Farewell to a good show … and a once-great show

“The Conners” (shown here) says farewell Wednesday (April 23), ending a journey that’s been long, bumpy and sometimes wonderful.
A good show in its final years, a great one in its early years, it’s a key piece of TV history.
When this started (as “Roseanne”) in 1988, TV comedies had seemed unaware of blue-collar America. Sure, there was Jackie Gleason in “Honeymooners” and (briefly) “Life of Riley,” but not much else.
Then Roseanne Barr’s show rippled with blue-collar life. The fictional Roseanne and Dan (John Goodman) were getting by, through changes in jobs and in life.
There was always a serious base here; these were people you rooted for. But alongside that was the sharp, acerbic humor of Roseanne Barr and her writer-producers – many of them (Matt Williams, Chuck Lorre, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Bruce Helford, Danny Jacobson) going on to their own hit shows.
Audiences caught on quickly. “Roseanne” was No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings its first year, tied for No. 1 (with “The Cosby Show”) its second. The next four seasons stayed in the top-4.
Emmy voters weren’t as sure. “Roseanne” won a Golden Globe as best comedy and a Peabody Award, but never was nominated for best comedy series. Its only Emmys were for acting – one for Barr, three for Laurie Metcalf as her sister Jackie.
Barr had also wanted to do an American version of “Absolutely Fabulous,” the British series about the careless, carefree world of two women with no money worries. Then she sort of twisted “Roseanne” in that direction: The Conners won the lottery … Dan drifted away … Roseanne and her sister Jackie had a madcap life.
Fans disapproved and the show slipped to No. 35. In the last episode, Barr reversed herself again: That final season, she said, was just a fiction written by the Roseanne Connner character. In truth, Dan had died and there was no lottery money.
That’s the way it stood for two decades, until another twist: “Roseanne” was revived and reversed the previous reversal – no lottery money, but also no death of Dan; life was sort of the same.
That’s just what fans had wanted. “Roseanne” was funny and likable again. It’s short run in the spring of 2018 was a hit, jumping to No. 3 in the ratings. ABC used it as a key to its fall schedule, until ….
In a late-night tweet, Barr said Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett was as if “muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby.”
This was clearly a racist remark … unless you accept Barr’s statement that she didn’t know Jarrett is Black. (Jarrett was born in Iran, where her father worked as a pathologist.) Or that Barr, under the influence of Ambien, wasn’t really aware of what she was doing.
ABC bought neither explanation and canceled “Roseanne” instantly. In a miracle of quick maneuvering by Sara Gilbert and others, the show was kept alive as “The Conners.” It would focus heavily on Darlene (Gilbert) and Dan (yes, alive again), with room for Jackie and the others.
The result is no match for “Roseanne”; few shows are. It has less humor, but just as much humanity. It’s an above-average show that lasted seven seasons.
Now it says farewell, with episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
You can also go back and watch it from the start. “Roseanne” is on Peacock; “The Conners” is on Netflix, Hulu and Disney+; both are on Pluto. You’ll see some great years, some good ones and some blue-collar folks worth knowing.