Why You Should Be Watching ‘The Conners’

Since 2018, The Conners has been an ABC Wednesday night mainstay. There is a reason this show has reached that coveted five-season mark. It brings heart, nostalgia, comfort, and family to every single episode. Which makes each new season stronger than the previous one.

Despite being a spin-off to a cult classic, The Conners gives new insights into a family that has been a part of media history since the late ’80s. After all, family stories change once the children grow up, move away, and then eventually move back in because of financial difficulties.

What is so special about this sitcom isn’t that it puts all its eggs into the nostalgia basket but that it grows and evolves these characters to keep up with the current issues and their increasing ages and life experiences. This attribute often eludes even the best of shows — especially ones created as a spin-off of an established entity.

Roseanne vs. The Conners

Back in 2017, ABC announced that Roseanne would be coming back for an 8-episode Season 10. This gave fans of the sitcom something to look forward to and brought this working-class family back into our living rooms.

The return season, while decent, was fraught with controversy due to Roseanne Barr and her very vocal beliefs. This created a cloud of judgment over what could have been a momentous return for one of TV’s greatest shows.

Luckily, the cast got together and agreed that they would prefer to rebrand the show without Roseanne and move on from there. And thus, The Conners was born.

By stepping out of the shadow of Roseanne Barr’s reputation, the show is able to find room to stand in today’s world and expand beyond the foundation it was created upon.

Focusing on the grown lives of Darlene and Becky instead of their aging parents is a step in the right direction for the series, and it continues to bring fans in five years later.

It isn’t often that a revived entity with new branding is able to not only survive but thrive the longer it remains on the air. The Conners proves itself to be as resilient as the family it represents season after season.

As any working-class person knows, knowing how to take your licks and stand back up is all part of life.

Working Class Family Representation

Part of what has ensured The Conners‘ success is the audience it speaks to. During a time when the income disparity is at its highest, viewers don’t want another show about how rich people “struggle” or get richer. 

This is why a show about a family that struggles to get by paycheck to paycheck resonates so well with most TV viewers. The average consumer of TV doesn’t have much in the way of income security.

When the pandemic hit at the start of 2020, most TV shows struggled to find a new normal within a world turned on its head. The Conners takes this moment in history and uses it to its advantage by showing how there can still be hope in the struggle to find jobs and stay healthy.

For example, on The Conners Season 3 Episode 2, “Halloween and the Election vs. The Pandemic,” the show creates a sense of normalcy when the world is falling apart. During this episode, the Conner family ensured that their Halloween traditions wouldn’t change just because no one could celebrate with them.

This family might have been struggling the hardest financially because of all the shutdowns and job struggles, but on one day of the year, they choose to forget it all for a bit of old-fashioned fun. In the end, it’s all about learning to laugh when you actually want to cry.

Through humor, this show gives us a sense that it’s okay to only make enough to survive from day to day. Nothing about this family or this show calls for big miracles happening to “save them” because, by the Conner clan standards, they are as rich as Midas.

After all, love will keep them together and weather them through every storm — big or small. At the end of the day, some of their bills might be in collections, but they are happy because they are in this together and their bond will see them through.

Hitting the Tough Stuff

Over the past five seasons, The Conners has never been afraid to tackle difficult topics. From alcoholism to grief to pregnancy loss, this family has seen it all and gotten through it with laughter and love.

From the very first episode, this show tells the audience that they are here for all facets of life, not just the fun and silly parts. When a show starts with the aftermath of the matriarch dying, there are bound to be a few dark moments.

It’s how this show handles it that makes it worth watching and rewatching. Never once do these characters gloss over their struggles no matter how hard it is to discuss them. 

We see Becky recognize that she needs rehab on The Conners Season 3 Episode 16, “A Fast Car, a Sudden Loss, and a Slow Decline.” Then, on the next episode, she decides to make an effort by seeking rehab. 

This struggle with Becky never goes away, but it also never becomes her whole identity — which is something a lot of shows struggle with when they have a character with an addiction.

Even Lecy Goranson says she admires her character for the strength she wields in the face of struggle and heartbreak.

While Becky does struggle the most within this family, she isn’t the only one who deals with extremely tough situations. Darlene goes through her own struggles as a mom, something that has been highlighted in a multitude of ways over the years.

Parenthood Isn’t Always Sunshine and Rainbows

The character who has grown the most as a parent would have to be Darlene, hands down. From The Conners Season 1 Episode 1,  “Keep On Truckin'” to The Conners Season 5 Episode 22, “The Grad Finale,” Darlene learns how to be a single mom while raising two very different, yet uniquely independent kids. 

The Conners refuses to shy away from showing her moments of weakness alongside her moments of triumph. Darlene doesn’t always get it right as a mom, which is shown very splendidly when Harris moves out only to move in with her older boyfriend on The Conners Season 4 Episode 7, “Let’s All Push Our Hands Together for the Stew Train and the Conners Furniture.”

One of her best moments with Harris comes during The Conners Season 5 Episode 15, “Possums, Pregnancy, and Patriarchy.”

The two bond when Harris becomes pregnant unexpectedly, and then during the following episode Darlene is there for Harris when she miscarries. It’s a huge moment for them that has been coming for five seasons.

Darlene also struggles with Mark from time to time, but it’s never about who he is, which is something beautiful to see. Often the struggles with Mark are centered on his desire to be better than what the rest of his family has settled for. We see that on The Conners Season 4 Episode 15, “Messy Situation, Miscommunication and Academic Probation.”

Or, it’s because he isn’t interested in things that the rest of the clan is, as we see on The Conners Season 2 Episode 10, “Throwing a Christian to a Bear.”

Then there are her moments where being a mom is a struggle for her because her children are older now and don’t need her. The whole of The Conners Season 4 is about Darlene navigating a world where she has to find a new identity that isn’t centered on her kids or a relationship with Ben.

Darlene is always going to be a mom, first and foremost, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be her own person as well. The fact that this show has allowed her that growth shows just how committed it is to creating growth for all the characters, not just some of them.

Through it All, There is Laughter

Most sitcoms struggle with finding that sweet spot between too much humor, not enough drama, or vice versa. That has never been an issue for The Conners because they’ve always taken the big difficult moments with a bit of heart and tongue-in-cheek humor. 

After all, Dan Conner truly believes that if you can’t laugh during the tragedy you don’t have the right to enjoy the really humorous moments in life. On The Conners Season 2 Episode 1, “Preemies, Weed, and Infidelity,” this family proves that being scared of a negative outcome in life just means you have to find pockets of joy somewhere else. 

It’s a strength that has carried the show through multiple seasons and multiple heartbreaks. As mentioned above, this show doesn’t back down from covering all the things that can go wrong in life from the simple to the messy. 

There is nothing the Conner clan faces that doesn’t have a nugget of humor attached to it. In fact, this laughter when-you-want-to cry philosophy is what makes the family so relatable.

Viewers know what it’s like to feel so out of control with their own lives that they can either lay in bed and cry about it, or they can dust themselves off and crack a joke to keep them moving forward.

By speaking to this desire to always be moving forward, The Conners has proven time and time again that it can stand the test of time because its themes and discussions are timeless and universal.

There isn’t a life situation that you’ve been through that The Conners hasn’t also addressed. This makes the show my number one pick for comfort watch when the world outside my window gets to be too much. It should be yours, too.

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The Conners airs on ABC. The Conners Season 5 is currently streaming on Hulu.

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Lecy Goranson Talks ‘The Conners’ and Becky’s Struggles This Season [Interview]