Roseanne Barr has become untouchable due to the "Valerie Jarrett/Ambien/Planet of the Apes" controversy, irrevocably contaminated by racism.  This presents a problem for ABC, which canceled her revived show but wants the show to return in some form because it had high ratings.  The apparent solution is to create a new show focused on the daughter character, Darlene, which would exclude Roseanne.

Unfortunately, Roseanne Barr owns a chunk of the show, and ABC doesn't want to be seen letting Barr profit from it, so ABC is in talks to buy the show from Barr so she would not technically profit from the broadcasting of it.  I guess liberals believe that it is morally wrong to rent bed sheets from the Ku Klux Klan but perfectly okay to buy them.

This overlooks the larger issue of whether people want to see a show centered on Darlene.  Since Roseanne was the center of the show, common sense suggests otherwise.  So does history.  Have a look at this list of spinoffs of shows focusing on different characters:

M*A*S*H - -W*A*L*T*E*R

Battlestar Galactica – Galactica 1980

The Dukes of Hazzard – Enos

MacGyver – The Coltons

Barney Miller – Fish

Sanford and Son – Grady

The Rockford Files – Richie Brockelman, Private Eye

How many of the spinoffs do you even recognize?  Probably not many.  While some spinoffs do work, they tend to have compelling characters in their own right.  The transition from Roseanne to Darlene would be less like the transition from Archie Bunker to George Jefferson and more like the transition from Jim Rockford to Richie Brockelman, Private Eye.

It's amazing how people in broadcast networks who are responsible for budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars do not have this kind of common sense.  I think it shows the timidity and lack of imagination of studio executives, who fear trying new shows because they are so out of touch with American tastes (and American ideas) that they have no idea what would be popular.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.