-owned network largely catered to upscale, Democratic viewers with Roseanne serving as a way to cater to working-class Americans as the show originally did in the 1990s. "There's no show that's dealing in the same way with these kinds of issues," Helford said. "We have a beloved place in the hearts of American viewers and wanted to do something that would heal things and put all the cards on the table." 
 
 Later, when asked about whether she'd vote for Oprah Winfrey if the mogul would run for president in 2020, Barr hesitated. "I do love Oprah. Of course, I love Oprah like everybody else. But you know what? I think it was time for us as a country to shake things up and, you know, try something different," she said, referring to her support of Trump. "What about Susan Sarandon for president?" another reporter asked. "Actually, I think I'd be a better president than Oprah and Susan Sarandon, probably even President Trump. And I did run in 2012," she said. 
 
 Barr reunited with Roseanne's entire original cast on the Conners' famed couch. John Goodman (Dan), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Michael Fishman (DJ), Lecy Goranson (Becky) and Sarah Chalke (who played Becky in later seasons of the original run but is returning for a new role) are all returning. Johnny Galecki, who played Darlene's boyfriend, David, is confirmed to reprise his role for one episode. Whitney Cummings executive produces alongside Tom Werner, who served in the same capacity on the original. The season premiere of the ABC reboot finds Roseanne and her sister Jackie embroiled in a fight. Jackie, as it turns out, voted for Hillary Clinton, while Roseanne is proudly Team Trump. 
 
 "This is a time when our country is divided," said Gilbert, who spearheaded (and exec produces) the reboot after Goodman guested on her CBS daytime show The Talk. "We talk about this [politics] in the context of a family. People feel like they can't disagree and still love and talk to each other. It's a great opportunity to have a family divided by politics but still filled with love. What a great thing to bring into this country right now." 
 
 As for the decision to undo the show's original series finale — in which Dan died — Barr said she always wanted to have a tenth season so she could complete the Conners' story. "I'm very happy we got a tenth season and got to do that," she said, noting that she does hope ABC renews the revival for another season. "We hope to have more. The arc of this, from the last episode all those years ago, I wanted to complete that arc." 
 
 Barr also addressed her recent decision to leave Twitter, confessing that her children took her password to the social networking platform away. "I did not want it to overshadow the show, so I'm taking a break," she said of her personal politics and Twitter. The outspoken comedian and actress confessed that she's much more mellow now, at age 65, than she was when the show originally ran when she was in her 40s. "I think I've grown up," Barr said. "I'm a grandmother, I have six grandkids. I'm 65 years old. This whole arc of this season is about healthcare and stuff like that. I think I've mellowed, but I think everyone who hits 65 is more mellow than when you're in your 40s." 
 
 Still, Barr couldn't resist taking on questions about Trump. When one member of the press brought up the notion of Trump being xenophobic, she didn't miss a beat. "Well, that's your opinion," Barr shot back, before clarifying further. "Well, he says a lot of crazy shit ... I'm not a Trump apologist. There are a lot of things he's said and done that I don't agree with, just like there are a lot of things Hillary Clinton has said and done that you don't agree with. Nobody is brainwashed into agreeing with 100 percent of what anybody says." Speaking of Clinton, Barr added that a big reason she didn't vote for Trump's 2016 opponent was "because of Haiti." 
 
 Before the panel wrapped, Barr left the room chock-full of reporters and television executives with one last thought. "The one great thing that I read today is that this is the lowest unemployment level for many, many years. So I think that's great and I do support jobs for people and I think that's a great way to fight racism is helping everybody get a job," she said, adding, "I think it's the time to close ranks, and I would really like to see an end to 'hatriotism' in this country." 
 
 Roseanne will return with a special hourlong premiere Tuesday, March 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, after which it will air half-hour episodes in its regular time slot on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
– Roseanne's return to TV has been confirmed, 20 years to the week after the beloved sitcom's final episode aired. ABC, the show's original network, announced Tuesday that it has ordered an eight-episode run of the revived show, which will air mid-season, E! Online reports. The network says the reboot will feature Roseanne's original cast, including Roseanne Barr, Sara Gilbert, and John Goodman, despite the fact that Goodman's character, dad Dan Conner, died during the show's final season. Barr and Gilbert will be among the executive producers of the show, which won 17 Emmys during its nine-season run. Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, and Lecy Goranson will also be back as Jackie, DJ, and Becky. "The Conners' joys and struggles are as relevant—and hilarious—today as they were then, and there's really no one better to comment on our modern America than Roseanne," ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a statement. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the revival comes amid a push by networks to find shows that appeal to working-class Americans like the just-getting-by Conner family depicted in Roseanne.