Roseanne On The Ropes?

Roseanne, the feisty sitcom diva, is enmeshed in a nasty battle over the fate of her struggling talk show, which has been scheduled by several TV stations for broadcast when most of its intended audience is asleep: 1 a.m. in Phoenix, midnight in Denver, 1:05 a.m. in Minneapolis.

Entering its second year, The Roseanne Show is not quite dead, but not really alive, either.

Roseanne's executive producer, Jeff Wald, says the show's recent cancellation by 11 NBC-owned stations is an attempt to strong-arm the star into quitting.

"They're trying to bully her," Wald said.

It wasn't supposed to be this way, of course. When Roseanne first agreed to a talk show, stations representing 86 percent of the country signed up, even though the syndicator, King World, required two-year contracts at stiff prices.

But it was never clear what The Roseanne Show was really all about. Some days, Roseanne wanted to entertain, other days to enlighten. Some days she wanted to make you mad, and other days she did so unintentionally.

Initial ratings were lackluster, and they got worse as the year went on.

Typically, stations don't have to worry about where to schedule shows that do poorly in the ratings. They simply go away.

But, says Richard Kurlander, a syndication expert, "This is the first time there's been a failure, and the syndicator is holding people to their contracts and producing the show."

King World could alienate stations by holding them to a contract that hasn't worked out. But for now, King World is taking the money.

The only way out for stations unhappy with their contracts is if Roseanne walks away. They would then get a refund for the second year.

That's why Wald is convinced NBC executive Pat Wallace is trying to push Roseanne out. Wallace ordered The Roseanne Show taken off the air at NBC-owned stations, a huge blow since it includes big markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

"If they want to change time slots, that's one thing," Wald said. "But their avowed interest is to get her to quit."

NBC denies trying to force Roseanne out but, Wallace said, "The program had not only not lived up to expectations, the ratings performance was extremely disappointing."

So The Roseanne Show will be seen in 60 percent of the country this fall, instead of 86 percent. King World won't say how many stations have scheduled it for the graveyard shift.

There's at least one clear lesson to be learned: "We're advising stations to be very cautious about any two-year deals," Richard Kurlander said.