Spoiler alert: This story discusses “The Conners” April 23 series finale.
It’s a TV miracle that ABC’s “The Conners” has existed, much less survived – even thrived – for seven seasons without the family’s working-class superstar matriarch, Roseanne Conner, famously played by Roseanne Barr.
Barr was the Emmy-winning star and the Conner family glue on America’s must-watch No. 1 show, “Roseanne,” from October 1988 to May 1997. The star and executive producer briefly revived the series in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois, two decades later in March 2018. But two months into the hit reboot, ABC abruptly pulled the plug after Barr’s racist tweets, which ABC parent Walt Disney Co. called “abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values.”
Against the odds, “The Conners” rose from the ashes that fall, with Roseanne’s TV absence explained by an accidental opioid overdose. Still, the major question going into the two-episode series finale (now streaming on Hulu) remained: Would Roseanne somehow show up? She doesn’t.
“I’m sure there were a lot of fans who would like to have seen it,” says executive producer Bruce Helford, who also executive-produced five seasons of “Roseanne,” including the short-lived revival.
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However, the series finale is primarily devoted to Roseanne Conner, which includes a graveside family farewell.
“She’s not there physically,” says Helford. “But we wanted to honor something that she really gave birth to and cared for. We did right by her memory. The audience certainly loved her and her family.”
It’s the middle-class family that has picked up the comedic and dramatic load. John Goodman, 72, who has lost 200 pounds since his “Roseanne” heyday as loving husband Dan Conner, anchors the cast with Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne’s sister Jackie), and Sara Gilbert and Lecy Goranson (grown daughters Darlene and Becky, now parents).
No lottery, but a payout check opened at Roseanne’s grave
“Roseanne” was initially revived as a do-over of the fan-loathed Season 9, which saw Dan die and the Conners win the lottery. “Our whole mission to start this thing was to undo that,” Helford says.
The finale features Dan’s passionate support of his dead wife during a deposition for a lawsuit against the opioid company. The entire family meets at Roseanne’s grave to open the resulting settlement payment. Rather than lottery riches, the check is for a paltry $700.
“We wanted to stay true to what’s really happening in the legal system,” says Helford. “It’s about family resilience, and shows that money does not create happiness. That comes from the group.”
Each family member gives a grave farewell to Roseanne’s cemetery marker. Dan’s is the last: “Well, Rose, we always said that if the kids were alive at the end of the day, we did our job,” Dan says. “I think we did better than that.” Dan also says he’s “cool” if Roseanne has met another love, “wherever you are.”
Roseanne is Dan’s ‘true love,’ even if he’s married to Louise
Before starting “The Conners,” Goodman told Helford he didn’t want Dan to quickly enter a new relationship.
In Season 4, he remarried high school classmate Louise Goldufski (“Married…with Children” star Katey Sagal). The couple shows genuine love and devotion. But Dan’s deposition in the finale makes clear that Roseanne was “the love of my life.”
“He declares that in front of Louise,” Helford says. “We hit that in an interesting way.”
The $700 pizza party leads to an emotional ‘Conners’ farewell
The $700 is enough to have the entire family over for a pizza party around the family’s famed couch and afghan. Only core characters have seats.
Dan, at the center of the couch, gives the final defiant toast: “No matter how much crap life throws at us, all we got to do is look around. Because if we hang together, nothing can stop us.”
Metcalf starts the farewells, tearing up at the door with “Good night.” Goranson and Gilbert follow with tearful exits that are deeper than a pizza-party ending.
“That was ‘goodbye’ forever,” Helford says. “They wanted to say goodbye to each other. So that’s the actual people saying goodbye, breaking the fourth wall. Once Laurie (Metcalf) said hers at the door, and said it for real, everyone got emotional.”
Goodman, alone on the couch, looks to the camera and says with a wry smile, “Good night,” before walking off, beer in hand.
‘The Conners’ ends with ‘Roseanne’ nostalgia, but without Roseanne
The episode concludes with big-hair vintage clips of the characters from “Roseanne.” Barr is noticeably missing, even in this tribute. But the moment shows how the core “Conners” crew have been together for nearly four decades.
“These actors have been friends for 37 years, playing these characters for 15 of these years,” says Helford. “Literally, Sara Gilbert and Lecy Goranson grew up on this show. Just seeing the changes in everyone and the passage of time shows how momentous this is. ‘Roseanne’ was a very big thing in people’s lives. For many people, this is their family.”
