Tom Arnold Denies Chuck Lorre Memoir Claim About Roseanne Scripts
Arnold says he never put his name on a script he did not write, responding to an account in Lorre's memoir Sitcom about the Roseanne writers' room.
Tom Arnold has publicly denied a claim in Chuck Lorre's memoir Sitcom that Roseanne writers were instructed to put Arnold's name on scripts he did not write.
Arnold said he never put his name on a script he did not write. He described how story ideas were developed with Roseanne before the writing staff came back, saying the head writer and writers would return in around June and the show began shooting in August.
Arnold served as a producer on Roseanne in Seasons 3-6 and had a recurring guest role as Arnie Thomas. He said he told Lorre early on that every writer had to have their name on a script each year, and that he once told Lorre to put writer Joel Madison's name on a script Lorre had written under his own name.
Lorre, a writer and producer on Roseanne in Seasons 3 and 4, wrote in the memoir that writer Danny Jacobson showed him handwritten pages presented as a script by Arnold and that Jacobson was tasked with putting Arnold's name on real scripts.
Jacobson confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Arnold's then wife Roseanne pressured him into letting Arnold write a script.
Quick answers
What did Chuck Lorre claim about Tom Arnold in his memoir Sitcom?
Lorre claimed that Roseanne writers were told to put Arnold's name on scripts he did not write, and that Danny Jacobson was tasked with doing so.
What was Tom Arnold's role on Roseanne?
He was a producer in Seasons 3-6 and had a recurring guest role as Arnie Thomas.