Roseanne Barr Roars Back from Cancellation by Secretly Filming Star-Studded Sitcom
Roseanne Barr has completed filming a new eight-episode family comedy titled “Meemaw” in Austin, Texas, after raising private funds and producing it independently. The show features a star-studded cast including Randy Quaid, Drea de Matteo, Omar Gooding, Doug Jones, and Instagram influencer Indy Bugg, with guest appearances by Jon Lovitz, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Kim Congdon. The plot centers around Barr’s character, a Jewish woman from a liberal East Coast family, who relocates to Texas and becomes a prepper grandmother planning a Bat Mitzvah for her granddaughter while navigating family and social issues. Barr described the series as semi-autobiographical, emphasizing its political satire and humor about both sides of the political spectrum. The series was created as a response to her 2018 firing from the “Roseanne” revival by ABC and Disney, following her controversial social media post. Barr expressed pride in producing the show independently, highlighting its resilience and her ongoing dedication to comedy and free speech. The show is still awaiting a premiere date and potential buyers.
Roseanne Barr has finished an eight-episode family comedy she shot without a network, eight years after Disney fired her from the “Roseanne” revival over a tweet.
The series is called “Meemaw.”
Page Six reported Thursday that production wrapped in Austin, Texas, after a quiet start in November 2025. Barr raised the money from private investors and shot it as a union production. No premiere date or buyer has been announced as of yet.
Roseanne Barr shoots secret comedy series with star-studded cast in huge comeback 8 years after controversial cancellation https://t.co/s0giEVrT0X https://t.co/vgSMFm1HIh
— New York Post (@nypost) October 8, 2026
Randy Quaid plays her husband, Drea de Matteo plays her daughter, Omar Gooding, Doug Jones, and tween Instagram performer Indy Bugg are also in the cast. Jon Lovitz, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Kim Congdon appear as guests.
TV Insider reported the same lineup and added that the plot includes an attempt to “take down a criminal empire” while planning a family party.
Barr plays the head of what she called a “mixed-race family of preppers in Texas,” trying to give her granddaughter “the most fantastic bat mitzvah Texas has ever seen.”
She told Page Six she thought “now would be a great time for people to actually hear from a Jew.”
The 2018 firing is the reason the shoot was independent. ABC and Disney dropped Barr after she posted a on social media platform Twitter — now known as X — comparing Michelle Obama’s aide, Valerie Jarrett, to the offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.”
Disney called the post “abhorrent” and “inconsistent” with its values and dumped her from her own show.
Barr apologized to Jarrett, deleted the account, and later said she had not known Jarrett was black.
Her talent agency, ICM, dropped her as well.
Page Six asked Barr whether Elon Musk — whose companies are based in Austin and who has said he would back people fired over free speech — had invested in the production.
Barr said he never returned her call. “Can I get some assistance over here, man? I got fired for a text that was up for two hours that nobody saw,” she said.
Barr described “Memaw” as a “semi-autobiographical series about a woman who hails from a very liberal East Coast Jewish family ” who finds herself disinherited and “must live the lower-class dream in Texas.”
Barr told Page Six the series is meant for families who do not agree.
She said her TV daughters are “super woke,” and that she wrote jokes for them the way she did on “Roseanne.”
Roseanne Barr just wrapped a new sitcom called Meemaw, and Hollywood didn’t give it to her. She made it herself. That’s resilience, and a comeback worth celebrating. Barr is a legend for her comedic fortitude and for her refusal to go down quietly. This proves it.
Disney fired Barr in 2018 over a post and pulled the revival of Roseanne while it was the top scripted show on television. Eight years later she raised the money, hired a union crew, and shot eight episodes of her new show in Austin. In Meemaw, she plays a prepper grandmother in Texas trying to throw her granddaughter a bat mitzvah. Randy Quaid plays her husband. Drea de Matteo plays her daughter.
She says the jokes go both ways politically. She wrote some for her woke daughters, and some about Republicans that the left will like. Good. That’s the formula people actually watched her for. The family on the show doesn’t only criticize outward. It laughs at itself too.
Cancel culture took the network show from Barr. It didn’t take her audience. Meemaw is the proof, and its success will show what audiences actually care about. The comeback is also proof of what the country still rewards. You can get fired for a post and still make a new show yourself.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) October 8, 2026
“I make fun of everybody ’cause everybody deserves to be made fun of who’s in power,” she said. “So, I’ve got some great jokes about Republicans that the lefties are gonna love. I’m an equal opportunity destroyer.”
She also said the work had improved with time and that “Meemaw” was “every bit as revolutionary as ‘The Roseanne Show,’ if not more.”
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