Roseanne: Not 'Nuts' About Casey Verdict
Actress-comedienne goes 'On the Record' on Casey Anthony's trial and her new show, 'Roseanne's Nuts'
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," July 12, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Funny woman and TV star Roseanne Barr is back. Roseanne has a new reality show on Lifetime called, "Roseanne's Nuts." What's it about? Well, Roseanne escapes to Hawaii, serving up some laughs while running a macadamia nut farm. Earlier today, we asked Roseanne all about her new show and, of course, what she thinks about the Casey Anthony murder trial.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Roseanne, thanks for joining us.
ROSEANNE BARR, EMMY AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS: Thanks for having me. Hi.
VAN SUSTEREN: Hi. Tomorrow [Wednesday] night is the big night on Lifetime. I know you have been tweeting about the Casey Anthony verdict. You don't like the verdict?
BARR: No. I thought it was wrong. But I wasn't on the jury and I didn't see what they saw. So I've kind of just moved on.
VAN SUSTEREN: It captivated a lot of people from coast-to-coast. Why do you think that is?
BARR: It has every single element, everything dysfunctional that you could think of. So it's all under one banner.
VAN SUSTEREN: "Roseanne's Nuts." It is about your macadamia farm in Hawaii. A reality show is so different than a sitcom isn't it, in terms of what you have to do?
BARR: Yes. It is a lot more relaxed. A little bit more fun cause you can improvise a lot. But they both have funny jokes. So it is -- even though it is unscripted it is kind of scripted, too, the reality show.
VAN SUSTEREN: I would think it would be harder because it is such an invasion of your privacy. We are going into your home and be living with you, sort of.
BARR: You are sort of coming in my home. But I have a really nice home and I want people to see it. And I like farming and all this really good stuff that I think is really important right now because there's so many people going through tough times.
And so I would just like to encourage them to think about growing their own food. Not everybody can get a nut farm like I have, but everybody can grow at least a couple kinds of vegetables. And even children swimming pools, some people are doing it, some on their porch. I just think growing food and knowing where it comes from is a really good thing to know.
VAN SUSTEREN: When I heard about your reality show and I heard you were living in Hawaii, I thought that sounds really fun. You've done stand-up comedy. Had you an incredibly successful career with your sitcom. Why this and why now?
BARR: I just thought it was a great -- I've been farming for a while. And I just started to think about the things having to do with farming. They are important subjects, kind of an important conversation to have with the audience that is watching. The politics of food and how you grow it and what you do with surplus and how it is planted -- I just think following in kind of the -- under the -- like Michelle Obama is doing. I mean, these are important things. People to get more basic and closer to the earth, I think it is good. I think it's a good thing to talk about.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is this going to be funny? Am I going to enjoy it and laugh, or am I going to learn something, which is it?
BARR: Thank you for saying that, Greta. I all like to be funny first and then say something that's a little bit down. But I am a comic and it's a really funny show. And you get a lot of laughs. I've got a lot of good jokes and lines in there and funny situations.
But kind of important too, like how to control a predator population. I have all these wild pigs all over. And I have to make all kinds of moral and ethical decisions about how I'm going to keep the predator population down.
So I just think those things are a new conversation to have on TV. And I think women are interested in those kinds of things. It's mostly women that are going to be watching Lifetime. And I thought it was a good opportunity to open up cool conversations about nature and all kinds of good stuff.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it's going to be fascination to watch tomorrow night Lifetime, 9:00 p.m. eastern. I've been watching your career forever including when you started as a standup comic.
BARR: Thank you.
VAN SUSTEREN: We'll see what you're doing now. We'll check it out tomorrow night. Thank you very much for joining us.
BARR: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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