I proudly admit I enjoyed every episode of the Roseanne reboot. I found the storylines compelling and provocative. The stories ranged from a young grandson deciding not to conform to established norms, the single Mom dealing with a career derailment, a neighborhood confronting racial stereotypes and a married senior citizen couple struggling to cope with rising healthcare costs amidst limited income earning potential. The show addressed these issues with humor, honesty and grit. Of all the television series reboots produced, this one proved worthy of my time. If you believe the ratings, many others agreed with me.And none of that matters now.The show's namesake squandered all the stories when she inexplicably decided to go on a racist tweet rant. All of the achievements in the new series took a back seat to the offensive and insulting comments made by the lead actress. In a nanosecond, the popular series vanished from the network.This sequence of events proved one rule remains absolute. A whole lot of "Atta Boys" will get wiped out with one "Oh Crap." I learned this edict in the Navy, though we used a different word to describe the misstep. No matter how to say it, a big screwup will cost a lot of karma credits when it occurs. We see this most especially when celebrities encompass part of the story, particularly ones with a controversial past. Many folks expect - even secretly hope - an epic fail comes along. The fall will come hard, fast and with a great deal of pain when it occurs.Note the lessons here for corporate executives and their marketing teams. Comments by any persons in any format will impact any organization associated with that individual. Separating the two can prove impossible. Disney/ABC saw this immediately, and could not justify keeping the highly popular series on its network even though Roseanne didn't make her racist remarks in the context of the show.While another network may pick up the program, the damage remains. I predict even if we see the series on air again, its appeal will never achieve the same heights still. Roseanne's "Oh Crap" moment overshadowed all the positive attributes of the rebooted show and caused its premature end.
