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The creator of "The Larry Sanders Show" is baffled at everyone's reaction to Roseanne's racist tweet, because he says it was just a case of art imitating life.

We got Dennis Klein Friday night in WeHo leaving Craig's, and he was quick to say Roseanne's character is a woman who's a "pig and a slob" and he thinks that character embodies the person ... and everyone including ABC knew it from the get-go.

That said, Dennis thinks ABC always had a backup plan in case Roseanne went off the rails.

"Roseanne" may be on the verge of rising from the dead with a second reboot, but this time centered around Sara Gilbert's character ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... the powers that be at ABC are exploring the possibility of re-branding the show and focusing on the character Darlene instead of Roseanne.

We're told Sara's been calling cast members to gauge their interest in the event ABC gives the reboot the green light. We're told John Goodman is "very interested."

Our sources say Tom Werner, who produced "Roseanne" through his company Carsey-Werner, is involved in the effort to reboot the show around Sara.

What's more ... ABC is desperately trying to salvage the jobs of those who were affected by its swift decision to cancel the show earlier this week ... especially for the writers and crew.

Lena Dunham was apparently yanking our chain when she said she'd be down to write a new show for the remaining characters on "Roseanne." Joke's on us.

We got the "Girls" creator -- who acted in and wrote for the HBO show -- at LAX Thursday, where we asked if she was serious about her Twitter offer to "do the spin off of your show starring Darlene's cool kids."

Lena had retweeted Mindy Kaling, who offered to "write things" for John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf -- just a couple of the many folks who are now out of a job after ABC pulled the plug. As you might've heard, Roseanne's racist tweet completely tanked the show.

Welp ... turns out Lena is NOT actually interested at the moment. She tells our photog, on a scale of 0-10 as far as seriousness ... it's at the very bottom.

Larry King seems baffled by everyone he's known for decades ... and yes, you can add Roseanne Barr to that list.

The ex-CNN talk show host was out Wednesday in Bev Hills reflecting on Roseanne's swift nose dive following her extremely racist tweet, saying he didn't think that was the woman he's known for 30 years ... calling her recent pivot into extreme bigotry "bizarre."

Sounds like the people he was once chummy with have changed A LOT since the good ol' days, including President Trump ... whom Larry also said he didn't know anymore.

Roseanne Barr's TV son, Michael Fishman, says he fears the sudden cancellation of their show might have left a lot of people without a job -- and he's right ... TMZ has learned.

Fishman, who plays D.J. Conner on "Roseanne," tells us, "I worry most for our crew and writers who passed on jobs this year to stay with us." As we reported ... ABC axed the show hours after Roseanne's racist tweet.

Welp, Mike's concerns are indeed valid. A production source who was working on "Roseanne" tells us about 300 people are now unemployed after the cancellation. We're told most production gigs for the fall were filled in the last few weeks during network upfronts.

The source says a lot of the "Roseanne" crew -- including writers and others -- are hoping to land jobs during mid-season replacements this year to help pay for their life expenses, which we're told can be ... well, expensive! One crew member has 2 kids in grad school, and says they couldn't afford the show getting tanked out of nowhere like it did.

A 2nd source tied directly to the show also tells us people might've overextended themselves financially considering the show's massive ratings, and might've had a false sense of job security.

It's unclear whether writers and crew will get paid for the scrapped upcoming season.

John Legend has only two words to describe Roseanne Barr in the wake of her Twitter scandal ... and they rhyme with racist and idiot.

We got John and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, leaving Il Pastaio Wednesday in Bev Hills with their daughter, Luna, hanging onto mom ... but no sign of their newborn, Miles.

They were getting peppered with questions from paps -- from whether they'd be hitting up Kanye's listening party for his forthcoming album and if they thought Kim could change hearts in D.C., but it wasn't until John was asked about Roseanne that he answered.

Remember ... Roseanne tanked her own show after calling former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett a baby born out of the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes."

Roseanne Barr should keep Ambien out of her mouth when trying to explain away her racist tweet this week ... so says Ambien.

A rep for the sleep medication brand tells TMZ quite frankly ... "People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world." Sanofi is the pharmaceutical company under which Ambien is sold.

They go on ... "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication." In other words ... our Ambien didn't make you tweet that racist BS -- that's all you, Roseanne.

As we reported ... Roseanne tried blaming the sedative for her racist tweet aimed at former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, in which she called her a baby born out of the 'muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.' She also tried saying she thought Valerie was Jewish ...

So yeah ... Roseanne's still canceled.

John Goodman's body language says it all -- he's beyond pissed after Roseanne Barr's racist comment led to the cancellation of their hit ABC sitcom.

Goodman -- who costarred as Dan Conner on "Roseanne" until Barr's decision to post a racist tweet resulted in the show getting the axe Tuesday -- was spotted out in New Orleans glumly walking his dog shortly after the news broke.

As we reported ... ABC made the call to pull the plug on "Roseanne" just hours after she tweeted a "joke" about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, saying, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby."

The woman Roseanne Barr called a baby born out of the Muslim brotherhood and 'Planet of the Apes' says she can deal with the racism -- but worries about those facing similar attacks out of the spotlight.

