“IT’S PRETTY SHOCKING, honestly,” says Sara Gilbert—not about the latest struggle to befall her onscreen alter ego, Darlene Conner (a role she’s portrayed on and off more than 35 years, since the first episode of Roseanne), but the fact that The Conners, the spinoff of that groundbreaking sitcom, will soon hit its 100th episode. “I think you never expect to make it that far. I certainly didn’t.”
Though the series has been a staple of ABC’s comedy lineup since premiering in 2018, its journey to that celebration is one for the TV (the original aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997) was canceled in 2018 following star Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets, it seemed all hope was gone for the Conners. But you should never count out the resilient blue-collar family, which, thanks to some creative storytelling, would go on to see brighter days—just without its matriarch. (Barr’s absence was explained by the character dying off camera from an opioid overdose.)
