The Conners

Happy to report that The Conners are back and, amazingly, better than ever! Yes, the ghost of Roseanne lingers and the character is missed (at least by me), but the first-rate ensemble are in fine form, and this latest iteration of the show - at least the first episode - is sharply written, expertly performed, poignant (without being cloying), and, most importantly, pretty damn funny! Becky's line about the only thing she wanted from her mother's closet made me laugh out loud! A few minutes later, I was in tears watching a kitchen scene between Gilbert's Darlene and Metcalf's Jackie... and then I was laughing again! Kudos to all involved for striking just the right balance in tone and delivering an even better show than last year's reboot. I, for one, am very much looking forward to future episodes and escapades in the life of the Conners!

The following review pretty much sums up my feelings about the new show in comparison to last year's reboot.

The Conners Is What the Roseanne Reboot Should Have Been All Along

The Conners Review Roundup...

The Conners Doesn’t Need Roseanne

The Conners mourns Roseanne, but viewers will hardly miss her

A Roseanne Barr-less 'The Conners' is a triumph

'Roseanne' Spinoff 'The Conners' Is Brilliantly Acted, Smartly Written

'The Conners' is even better without Roseanne; heartbreaking - but also hilarious

The character of Roseanne is dead, but based on this premiere, The Conners feels very much alive.

The Conners Is the Roseanne Revival We Should Have Had

Roseanne’s character overdosed on opioids and left The Conners’ behind. It’s better this way.

The Conners Misses Roseanne. But It Doesn’t Need Her

How the Roseanne revival evolved into The Conners — and became a better show in the process

Against All Odds, The Conners Justifies Its Existence

Updated On: 10/17/18 at 01:54 AM

John Goodman has been on a weight loss journey for quite some time. It appears to me that he has lost even more since Season 1 a few months back. He looks wonderful. Good for him!

Updated On: 10/17/18 at 10:11 AM

I'm not sure if he's lost too much weight, but he looks haggard, I thought. When you are older losing weight, the skin just doesn't bounce back like it can when you are younger.



I have to admit, I fell asleep - but I'm not blaming the show - I was pooped. I caught about 15 minutes in the middle.

Well, DJ can't act. Never could, so I think they can't really give him much to do.



I was sad to hear the ratings were not good for their first episode. Baseball related?

The show was still so much about Roseanne, that it is hard to tell yet whether it will be worth watching when it is about anything else. But if the ghost of Roseanne is in every episode it will get old fast.

As I posted before, I did like the first episode of this show very much. With the recent news on Matthew Broderick being added as Jackie’s boyfriend, I think it will be even better. Very much looking forward to see him and Metcalf interact as 2 oddballs. I also think Justin Long and Juliette Lewis are great choices as well. Should be fun!!

Tag said: "I'm looking forward to the reboot of this reboot, where Roseanne is back and THIS was the season that's actually a dream."

When all the brouhaha eventually dies down (as it surely must), I can't imagine that Roseanne won't be invited back for at least a cameo. I'm guessing the last episode of whenever the last season might be. Dan has come back from the dead - so will she. I think the hype of a return will be far too tempting to pass up when the time is ripe.

I think the show is much better without her (so far). I'm so glad the politics were replaced with dark humor in the first episode of the reboot of the reboot. I actually laughed like I used to in "the old days" of the show.

I liked Mary Steenburgen's cameo a lot, too.

The only thing I didn't care for was how the character of Dan has been written. Too harsh and seemed out of character with how "old" (more affable Dan) Dan would behave. Also, John Goodman looks ill. The combination of Goodman's personal weight loss with Dan's more hot-headed, less reasonable actions make the character of Dan seem like a character that has something medically wrong with him.

I would imagine that it could be reoccurring depending upon scheduling and how much air time is involved. With the Connors, there’s a pretty big cast already and they are adding a few more, so it could be like Estelle where she comes and goes. The Netflix series doesn’t start til next year, so I suppose he could do both for now.

I agree that Dan is edgier but it could be written that way as mourning or they are trying to bring some of Roseanne’s edginess in through him. Time will tell I guess but for now, I’m finding it interesting and will continue to watch.

I can't help but feel at least some compassion for Roseanne (Barr).

This video is so sad...it's a shame that she refuses any contact with the remaining members of the cast. Doesn't ABC have some duty of care to her too? I mean, the world and his wife knew she was off her rocker before they even signed her up for this reboot.

"Everybody knows that I have struggled with mental health issues and I was struggling at that time as well...I was impaired and stupid and mistaken and wrong and for that I apologized..."

While I don’t feel sorry for her per se, but there’s part of me that feels she is somewhat a victim of being vilified primarily because she’s a Trump supporter. Her actions were 1000% wrong but I see this frenzy in Trump supporters (several friends of mine are) where they resort to name calling and finger pointing in order to defend him, almost to try and justify why they voted for him. So I feel a sincere apology would have been an acceptable compromise but I think ABC did not want to deal with the BS. Roseanne had given them major headaches over the years and they probably had enough of it. She seems genuinely remorseful but like her fearless leader, she is just one more stupid tweet away from another controversy, so ABC probably did the right thing.

I can't help but feel at least some compassion for Roseanne (Barr).

This video is so sad...it's a shame that she refuses any contact with the remaining members of the cast. Doesn't ABC have some duty of care to her too? I mean, the world and his wife knew she was off her rocker before they even signed her up for this reboot.

"Everybody knows that I have struggled with mental health issues and I was struggling at that time as well...I was impaired and stupid and mistaken and wrong and for that I apologized...""

[What I wrote was too mean-spirited and I had second thoughts.]

Updated On: 10/23/18 at 08:26 AM

I must have watched a different episode. I didn't laugh once.