'I AIN'T DEAD': Roseanne Barr reacts to her character's 'grim' end in spin-off series The Conners

As nearly everyone knew, there were only a few ways of making the titular character of cancelled US sitcom Roseanne disappear convincingly. But when The Conners, the spin-off show filmed to fill the gaping hole left by Roseanne Barr's ratings hit, killed Barr's character off in the first episode, it caused umbrage nonetheless. 

When the anticipated spin-off made its debut on US television last night, Barr wasted little time in sharing her thoughts, tweeting: "I AIN’T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!" 

The outrage was perhaps predictable given that Barr had been ousted from the show due to posting offensive comments on Twitter in May. When Barr compared a black former Barack Obama adviser to an ape, Roseanne was cancelled mere weeks after it had returned to the American small screen for the first time in 21 years. So now we have The Conners, which sees the fictional working class family continue life after the death of its matriarch.

The first episode of the show revealed that Roseanne had died of a accidental opioid overdose after being prescribed the addictive painkillers for a knee injury, although her family initially believed she had died of a heart attack.

Barr followed up with a more considered – and lengthy – statement, drafted with her spiritual teacher Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. In it, the pair said that the decision to kill off Roseanne with an opioid overdose "lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show".

The statement also dealt with the cancellation of Roseanne, suggesting that a better way to deal with Barr's indiscretion would have been to bring her back as "a witty character – a woman – who America connected with, not in spite of her flaws, but because of them.

"The cancellation of ‘Roseanne’ is an opportunity squandered due in equal parts to fear, hubris, and a refusal to forgive."

The first reviews of The Conners suggest that not to be the case. "In the case of The Conners, writing off Roseanne’s character markedly improves the entire show around it," Vanity Fair reports. "Without Barr sucking up all of the oxygen in the show (and its marketing), The Conners is better able to realise much of what the new Roseanne was aiming for," concedes Vox. 

Barr had previously said she wouldn't participate in the punditry and anticipation surrounding the show. "I'm not going to curse it or bless it," she said in September. "I'm staying neutral. That's what I do. I'm staying neutral. I'm staying away from it. Not wishing bad on anyone and I don't wish good for my enemies. I don't. I can't. I just stay neutral."