‘The Conners’ is an American television sitcom that airs on ABC. It first premiered on October 16, 2018, and has been created by Matt Williams. Bruce Helford, Bruce Rasmussen, and Dave Caplan are the showrunners.
Each day is a battle in itself when you are a working-class family who tries to get through each day. Your demands rise, but the income stays limited. Despite all the hardships, a family that sticks together always finds a way to get through life. Yes, that’s the basic theme of ‘The Conners’, except that the show has a funny take on what could easily be interpreted as a serious theme.
In case, you were living under a rock for the last couple of years, you already know that ‘The Conners’ is a spin-off series of ‘Roseanne’. ‘The Conners’, is a truly American television sitcom.
Development on ‘The Conners’ began right after the cancellation of ‘Roseanne‘ in May 2018, due to a comment made by Roseanne Barr, Roseanne’s creator, that was widely viewed as racist. ABC, to fill in the gap, caused by Roseanne’s cancellation, ordered a new spin-off series and confirmed that principal cast of the show would remain the same.
The show received overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim. Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter had this to say about the show: “What The Conners evolves into almost immediately is what it really was at its best last season and probably always was at its best: a blue-collar family sitcom that has become a blue-collar sitcom about an interestingly varied blue-collar family”. Needless to say, the fan base of ‘Roseanne’ has all shifted to the new show, and this has been compounded by the show’s own fans who joined due to the empathetic portrayal of a working-class family.
The Conners Cast: Who is in it?
John Goodman, as Dan Conner, and Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris lead the star cast of the show. Other cast members include Sara Gilbert who plays Darlene Conner; Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner-Healy; Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner-Healy, Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy, and Jayden Rey plays as Mary Conner.
The cast members released the following statement after the announcement of The Conners: “We have received a tremendous amount of support from fans of our show, and it’s clear that these characters not only have a place in our hearts but in the hearts and homes of our audience. We all came back last season because we wanted to tell stories about the challenges facing a working-class family today. We are so happy to have the opportunity to return with the cast and crew to continue to share those stories through love and laughter.”
There are several supporting cast members who make the show all the more wholesome and relatable. Among them notably, is Matthew Broderick. In the upcoming season, we hope to see the main cast return, and we could see some more of the characters from ‘Roseanne’ coming over to this show.
The Conners Plot: What is it about?
The main plot of ‘The Connors’ is about a family’s struggle to keep going with their regular lives on meager expenses. It is a spin-off of ‘Roseanne’ and adds three new characters – the grandkids who were not seen in the original series. The official synopsis of The Conners reads:” The show follows the Conners, a working-class family struggling to get by on a limited household income. After the death of the original show’s lead character Roseanne, they are forced to face the daily struggles of life in their home in the fictional mid-state exurb of Lanford, Illinois, in a way they never have before.”
While the series firmly retains the comfort that the source series used to offer, it now has an added layer due to the working class family dynamic. This empathetic approach is very welcome and at the same time the show does not lose out on the chance to make us laugh, which is an appreciable move. The show does a tough job of moving past the controversy of Roseanne and convincing fans that this new series is almost the same as the old one, just minus the racist woman. Thus the series kills her off in an opioid overdose, and she is not mentioned at all, which is a determined stance on part of the ABC to not let it affect the spin-off. That being said, if you only watched it for Roseanne, nothing I write here will convince you to return to this show. However, if you are an impartial viewer, you might find ‘The Conners’ does better than the original in many ways.
In the upcoming season, hopefully, the show will continue in a similar manner and we will get to see more of the family dynamics changing, as the series manages to balance laughs, while also tackling serious social issues.
The Conners Season 2 Release Date: When will it premiere?
‘The Conners’ Season 1 premiered on October 16, 2018. After a successful season 1, it was always expected the show would be back for another season. The rumors were confirmed to be true when on March 22, 2019, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke announced “We are proud to be continuing the story of the iconic Conners family. This team is fearless in their willingness to tackle contemporary issues with humor and heart, and I have no doubt they will continue to outdo themselves.”
Season 2 is expected to last for 19 episodes, showing that ABC has full confidence in the spin-off and the network is sure that it will draw in a lot of viewers. Although no official release date has been set for the series, one might expect ‘The Conners’ Season 2 to release sometime in October 2019. However, do stay tuned for an official update on the release date.
The Conners Trailer:
While we wait for season 2, check out the season 1 featurette to refresh your memories.
Read More: Upcoming ABC Shows
