"The Conners" Discussion Thread

[BetterForgotten]

'Roseanne' star Ames McNamara on his gender non-conforming character: 'I believe that everyone should express themselves'

[Vee]

That kid is already stealing the show. And he is preternaturally poised.

[Faulkner]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don't Be Fooled, 'Roseanne' Is Really TV's Most Anti-Trump Show

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Faulkner

[Vee]

I get his point. Sadly I am not inclined to believe we are presently at a point in history where conversation is a prelude to mutual resolution. I would've believed that two years ago. Today I think it is either victory or annihilation.

 

That being said: Do I think shows like this serve a purpose to bridge some of the divide? Maybe. So long as we never forget what we are actually dealing with beneath the initial layers of reachable soft support on the right - fascists, racists and white supremacists.

[dragonflies]

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

20 years later, 'Roseanne' is still trying to push the LGBTQ community forward. And yet.

 

Ratings held up surprising well for week #2:

 

TV Ratings: 'Roseanne' Still Strong, Pulls 15.2 Million in Week 2

Edited April 4, 2018 by BetterForgotten

[Soapsuds]

Not sure why I am surprised it dropped. I guess it was to be expected.  I didn't find the episode that funny last night. The whole Roseanne/granddaughter scenes came off rather mean spirited than funny. From one calling dumb/stupid hillbillies to Roseanne calling her granddaughter a b!tch.  I am probably nitpicking but the premiere was funnier and where is DJ? He was stiff as hell in the premiere but he's had all of one line and Jackie didn't have much to do in last night's episode either. I guess I expected to see the entire cast on and we had just some.

[KMan101]

I agree. It wasn't the strongest episode. The tension should have been building between Harris and Roseanne, not rising and building and peaking in the same episode (Harris has had one or two one-liners in the first two episodes). Some of it was good. Jackie and Becky had a few lines each so kind of a waste of them there. No DJ (I think Michael Fishman said Episode 5 is when we learn more about DJ, but that episode is currently titled "Darlene v David" so I don't know how much airtime he'll get and maybe he mispoke about which episode it will be).

 

It was OK. Not the best so far. I just think they tried to do too much in one episode, but I get they only had 9 episodes.

 

I can kind of agree on the mean-spiritedness, but Harris was indeed being a bitch and showed a shocking lack of respect. She needed a smack so the water thing worked great for me. Roseanne's always crass though. But the tension was out of nowhere and simply for the plot of the episode, which is fine I suppose. It is a sitcom after all.

 

There was no way the show was getting nearly 20 million viewers again this week. But it still did well. Let's see how much it keeps dropping. It was bound to drop, that's just a reality. Will & Grace premiered nicely (though not nearly as great) and it's now just barely a step above the other niche sitcoms NBC seems determined to stick with. Though the two are very different, just saying that the audience will drop, it shouldn't be a surprise. And I think with Will and Grace they're already falling back into the habits of the older seasons, relying on "LOOK IT'S ALEC BALDWIN!" "LOOK IT'S JENNIFER LOPEZ!!!" I mean, the cartoon is back (Malcolm hiding himself in front of the drapes wearing pajamas that look like the drapes? I mean, COME ON, lol) and I'm disappointed.

Edited April 4, 2018 by KMan101

[Juliajms]

I didn't care for this either. These people live in the state. Did Darlene never bring her kids to visit when they were little? It just seems like the Roseanne/Harris relationship lacked the underlying affection that should be there. 

Yes, she was being disrespectful, but having a parent or grandparent call a teenage girl a bitch is so distasteful to me.  It's also not exactly modeling respect either. I thought the water thing was good and Harris did deserve that.

[marceline]

 

According to the AV club review last night's episode was actually the second ep taped and the second one shown premier week was the third so apparently they are showing the eps out of order.

[KMan101]

 

Ah! Makes sense. I was wondering about that, because I noticed Roseanne's chair lift was in the 2nd episode but the plotline for it came in last night's episode. I can see why the switched the 2nd and 3rd episodes though.

 

I agree it was distasteful. It didn't seem like it was needed, really, because the water spray scene did enough.

[BetterForgotten]

Roseanne did call both Becky and Darlene bitches in the original show, so it was consistent, lol. 

[KMan101]

 

True. That's why it wasn't such a shock to me. However, in the context of their relationship (or lack thereof) and for the scene it kind of felt like it was done for a bit of shock value (like it was a catfight done for the sake of being a catfight). But Roseanne, the character (and I guess IRL), has often handled things in a crass and distasteful manner in a way to get the point across (which is more real to me, we don't always say the right things in the moment but it gets the point across), so I wasn't that put off. But I was sort of put off how it was used this time. Oh well.

Edited April 4, 2018 by KMan101

[Juliajms]

That's what bothered me a little.  I wish they had at least showed me that Roseanne loves Harris first.  Oh well, it's not that big a deal. I think the points they were trying to make about different parenting styles came through. I agreed with Roseanne that you can't really be your teenagers trusting friend. I also agree with Darlene that you shouldn't beat them. A little dunk under the facet never hurt anyone though.

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Overall, I didn't think this episode was as funny as the first two. Dan had a couple of good lines though. When he was doing the race call between Roseanne and the chair and then said something like "and Death Wish comes from behind to win by a neck" referring to Harris.

 

I don't recall the original show as well as some of you, but it seemed a little more optimistic.  Like these were struggling people, but they weren't totally f*cked and maybe things would get better.  I had stopped watching before the lottery win. Not sure if that was my child's eye or how it really was.   This time things feel a little darker. I'm not saying that's bad.

[Soaplovers]

 

The original show was about Dan and Roseanne in their 30s and 40s so I could see why the show had an optimistic undertone to it because they were still relatively young.  Now they're in their 60s, both are still working due to factors semi out of their control, and having their daughter (their one great hope to make it) having to move back in because of the economy... so I can see both of them being bitter and blaming others (and not the choices they made in their 30s and 40s) for their current lot.