Maybe fans of “The Conners” expected Roseanne to rise from the grave.
She did not, and the series ended 7 seasons last Wednesday with a bang and a whimper.
The two part finale was really two episodes, not one big one.
The first episode was up 18% from the previous week, with 3.345 million viewers who thought they were seeing an hour special.
Disappointed, 6% of them left and missed the actual finale at 8:30pm. That episode, which featured the Conners standing over Roseanne’s grave, fell to 3.1 million.
In the key demo, the numbers rose and fell also, up 34%, then down 11%.
“The Conners” was born when Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Obama associate Valerie Jarrett. Barr lost everything, and her character was killed off what was supposed to be the return of “Roseanne.”
In the final episode, John Goodman’s Dan sued the pharmaceutical company that he argued killed Roseanne with opioids. He won the case but financial reward was just $700. He and the family discovered this by opening an envelope at Roseanne’s grave.
The whole thing made no sense but at the point it didn’t matter. They showed not one clip of Roseanne in their nostalgia package but Dan did place a stone on her grave.
“The Conners” could have had a big send off, but ABC skipped that. They were just happy to see it go. Still, “The Conners” ended with much higher ratings than the canceled “Grey’s Anatomy” and a lower budget.
May its memory be a blessing.
PS This was funny. There was no mention of the missing Conner kid, DJ, played by Michael Fishman. After 37 years it was like he never existed. TV production is cruel. What could he have done to them?
