‘The Conners’ came out OK
It worked without Roseanne. News & views,
When Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet last May led to the immediate cancellation of “Roseanne,” there didn’t seem any purpose in trying to salvage ABC’s top-rated revival.
Without the star who gave “Roseanne” its name and defined its workingclass sensibility, why jury-rig a hollowed-out remake of what already was a retread, however well made and received? It was time to let it go. Well, I was wrong.
“The Conners,” which airs its season finale Tuesday (8 EST/PST), had a fine first season, both in quality and ratings: The spinoff, featuring the same cast minus Barr, is ABC’s top comedy. Although financial considerations powered the second resurrection – even a faint facsimile of a big hit is likely to score more viewers than a new show – the “Roseanne” survivors (and I mean that on multiple levels) pulled off an engaging but at times uneven family sitcom that still dealt with real-world issues, if on less provocative terms.
Barr’s comedic brilliance and fearlessness (check out her Domestic Goddess standup routine) got “Roseanne” on TV in 1988 and made it a hit, but the show always was the sum of its many parts.
Even without Barr, whose character was killed off screen by an opioid overdose, there was more than enough for viewers to come back to Lanford, Illinois.
We had gotten to know Roseanne’s husband, Dan (John Goodman), her sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf ), and her daughter Darlene (Sara Gilbert) over 10 seasons, and that familiarity carries even more power in attracting an audience in today’s cluttered TV universe.
Sitcoms fronted by standup comedians with little acting experience (think “Seinfeld”) are helped immensely by the skilled actors who surround them, and “Roseanne” had two of the best in Goodman and Metcalf (watch “Lady Bird” and try to argue she’s not Oscar-worthy).
In a “Conners” home missing its matriarch, Goodman effortlessly steered Dan into a more centered, anchored persona, capable of drawing laughs but with an extra helping of fatherly gravitas. Metcalf has done her best to play Jackie as crazy and confused yet endearing, although the series could give her more opportunity to show her serious and sadder side, which it finally does in Tuesday’s finale.
Gilbert continues to impress as Darlene, her mother’s daughter in drawing blood with searing, sarcastic cuts delivered in deadpan style. Gilbert has grown into her more central role as a financially struggling mother of two, and her battles and heart-to-hearts with a willful teen daughter (Emma Kenney) recall her earlier role as the rebellious Conner adolescent.
The big surprise is the contribution of Lecy Goranson as Darlene’s older sister, Becky. Goranson, who left the original show to attend college, has given single, 40-something Becky depth and vulnerability as the character tries to rein in her irresponsible, devil-may-care ways.
“It’s no surprise that Laurie is incredible and John is so brilliant,” says Gilbert, an executive producer who helped reassemble the cast. “Lecy had a lot to do and a very emotional storyline, and that was a thrill to watch.“
“The Conners” has dealt unevenly with Becky’s alcoholism: Some episodes confusingly aired out of order. and TV has a habit of resolving complicated real-life problems a little too patly.
Conner son D.J. (Michael Fishman) is another story, barely making an impact. His relative invisibility made it impossible for his military veteran wife, Geena (Maya Lynne Robinson), and daughter, Mary (Jayden Ray), to have much of a presence.
That’s unfortunate, because Geena had the potential to replace Roseanne’s conservative viewpoint with one grounded more in military, cultural and religious beliefs than populism.
“The Conners” continues the welcome “Roseanne” tradition of showcasing working-class people in a TV comedy field full of affluent folks, as it highlighted pregnant Becky’s concerns about the cost of raising a child and the family’s fear of financial ruin after Dan’s surprise hospital bill.
“I’m happy with the emotional truth of the season. I’m happy the show dealt with grief,” especially the death of Roseanne, Gilbert says. “We were a cast for 30 years, so we felt the loss (of Barr and the Roseanne character) and we tried to put that into the show.”
“The Conners” preserved its predecessor’s focus on lightning-rod issues, including illegal immigration, free expression and the changing rules of workplace romance, although without the in-your-face grit that Barr provided.
To its credit, the show no longer serves as a cultural Rorschach test on President Donald Trump, whom Roseanne supported both on and off the show. The president played that up when “Roseanne” returned with gigantic ratings last spring, and Barr’s support for Trump may have helped the show build an audience “The Conners” couldn’t match. But the political disagreements between Roseanne and Jackie never were more than a minor element of the show.
Gilbert is “hopeful” for a second season (which seems highly likely, based on ratings), but she’d like it to be a shorter run like this season’s 11 episodes. (She says there’s also the possibility of more appearances by Johnny Galecki, who returns as Darlene’s estranged husband in the finale and will finish “The Big Bang Theory” this spring.)
“The Conners” will never have the sharp bite and delicious cackle of Roseanne (or the controversy, for that matter), but it proved it’s still an engaging family without her.
Now it just needs a couple of working-class TV neighbors.