Jon Cryer chimes in on The Conners spin-off, Roseanne’s firing

There are few people who understand what many of the one-time Roseanne cast and crew members are going through quite like Jon Cryer. When Charlie Sheen was fired from Two and a Half Men years ago, he felt a certain degree of uncertainty when it came to his job. CBS made the decision to continue the series rather than cancel it outright, but there were still questions regarding whether or not it would work with a new lead. Eventually, Ashton Kutcher came in as an effective co-lead in Walden Schmidt and the series ended up making it to a season 12. Yet, there were no guarantees along the way.

So to see many of these Roseanne cast members now proceed with uncertainty in the form of their spin-off The Conners, it’s fair to say that Cryer knows a little bit as to what’s going through their heads. This is what he had to say on this subject recently to Us Weekly:

“I know some people involved with it. I don’t know Roseanne personally. I don’t know her beliefs. Obviously I’ve been in situations where the views and actions of a star have imperiled a lot of other people’s jobs … So I have a lot of empathy for people in that situation. I get frustrated because this can be the most wonderful, happy job that you can have. You can bring so much positivity into people’s lives and it’s really frustrating when people throw that away.”

Cryer probably speaks here to a sentiment that is common among the vast majority of actors out there, largely because this is very clearly the sort of job that only comes around once in a blue moon. There really are so few opportunities that anyone has to star in a sitcom and reap the benefits of one that lasts a long time, including shorter hours than the standard television show and often getting a chance to perform in front of a live audience. The majority of people are grateful for it, and also understand that they don’t want to do anything that jeopardizes it.

Much like Two and a Half Men did reap some enormous ratings rewards in the aftermath of Sheen’s exit (at least for the first episode), we suspect that The Conners will get off to a great start. However, whether or not that lasts far beyond that remains to be seen.

Related – How will The Conners write out Roseanne?

Do you think that The Conners is going to be successful as a series, or is it destined to fade away fast? Let us know your thoughts in the attached comments!

Meanwhile, be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook to get some other scoop on The Conners as news comes out. There’s so much more to discuss before the premiere this fall! (Photo: CBS.)