“The Conners” has roared back in the ratings, unexpectedly. After making the dreadful mistake of moving the “Roseanne” spin off to 9pm on Wednesdays from 8pm on Tuesdays, ABC wisely moved the show back to 8pm.
And voila! The ratings are up, up, up. This Wednesday, “The Conners” had its season rating high at 3.960 million viewers. That was up 12% in the key demo and over 7% in total viewers. The focus this week was on Bev, Roseanne and Jackie’s mother played by 94 year legend Estelle Parsons.
Now there’s a promise from showrunner Bruce Helford that a male character from the old “Roseanne” show is about to make a return. He won’t say who it is, but the odds are on George Clooney, who was in Season 1 and 4 of “Roseanne” as Booker Brooks, the supervisor/foreman of Roseanne and Jackie when they worked at Wellman Plastics, He appeared in eleven episodes of the series.
Whatever happened to George Clooney and Booker? We may find out soon enough. My guess is ABC will hold that appearance for February, a sweeps month for ratings. Maybe Booker owns Wellman now, or has become a tech tycoon. Clooney is on a roll right now with the hit movie, “Ticket to Paradise.” He loses nothing by returning to “Roseanne” and only gains more fans. Let’s hope it works out!
PS There are some who think Tom Arnold may be the mystery guest from the past. When he was married to Roseanne Barr in real life, he played Arnie. But bringing him back would seem like an unnecessary slap at Barr.
