Now thatThe Connersis over, I can say for certain that the sitcom spinoff never really replacedRoseanne’s original title character, and this actually wasn’t a bad thing for the show. From time to time,The Conners’ large cast of charactersinevitably complicated the show’s storylines.
A lot of classic sitcoms, likeHow I Met Your Mother,Friends, orThe Big Bang Theory, followed only a half dozen main characters, so it wasn’t hard for the show to center them on every episode. In contrast,The Connershad to keep up with Dan, Jackie, Becky, Darlene, Mark, Beverly-Rose, Ben, Louise, and Harris, not to mention other new characters.
It is perhaps unsurprising thatMartin Mull’sRoseannecharacter Leon Carp, who played a pivotal part in the original show, never even merited a mention in the spinoff. By the timeThe Connersseries finalerolled around, even major main characters like Mark and Ben had been relegated to the background thanks to the show’s limited screen time.
However, this would not necessarily have been a problem for the show ifThe Connershad maintained a single clear protagonist throughout its seven-season run. The show’s predecessor,Roseanne, focused on Roseanne Barr’s titular heroine, a sardonic working-class mother who kept the various generations of the chaotic Conner clan in check.
The Conners Never Got To Properly Replace Roseanne
Roseanne’s original run lasted nine seasons, ending in 1997. When the show was revived in 2017,Roseannewas met with solid reviews and superb ratings. However, Roseanne was suddenly killed off-screen via an opioid overdose when series star Barr posted racist tweets onX(thenTwitter).
Although she laterclaimedThe Connerswanted her to appearas Roseanne’s ghost,Barr was fired from the show and her character was killed offdue to these tweets. After Barr’s firing, the show’s creators seemingly needed to find a new protagonist for the series.
The possibility of centering the series around Roseanne’s daughter, Darlene, was reportedly floated, withVanityFairreporting on this possibility whileThe Connerswas in development. However, whenThe Connersaired, it became clear that this wasn’t the show’s new path. Instead, the spinoff focused on the entire sprawling family without singling out a clear replacement for its former heroine.
Rather than trying to paper over Roseanne’s sudden departure by hastily plugging another character into her role, the sitcom accepted and embraced the impact of this major loss.
In a way, this was admirable. Rather than trying to paper over Roseanne’s sudden departure by hastily plugging another character into her role, the sitcom accepted and embraced the impact of this major loss. The characters spent three long seasons discussing the impact of Roseanne’s death, and the character’s exit went on to shape her daughter Becky’s entire character arc.
Ames McNamara
Mark Conner-Healy
However, it was also arguably foolhardy not to replace Roseanne. WhileRoseanne’s exit fromThe Connerswas acrimonious, the sitcom still needed a main character to focus its storytelling.The Connersseason 1 didn’t establish a new lead character, even though the new show could have focused on Darlene, Dan, or Jackie.
Why It Was Nearly Impossible To Replace Roseanne
Roseanne’s Role In The Original Show Didn’t Have An Obvious Equivalent
These three characters were the main obvious candidates in terms of both their importance inRoseanne’s original run and revival and their closeness to Roseanne.Jackie would have been a solid replacement for Roseanne, as Laurie Metcalf’s neurotic aunt had been the show’s breakout character since early in its original run.
The Connersis available to stream on Hulu.
That said, making Jackie the show’s heroine also had its potential drawbacks. Jackie was infamously flighty compared to the more sensible and practical Roseanne, so she was less helpful when it came to doling out life advice to her children and grandchildren.
Darlene’s messy love life throughoutThe Connersproves she wasn’t as stable and reliable as Roseanne, while Dan’s obstinacy and emotional distance made him a less appealing protagonist.
This highlightsone lingering flaw thatThe Connersnever quite faced. None of Roseanne’s potential replacements had her signature blend of sharp wit and pragmatic understanding, as Dan was too stoic and Darlene was too erratic. Darlene’s messy love life throughoutThe Connersproves she wasn’t as stable and reliable as Roseanne, while Dan’s obstinacy and emotional distance made him a less appealing protagonist.
Ultimately,The Connersnever replacedRoseanne’s title character because none of the show’s other characters fit into her role. Darlene came closest, but she was always a prickly presence in both the original show and its revival, and the series was better off staying true to her personality than watering her down into a more responsible Roseanne clone.
The Conners Lived Up to Its Title And Prioritized Everyone Equally
Roseanne’s Literal Replacement Was Nothing Like Her in The Conners
Even thoughThe Connerswas a direct sequel toRoseanne’s revival, this doesn’t mean that the show made no changes to the style and tone of its predecessor. On the contrary,The ConnerschangedRoseanne’s formulaa lot, with a darker, more grounded tone that stemmed from its tragic origins.
Roseannewas a story about the head of a dysfunctional family, whereasThe Connerswas a show about the same family coping with the loss of their matriarch. As such, it makes sense thatThe Connersbounced chaotically between family members, whereasRoseannealways had a solid center that the sitcom could return to.
Dan did remarry relatively quickly, but Katey Sagal’s Louise wasn’t remotely maternal, and she even told Dan and his children that she had no interest in replacing Roseanne.
The sitcom spinoff never singled out a new main character,and this was, ironically, the most fitting tribute to Roseanne’s legacy thatThe Conners could have created. Dan did remarry relatively quickly, but Katey Sagal’s Louise wasn’t remotely maternal, and she even told Dan and his children that she had no interest in replacing Roseanne.
Furthermore, the show never made Louise a main character, so she never had a chance to take on Roseanne’s role despite her misgivings. Thus, The Connerscarried the memory of Roseanne not by literally mentioning the late character ad nauseam, but by allowing her absence to reshape the show’s style at a meta-level.
While some ofThe Conners’ callbacks toRoseannewere fun, the most striking way that the spinoff maintained Roseanne’s legacy was by refusing to conveniently slot a new character into her place. WhenTwo and a Half Menkilled off Charlie Sheen’s character, he was quickly replaced by a suspiciously similar substitute, and the show continued unabated.
In contrast,The Connersgenuinely engaged with the grief of its characters and, by never replacing Roseanne, constantly reminded viewers that her death had a real impact on its heroes.The Connersdidn’t feel likeRoseanneafter Roseanne’s death, and that was exactly how the show should have reacted to the unexpected in-universe loss.
