Casting Off A Good Man As The Emotional Anchor Of ‘Roseanne,’ John Goodman’s Departure Leaves The Show Foundering

As long as there are agents, movies, conflicts, illnesses and death, television series will have cast changes.

The old adage is the show must go on.

Occasionally, however, it shouldn’t.

John Goodman’s potential absence as Dan Conner from all or most of next season of “Roseanne” is one of those rare cases in which the series would be better off calling it quits than trying to make do without - no matter how much money or pride is at stake for the network, the producers or Roseanne herself.

This is not David Caruso leaving “NYPD Blue,” which made no difference at all, or Shelley Long leaving “Cheers,” which actually improved the series. The exit of Goodman on “Roseanne,” where he makes everyone around him better, would leave a tremendous void.

Because Goodman remains in negotiations over just how many episodes he will do next season - the number being tossed around most recently is six - no one associated with the show will comment on its future without him, or how his absence might be explained.

Thankfully, there reportedly remains a chance Goodman will return for a whole season. It’s not clear whether he wants more money or simply less turmoil on the set.

ABC Entertainment boss Ted Harbert recently said that series star Roseanne was “very excited” about returning for a ninth season of “Roseanne” - even without Goodman - and all the “stories she can do about Roseanne and (sister) Jackie as single parents.”

Then, with logic that might make sense to someone who works in television but not to anyone who watches much, Harbert tried to dismiss Goodman’s role in the show. “Jackie has a lot more screen time than Dan,” he rationalized.

Like that matters.

Four years ago, after the first season of ABC’s “Home Improvement,” the show’s kids - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith and Zachery Ty Bryan - threatened to quit unless they received raises. This was before Thomas hit it in movies such as “The Lion King,” and the holdout lasted only as long as it took the producers to schedule open tryouts for replacements.

That’s how important the youngsters were considered to “Home Improvement’s” success.

But Goodman is different. He is the emotional anchor of “Roseanne.” Unlike either of the two daughter Beckys (Lecy Goranson, then Sarah Chalke, then Goranson again) or two son D.J.s (Sal Barone for the series’ first episode, then Michael Fishman), his character makes a tremendous difference.

Laurie Metcalf, who plays Roseanne’s sister, Jackie, is a wonderful actress, but it is Goodman’s Dan who takes the edge off Roseanne. Like sweet Alice Kramden to blowhard hubby Ralph, Dan enables viewers to see that if he loves Roseanne, she must be lovable, no matter how abrasive she might occasionally seem. He shows us her vulnerability.

It’s the same thing that Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker character did for Carroll O’Connor’s Archie on “All in the Family.” And while that show - already weakened by the departure of the Stivics (Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers) two years earlier and reduced appearances by Edith - limped along for three seasons after Edith suffered a fatal stroke in 1980, it was never nearly as good.

Losing Goodman is not like losing Grant Shaud, who will not be returning as Miles Silverberg on “Murphy Brown” next season.

“I seem to reach these points in life where I feel the need to shake things up,” Shaud said through a spokeswoman.

And it won’t hurt “Murphy Brown” to shake things up, either. A different kind of character thrown in the mix actually might give the show’s writers a chance to experiment.