John Goodman should have been on top of the world after Roseanne zoomed to the top of the ratings charts. But like many successes, it was a “be careful what you wish for” scenario. The pressure to stay on top was immense. Goodman was suddenly so famous that he couldn’t go out without being recognized.
The worst part, though, was having to go to work every day. Roseanne might have been the most tumultuous sitcom set ever, with its eponymous star fighting with producers and firing writers on the daily. “I think Roseanne started screaming quite early,” said Brandon Stoddard, president of ABC Entertainment. “In general, they are not screaming in year one.”
Did I mention Roseanne also brought Tom Arnold into the mix? It was enough to drive a man to drink, which is precisely what Goodman did. He imbibed heavily for decades, he told The Guardian, before checking into rehab in 2007.
He hadn’t yet sought help when the pressures of Roseanne were getting to him. “I got complacent and ungrateful,” Goodman told Today, as reported by Far Out. “I wanted to leave the show. I handled it like I did everything else, by sittin’ on a bar stool. And that made it worse.”
At his lowest point, he told The New York Times, “I didn’t even want to be an actor anymore.”
Even Roseanne, who says she got along well with Goodman, could see the actor breaking down. “John used to go berserk on the set all the time, every Friday, just out of nervousness and all the shit,” she said. “John would pound the walls and scream, and we’d all be freaking out, scared shitless out of frustration.”
Six seasons into Roseanne, Goodman decided enough was enough. It wasn’t just complaining behind the scenes — he actually walked off set during production and told producers he was quitting. “The show was ready to die after the sixth season, and it lasted nine,” he told The New Republic. “I tried to get out in the seventh.”
So why didn’t he just up and leave for good? “They suggested that if I did so, they wouldn’t mind taking my house from me,” Goodman remembered. “‘Thank you very much,’ I said, and I stuck around.”
Financial desperation kept him on the show in the 1990s. Sobriety brought him back when Roseanne was revived in the 2010s. He was still a believer in the show’s original concept. “I think a lot of people connected with the struggle of living paycheck to paycheck. And we try to handle it with humor,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2023. “Roseanne said something very early in the process: ‘Just because we’re poor doesn’t make us stupid.’ I believe that sentiment resonates throughout the series. It’s a struggle that’s addressed with humor.”
After Barr’s erratic behavior led to her firing and The Conners, would Goodman sign up for another Barr sitcom in the future? Don’t bet the farm on it. “I don’t know,” he said when asked about the possibility. “I just don’t know. I miss her. I wish her well.”
