We Blame Roseanne

4.6 (11K) · TV & FILM · UPDATED WEEKLY

An oral history of ABC's most turbulent decade — told by the writers, producers, and stars who lived it. From the Roseanne reboot controversy to the rise of streaming, nothing is off the record.

4D AGO

The Conners: Life After Roseanne — Where the Show Went Next

Two years after the cancellation, ABC launched The Conners — the same show, minus Roseanne Barr. This episode talks to the cast and writers about the impossible task of continuing a show while pretending its star never existed.

11D AGO

The Tweet That Ended Everything: A Minute-by-Minute Reconstruction

At 2:45am on May 29, 2018, Roseanne Barr posted a tweet. By 11am, ABC had cancelled the most-watched show on American television. This episode reconstructs those eight hours using testimony from inside the network.

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The Writers Room: What They Were Actually Writing in Season 2

The Season 2 scripts had been approved and casting was underway when the cancellation came. Writers reveal the storylines that never made it to air — including one episode that addressed the tweet controversy directly.

25D AGO

The Reboot Era: Why Every Network Tried to Do What ABC Did

The original Roseanne reboot got 18 million viewers. For 18 months, every network was working on a nostalgia revival. This episode examines the reboot wave, what succeeded, what failed, and why nostalgia is such a reliable and dangerous commercial strategy.

32D AGO

Political TV: When Sitcoms Started Taking Sides

The original Roseanne was groundbreaking for its working-class portrayal. The reboot was notable for depicting a Trump-supporting family. This episode asks: when did sitcoms stop being for everyone and start being for a specific tribe?

39D AGO

ABC in the Streaming Era: The Fight for Relevance

ABC's most candid insiders on what it's like to run a legacy broadcast network in a world where everyone under 40 doesn't have cable. The specific decisions, the strategic pivots, and the shows that saved the network — and the ones that almost ended it.

46D AGO

The Women Who Ran the Writers Room

A celebration of the female showrunners and writers who shaped ABC programming over the past decade. Their accounts of working in a male-dominated industry undergoing a diversity reckoning are frank, funny, and occasionally devastating.

53D AGO

How One Network Built and Destroyed Its Biggest Franchise

A history of the Roseanne brand at ABC — from the original show's 1988 debut to the reboot's cancellation and the spinoff's unlikely survival. A story about talent, commerce, and the specific way that one person's behavior can destroy what hundreds of people spent decades building.

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Hosts & Guests

ABC AudioProducer

4.6

out of 5

11K Ratings

The best TV industry podcast I've found

The access is unreal. These executives and writers are talking way more candidly than I expected. The minute-by-minute reconstruction of the cancellation day is extraordinary — it reads like a thriller.

TVIndustryFan · Mar 4, 2026

Great for anyone who loves TV history

The reboot era episode alone is worth subscribing for. The show does a genuinely thoughtful job of placing the Roseanne controversy in the larger context of what was happening in television and culture.

SitcomScholar · Feb 18, 2026

Candid and surprising

I worked adjacent to the TV industry for years and this show reveals things I genuinely didn't know. The writers room bonus episode is essential for anyone interested in how network TV actually gets made.

InsiderView · Feb 3, 2026

About

We Blame Roseanne is an ABC Audio original podcast that chronicles the wildest decade in television history through the people who made it. Using the 2018 Roseanne reboot cancellation as its starting point, the show spirals outward to examine the full landscape of network TV's existential crisis — the streaming wars, the diversity reckoning, the social media era, and the specific ways that one tweet brought down one of television's most successful reboots in its first week. Featuring candid interviews with writers, showrunners, network executives, and cast members speaking more freely than they ever could while under contract, it's the definitive insider account of what happened when old Hollywood collided with the new rules.