The Conners exists because of a tweet. ABC had renewed the revived Roseanne for an eleventh season in 2018, cancelled it that May over its star’s posts, and a month later ordered a spin-off without her. Created by Matt Williams and developed by Bruce Helford, Bruce Rasmussen and Dave Caplan, it ran seven seasons from October 16, 2018 to April 23, 2025 as a direct continuation of the original series, with the whole family except its matriarch.
Trailer, via TVsBest.
The Family
John Goodman plays Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf plays Jackie, Sara Gilbert plays Darlene, Lecy Goranson plays Becky and Michael Fishman plays D.J., with Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara and Jayden Rey as the next generation and Jay R. Ferguson and Maya Lynne Robinson joining later. The show follows them through parenthood, dating, an unexpected pregnancy, money trouble, aging and in-laws in working-class America.
Goodman and Metcalf
The two veterans carry the show. Goodman’s Dan is a man grieving quietly and working anyway, and Goodman gives him a weight that the writing does not always match. Metcalf’s Jackie is the series’ comic engine, and Metcalf can make a bad line funny by the way she stands. Gilbert, who also executive produces, plays Darlene as the family’s realist, and her scenes with Goodman are the show’s best.
The Premise Problem
Roseanne was about a specific woman, and removing her left a hole the show filled with plot. The first season handled the absence with real grace, and the grief episodes are among the best the series produced. After that, The Conners became a competent family sitcom about a family whose most interesting member was gone, and it never found a replacement for the voice that had made the original matter.
What Works
The show’s commitment to working-class life is genuine. Money is a problem in every episode, jobs are precarious, and the writers do not pretend otherwise. That honesty was the original’s legacy, and The Conners kept it. Werner Entertainment produced it with the same unglamorous look, and the cast’s ease with each other is real.
Where It Falls Short
Seven seasons is too many. The storylines cycle, the younger characters never become as vivid as the older ones, and the show’s tone drifts from comedy toward a drama it does not have the writing to sustain. The absence at the center is felt in every episode, and the series’ occasional attempts to address it directly are its most awkward moments. By the last seasons it was running on the audience’s affection for people it had stopped surprising.
The Verdict
The Conners was a graceful salvage job that became an ordinary sitcom. Its first season was worth making. The rest was worth watching only for Goodman and Metcalf, which is a real reason, and not enough of one.
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