Metcalf loves her ‘weirdo B storyline’
Laurie Metcalf smiles and laughs when she thinks of her character Jackie and her assorted misadventures on the “Roseanne” spinoff, “The Conners.”
Dating back to her introduction in Roseanne Barr’s 1988’s sitcom, Jackie has reinvented herself many times over. She has been a cop, a truck driver, a factory worker, co-owner of The Lanford Lunch Box (which was reopened on “The Conners), and was for a time, as the character describes it, “Lanford’s leading life coach.”
The role earned Metcalf three Emmy Awards while “Roseanne” was on the air, but she’s content with Jackie being a supporting role.
“A little bit of Jackie goes a long way, so I’m always the weirdo B storyline. Too much of Jackie would be just overdose.”
While the character’s overall persona has remained unchanged through both series, it’s provided a chance to grow as an actor. When “Roseanne” started, Metcalf was a theater actor with no experience in television.
“Everything was new to me. I had a big learning curve to jump into a multicamera sitcom. The writers started writing to each one of our different strengths,” Metcalf recalled.
“I’m assuming that one of my strengths was to be this victimized loser who didn’t have a clue that’s what she was to begin with,” she said laughing. “But (Jackie) just went out every day with her head up and determined to do something great or make something. And then it would all come collapsing down around her. But, she had definite, firm opinions about things. And she still to this day meddles in the rest of the family’s business, even though her own life is collapsing around her.”
That sometimes involves Jackie’s romantic interests, which have been played by actors including George Clooney, Jim Varney and Matthew Broderick. She also dabbled in a throuple but that was short-lived because Metcalf says, “Jackie was clueless.” Her current love interest is Neville, portrayed by Nat Faxon.
“It’s so funny now when we go to work because we’re wearing masks all through the week, and we don’t see each other until they say, ‘Action.’ We drop our mask, and we tape the scene, and then we put them right back on again. So I didn’t know what Nat even looked like for the first episode we did together until they said, ‘Action,’ and then I saw his whole face.”
Filming has wrapped on “The Conners” season three, and the cast is waiting to see if they’ll be renewed by ABC for a fourth season.
Metcalf said there’s more to be seen from Jackie, including whether she has any actual life coaching experience.
“One of my regrets was that you never really got to see her at work advising someone, so in hindsight there’s a tiny piece of me that wonders if she just lied about the whole thing,” said Metcalf. “There’s no proof, right?”
April 4 birthdays: Actor Craig T. Nelson is 77. Singer Steve Gatlin is 70. Writer David E. Kelley is 65. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 56. Actor Nancy McKeon is 55. Singer Jill Scott is 49. Magician David Blaine is 48. Actor Natasha Lyonne is 42. Comedian Eric Andre is 38. Singer Jamie Lynn Spears is 30. Singer Austin Mahone is 25.