UPDATE The special is gone from the ABC website.

EARLIER What a week for ABC-Disney. First Roseanne, now Michael Jackson.

The Jackson estate has filed a copyright infringement law suit against ABC over the unauthorized special “The Last Days of Michael Jackson.”

We knew this was coming. The Estate had already complained about use of images and video that was not properly licensed. ABC held out this was a news show. But it wasn’t. It was just a recap of gossip. There was nothing newsy about it.

Ironically, ABC was where Jackson got into trouble back in 2003. It was Martin Bashir’s special, an ambush called “Living with Michael Jackson,” that prompted the Santa Barbara DA’s office to investigate whether Jackson had molested Gavin Arvizo. The DA cooked up evidence to get a trial that he eventually lost. But the net result was permanent damage to Jackson’s life and career. Bashir is long gone from ABC. But the network continues to exploit Jackson for ratings.

The lawsuit states: “Although titled The Last Days of Michael Jackson, the program did not
focus on Michael Jackson’s last days. Rather, it was simply a mediocre look back at
Michael Jackson’s life and entertainment career. A Rolling Stone review described
the program as “offer[ing] little in the way of new revelations or reporting and at
times seems heavy on armchair psychoanalysis and unsupported conjecture.” The
magazine was being too generous. The program contained nothing “in the way of
new revelations or reporting.”

It continues: “Unable to make a compelling presentation about Michael Jackson on its
own, Disney decided to exploit the Jackson Estate’s intellectual property without
permission or obtaining a license for its use. After all, there there is always a healthy
audience for Michael Jackson’s timeless music, his ground-breaking videos, and
footage of his unforgettable live performances. Why not just use Michael Jackson’s
works if one can get advertisers to buy time on the program? But in order to use
these valuable assets, a license must be obtained for it by the Estate.”

Estate attorney Howard Weitzman cleverly argues in the complaint that ABC’s parent company Disney has been aggressive in policing its own copyrights like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Not many people have seen this video of Roseanne Barr getting the star treatment at the recent ABC upfronts. Network chief Ben Sherwood lets her joke that he writes all her Tweets. She sings “My Way.” The whole presentation is tied to the success of “Roseanne.” Yesterday must have been brutal in the Disney ABC corporate suites. Not only did they lose “Roseanne” but “The Middle” wrapped its nine season run. Their scheduling problems today are outsized.

There are some wild clickbait stories popping up today about the return of “Roseanne.”

One would be to kill off the Roseanne character and have the family continue without her.

The other is to move the whole thing to Fox, like Tim Allen’s show, where racist comments are a given.

The answer on both counts is “NO.” Won’t happen.

First of all, “Roseanne” with a dead Roseanne would face endless Twitter and social media attacks from Barr. She can’t shut up, she won’t go away, she’s crazy as she can be. She’d be hounding the cast and crew and the viewers all day long.

Second, Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman are gone. They haven’t said a word about Barr’s scandal. Metcalf is up for a Tony Award, and it’s hers to lose if she says the wrong thing now. Goodman has a thriving movie career and good will at places like “SNL.” He is not going to jeopardize any of that by continuing with this mess. It’s best for each of them to get away from “Roseanne” fast, clean break, over.

Sara Gilbert must be dashed. The “Roseanne” revival was her idea, and it was great money. Even she knows that the party is over. And she has a day job – “The Talk” on CBS– that could adversely affected.

So “Roseanne” is over. There’s no going back.