'Roseanne' co-showrunner Whitney Cummings to exit ahead of season 11

Whitney Cummings will not be returning as co-showrunner of “Roseanne,” Variety has confirmed.

Cummings’ co-showrunner Bruce Helford broke the news during a conference call with reporters on Friday morning, saying Cummings would not be back for the show’s second revival season and its eleventh overall.

The show scored an early renewal back in March. Cummings was an executive producer on the first revival season along with series stars Roseanne Barr and Sarah Gilbert as well as Tom Werner, Helford, and Tony Hernandez.

“Roseanne” is poised to finish the 2017-18 broadcast season as television’s highest rated program in the 18-49 demo, where it is averaging a 3.6 rating, acording to Nielsen live-plus-same numbers. The series was heavily touted at ABC’s upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday at Lincoln Center in New York, where Barr introduced Disney ABC Television Group chairman Ben Sherwood.

Cummings is a veteran standup comic who co-created the multi-camera CBS comedy “2 Broke Girls” for Warner Bros. Television and created and starred in her own sitcom “Whitney,” which aired for two seasons on NBC.

Speaking to Variety in March, Cummings discussed the topical and sometimes controversial elements of “Roseanne,” whose lead character, like the actress who portrays her, is a supporter of President Donald Trump. “It’s about the circumstances that led to the current administration, not the current administration,” Cummings said. “We’re not talking about Mueller and Trump and Russia, we’re talking about not having healthcare and just the circumstances of a heartland, blue collar family.”

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