Barack Obama's former adviser, Valerie Jarrett, spoke on MSNBC Tuesday following Roseanne's racist comment, saying she's "fine" ... but adding she's concerned about those who don't have such a public support system coming to their defense.

She says she wants this to be a teaching moment, but notes that there are daily examples of racism black people experience that don't get the attention she's getting now.

BTW ... Valerie also calls out President Trump for setting the tone that she believes Roseanne followed and executed. Speaking of "Roseanne" ... she's all the way canceled.

Wanda Sykes is following Whitney Cummings out the door of "Roseanne" -- but her exit is a direct response to Roseanne Barr's racist attack on an Obama aide, a woman who's a close friend of Wanda's ... TMZ has learned.

Wanda kept it short and sweet, saying ... "I will not be returning to ['Roseanne']." The timing is no coincidence, coming within an hour of Barr's apology for calling an Obama adviser the product of "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes."

A source close to Wanda tells us Roseanne's tweet is "100 percent why [Wanda] quit." We're told Wanda and Valerie Jarrett, the Obama adviser, are friends ... and hung out together as far back as 2009, when Wanda hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Wanda was a consulting producer on the hugely successful reboot, which is returning for a second season -- but, clearly, with some producing changes.

The folks managing Michael Jackson's estate are outraged that ABC would dare do a documentary called "The Last Days of Michael Jackson" and trash the singer and exploit his legacy.

A rep for the estate tells TMZ ... it's especially galling that Disney -- which owns ABC, and sometimes viciously protects its image -- would sully the image of Michael. The rep called Disney's conduct "disgraceful."

The rep went on to say this -- "What if we did a documentary on the relationship between Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and some of the rumors they were drug abusers? How would Disney like that?"

Marcia Clark just took a big step toward no longer just being known for a real-life legal drama ... and making it big in Hollywood with a TV version instead.

The famed O.J. Simpson prosecutor's new show, "The Fix" -- which has been described as part legal thriller and part revenge fantasy -- just got picked up to series by ABC ... according to sources close to production.

We're told the drama -- which Marcia co-writes and executive produces -- is being pegged by ABC to partly fill the void left by Shonda Rhimes leaving the network for Netflix ... along with the recent cancellations of "Designated Survivor" and "Quantico."

Roseanne Barr and John Goodman ruffled some feathers when they told Jimmy Kimmel the original "Roseanne" couch is with the Smithsonian and that's why they couldn't get it for the reboot. Turns out, it's not true.

TMZ did some digging, and we found out the Conners' couch went to a production warehouse after the show went off the air in 1997 ... and it remained there for years until a show honcho bought it.

We're told that person reached out to James Comisar -- curator at Museum of TV -- 10-15 years ago ... and it's been under his care ever since. The Museum has no affiliation with the Smithsonian.

Comisar tells us the TV sofa is in an L.A. warehouse under climate, humidity and light control ... and he says he WAS contacted by "Roseanne" cast member Sara Gilbert about using it for the reboot.

James says he was open to letting the show use the couch, but worried it would get damaged, so he had strict stipulations on its use. Ultimately ... he and ABC couldn't come to terms, so the network decided to make a replica instead.

John Goodman's happy Roseanne Barr's happy about getting a congratulatory call from Donald Trump ... but the idea of the Prez calling him? That's a laugh riot.

Dan Conner was out in L.A. Thursday, looking way more chipper than the day before about "Roseanne" grabbing the attention of 18.2 million viewers in the sitcom's return to TV. He says the Trump call meant a lot to his TV wife -- but only needed 2 words to make it clear, he and Roseanne are NOT on the same page when it comes to POTUS.

As we reported ... 45 kinda took credit for 'Roseanne's' success, since its star is a Trump supporter, both on the show and in real life.

John Goodman is either as shocked as the rest of us that "Roseanne" completely smashed the ratings in its return to TV screens across America ... or he just doesn't care.

We got John at LAX -- who was recast in his old role as Roseanne's hubby, in a revival season that premiered on ABC Tuesday night -- and his response to "Roseanne" churning out a whopping 18.2 million viewers was, well, oddly anticlimactic ... to say the least.

Our photog asks if he expected such a YUGE turnout -- seeing how the show now features Roseanne as a Trump voter and her sis on team HC. He says it quite simply ... not really. John also doesn't think the show's too political now either, as some have suggested.

Isaiah Washington insists he was ousted from "Grey's Anatomy" in 2007 over false accusations fueled by an allegedly racist ABC exec ... and he says Shonda Rhimes knows it too, and has his back.

The actor tells us Shonda -- creator and exec producer of 'Grey's' -- has "nothing good to say" about ABC or its exec VP, Howard Davine. He also says Shonda believes Davine should be investigated for his "racist, biased behavior."

What Isaiah's suggesting is pretty explosive. First, that the stories about him making homophobic comments on the 'Grey's' set were lies to get him blackballed in Hollywood. Second, Shonda, the queen of TGIT, taking a stand against ABC says a lot.

She's the network's biggest content creator, and if she's calling out one of its execs ... y'know she's pissed.

Isaiah says a whistleblower tipped him off to Davine's alleged actions, and now he's hoping the Time's Up movement or others get on board with his fight.