I’m Not Convinced This Is The Last We’ll See Of The Conners

Credit where credit is due: I’m at least aware that THE CONNERS are back for what they’re claiming to be their final six episodes beginning tonight on ABC.  The Disney marketing monolith had the spot running ubiquitously across their gamut of properties this past weekend, sometimes with multiple spots in a single extended SPORTSCENTER break.  I guess there was a last-minute decision to swap out those SNOW WHITE review spots?

But it is nice at least for a broadcast network to decide to promote a show they don’t own outright, and a sitcom at that.  In fairness, this is no mere random acquisition.  THE CONNERS are the evolution of what reignited a pre-Disney ABC’s primetime lineup in the wake of the demises of the shows that first got them to demographic dominance–HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, THE LOVE BOAT, etc., etc.  ROSEANNE came onto the scene during the Reagan adminsitration from the same production company that had given THE COSBY SHOW, and therefore overall ratings dominance, to NBC.   But despite being a corporate cousin, the world ROSEANNE was set in was about as disparate from the Huxtables’ as anything that could have possibly been produced.  Roseanne Conner was loud, obese, obnoxious and frequently argumentative with her even larger husband and her surprisingly well-proportioned kids.  They lived in what was charmingly referred to as “working class” conditions in a rural Illinois town miles away from Chicago geographically and light-years away culturally.

And yet, the show resonated with my parents far more than THE COSBY SHOW did, even though the latter was set in New York.  We didn’t see a lot of highly successful two-professional Black families in our part of the city.  But they did see an awful lot of folks who looked and acted a lot like Roseanne and the Conners.  Especially when they looked in the mirror.  In their opinion, the only thing missing from ROSEANNE was an appreciation for mah jongg.

The show was frequently number one in all of television, and over its initial nine-year run it evolved from what began like so many other shows built around a rising stand-up star as an extension of their act into a multi-generational, layered show that eventually exposed us to the strong acting chops of John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and multiple Beckys.  In spite of how vile and off-putting Barr was both to her staff and her actual husband, not to mention the Star-Spangled Banner, her ratings spoke volumes to how wide her appeal was.  I tried like heck to sell reruns of THE WONDER YEARS into a marketplace where her show was the gold standard, even though it came from the same sales force that effectively fleeced the industry by overpromising transformational ratings of COSBY reruns that coaxed network affiliates to offer six-figure weekly license fees in major markets to run COSBY as a news adjacency.  Maybe the Huxtables watched a lot of upscale newscasts but their viewers didn’t.  ROSEANNE was sold successfully to stations already in the sitcom business, and it dominated off-network ratings charts for years–enough so that its reruns haven’t completely gone away even today.  THE WONDER YEARS?  Meh.

That track record was enough for the desperate brass at ABC to go back to the future in 2018 and resurrect the show, and at a time when eight-figure same-day audiences were almost unheard of the 222nd-231st episodes were as impactful as were the first nine in relative terms, as TODAY’s Christy Callahan reminded yesterday:

The “Roseanne” spinoff premiered in 2018 and featured its namesake, Roseanne Barr, alongside her co-stars from the original series. Later that year, ABC canceled the revival after Barr published racist posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.  The network later rebranded the show as “The Conners” and continued with the sitcom without Barr, whose character they killed off with an accidental opioid overdose.

And while THE CONNERS never did approach the level of impact that Roseanne herself brought to ABC during both the second Reagan and first Trump adminstrations–not to mention the first Bush’s–it was as steady and as reliable a performer as anything the network attempted to run alongside it.  And with both Barr and the ABC executive most personally offended by her tweets far enough removed to be afterthoughts, THE CONNERS is returning for what they claim is their last hurrah.  CLOSER’s Samantha Agate teased the opening storyline last week:

The logline for the premiere episode of season 7 says, “Darlene celebrates her promotion, hoping it will allow her to spend more time with Ben. Meanwhile, Jackie stumbles upon an opportunity to sue the pharmaceutical company responsible for Roseanne’s addiction, which sparks a family debate.”

So it appears that all the loose ends, including the spectre of the deceased lead, will be tied up, right?  Well, maybe not, as Agate further revealed:

In March 2025, Deadline confirmed that Seth Green would be portraying a character named Chad in The Conners’ final season.  The outlet described Chad as “Darlene’s new friend at the Lobo who is going through a separation from his wife, in a three-episode arc. Chad and Darlene confide in each other and bond, a little too closely, over their similar biting humor.”

And if you don’t think that Steve Smith and Leslie Winkle couldn’t pull off fronting a spin-off, you probably haven’t watched as much comedy as I have.  Gilbert’s pet project, THE TALK, has finally ended after 15 mediocre years and Green’s time commitment to AMERICAN DAD is minimal.  I wouldn’t be shocked if those discussions are already occuring.  FOX certainly has needs for original content and Barr is already accepted in their world.  Carsey-Werner still wants to be in the production business, and their track record would strongly suggest they’ve earned that chance.  Combined, there were 338 episodes of shows involving Conners produced over a 37-year span.  That’s more than twice as long and in the ballpark of volume not seen since the days of OZZIE AND HARRIET.  Which at one time was how families from an obscure fictional Midwest town were seen.

And who knows?  Freed from the shackles of ABC timidity, it’s even possible that Barr herself could be a presence on such a program.  Maybe as a haunting presence as Darlene matures further into her own middle-aged life crisis.  Or maybe Roseanne’s death was just a dream.  The original show did kill off Goodman’s character for a spell when he had had his fill of Barr’s BS.  He came back, and a lot healthier-looking in the process.  Anything’s possible, especially with a Republican administration in the White House.

So yeah, ABC, you keep saying this is IT for the Conners.  You can’t fool me. History proves otherwise, and opportunity is still knocking.  Your move, Michael Thorn.

Until next time…