It looks like ABC is getting ready to chop “The Conners” after six seasons.
First of all, TVLine is reporting that no effort has been made by the network to talk to the producers about Season 7. The sixth season has wrapped.
But more ominous are the ratings: down almost 10% from last year. The number of key demo desired viewers has dropped 25%, too, making things very ominous. And destined to get worse, because ABC is about to move the show from 8pm to 9:30pm beginning on May 1sst — in other words, sweeps.
If you’re supporting a show, you don’t suddenly delay it by 90 minutes during its four final episodes. That’s a death knell. By 9:30, those 8 o’clock viewers have gone to sleep or committed to something that started at 9pm. They are definitely gone.
The fix is in, as they say. TVLine says the show filmed a farewell scene that can be added to the final episode in case it’s the series finale. If it is the series end, that closes a chapter for “Roseanne” and “The Conners” for good in TV history. (The series should end with Roseanne sipping a margarita somewhere in the Caribbean, and cackling.)
PS We only see the outcome of these network exec decisions long after they’ve been made. Case in point: When CBS let it slip they’d started up on a black soap opera, they knew “The View” was dead. Yesterday, after finally announcing the cancellation, they announced “The Gates” was starting two weeks later — in January 2025. They knew all this long before they told us, trust me.
