For a sitcom lover like me, this news is gold! After posting about my excitement for Tim Allen’s new ABC sitcom Last Man Standing, waking up to news that Roseanne Barr, who starred in (one of my FAVORITE SITCOMS EVER) her 1988-1997 ABC self-titled sitcom Roseanne, is coming back to network television in a big way, this time on NBC.
NBC programming chief Bob Greenblatt has bought the multi-camera sitcom script co-created and starring Barr titled Downwardly Mobile, which will chronicle the lives of middle class families living in a trailer park. The show which is being produced by 20th Century Fox, has a script commitment plus penalty attached to it (meaning the studio will have a financial premium on the script, which will guarantee this to be a high priority project).
NBC isn’t taking any chances losing Roseanne again. Little known fact: NBC had the chance to produce and broadcast Roseanne back in the late 80’s when it was originally being developed. Then NBC president Brandon Tartikoff declined to pick up the series, where it then landed at ABC, and was a ratings magnet for 9 years. NBC wasn’t going to let a good thing slip through their fingers twice.
Roseanne now joins Dane Cook, Snoop Dogg, Portia de Rossi, Sean Hayes and, Sarah Silverman with sitcoms in the works for next season for NBC.