The Conners Season 7’s shorter length means it must avoid a hated sitcom finale trope that already hurt Roseanne

While The Conners season 7 has the opportunity to close the Roseane franchise perfectly, this would mean avoiding a problem that has plagued countless previous comedies and the show’s predecessor itself. The Conners Season 7 will arrive in March 2025 according to ABC (via TV line), and the final season of RoseaneThe spinoff will consist of just six episodes. Since The Conners has such a large cast of characters, it’s hard to imagine how the show will do justice to them all in this brief period. This could lead the show’s creators to try something new and experimental with the shorter final season.

However, previous sitcom endings prove that this impulse should be avoided. Numerous sitcoms, from Brooklyn 99 to how I Met Your Mother to New girlthey tried to do something new in their final presentation, but the attempt failed. What makes this question more interesting is the unique position that The Conners The Season 7 finale occupies the annals of TV history. Long before any of the overly ambitious examples listed above, The Conners‘predecessor, Roseanewas one of the first comedies to try something bold, different, and entirely new in its final season. It was a disaster.

The Conners Season 7 isn’t likely to change the show’s storytelling style

How I Met Your Mother’s Final Season Told in the Same 3 Days from Countless Perspectives

how I Met Your MotherThe final season centered each episode of the final season primarily on an individual character, with its 24 episodes covering the same three-day period from different perspectives. New girl’The last season started with a huge time jump, while Brooklyn 99Rosa’s latest outing began with Rosa leaving the police force and the remaining episodes attempted to awkwardly balance criticism of the police with standard cop show antics. However, before any of these famous failures, Roseane season 9 ruined the previous eight seasons with an absurd twist that fundamentally changed the nature of the series itself for the worse.

While Roseane the season 9 finale was infamous in its own right, the previous season was equally disastrous. Roseane season 9 began by revealing that the Conner family won over $100 million in the lottery, making them exorbitantly rich overnight. The relatable working-class problems faced by the family for years, and the show’s subsequent grounded tone, were thrown out the window in favor of broad, cartoonish absurdity. While The Conners The end of the 7th season of the series may be sad, it is almost impossible to imagine a reality in which the spinoff drops the ball as badly as it did. Roseane Season 9 does.

The Conners Season 7 doesn’t need structural tricks

The Roseanne spinoff never excelled at experimental episodes

It would be unfair to call Roseane overly experimental, although the show did feature occasional outings that included long fantasy sequences, such as season two, episode 8, “Sweet Dreams.” In contrast to later, more offbeat sitcoms such as Rub, Arrested development, 30 Rockk, or Community, Roseane was better known for the show’s comparatively realistic world than its self-aware humor. The show’s revival took this approach even further, abandoning the show’s rare forays into fantasy and planting itself firmly in reality. After Roseanne was killed off-screen and the revival’s second season was retitled The Conners, the show became a completely straightforward traditional family comedy.

Although The Conners‘ two live episodes were arguably somewhat experimental and Season 4 Episode 14, “Triggered,” was told partially in real time, neither of these efforts did much to alter the tone of the show as a whole. The live episodes were enigmatic, while “Triggered” offered things viewers had never seen before and abandoned its real-time approach mid-ride. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since The Conners it didn’t need clever storytelling strategies or playful, self-aware humor to work. The show’s strength comes from its depiction of realistic and relatable factory workers’ struggles, and Roseane season 9’s experimentation proved that this didn’t need an overhaul.

The Conners Season 7 doesn’t have enough screen time for individual episodes

The Roseanne Spinoff Has Too Many Main Characters

The most direct way to The Conners The change from Season 7’s usual approach would be for the six-episode farewell event to feature individual outings centered around specific characters. This would give each main character a moment in the spotlight, but it would risk losing the chemistry shared between the cast members. Occasionally, sitcom episodes that give underrated supporting stars a moment in the spotlight can work. However, The Conners Season 7 ending the series for good means that RoseaneThe spinoff should not focus its last six episodes on the main characters. The series already has many stars.

Since the creators only have six episodes to work with The Conners season 7 wouldn’t have enough screen time to do justice to Mark, Harris, Darlene and Ben, Jackie and Neville, Louise and Dan, and Becky and Tylermuch less a returning DJ, if each character has their own episode. The Conners The Season 6 finale may have left Jackie and Neville in a good place, but Ben and Darlene’s situation is tenuous after Ben purchased Hardware magazine and Darlene remained underemployed in a coffee shop job that barely covered her bills. Likewise, Harris’ storyline and Becky and Tyler’s story need substantial screen time.

The Conners Season 7 should remain the same

The Roseanne Follow-Up Should Avoid Its Predecessor’s Problems

Harris only learned of her ADHD diagnosis in season 6 and now she has to run The Lunchbox alone since Jackie retired. Becky and Tyler’s relationship went through tremendous strain after she had a nervous breakdown while counseling patients in Season 6, and their reconciliation barely got any screen time at the end of the outing. The infamously bad Roseane season 9 was full of experimentationnone of this was good, so The Conners Season 7 is expected to follow the series’ usual style in its final release. Even within your traditional wheelhouse, The Conners You’ll have a hard time wrapping things up.

If Ben’s magazine becomes a success, Darlene might quit working at the coffee shop and go work with him. Likewise, Harris’s ADHD diagnosis could help her pursue treatment plans that would allow her to relaunch The Lunchbox and make the place a success in a way that Jackie never could. However, even this happy ending would leave the stories of Mark, Becky and Tyler, and Dan and Louise unfinished. As such, the last thing the Roseane spinoff needs is a strange new approach to The Conners the story of season 7, when even a simple ending will be a challenge.

Source: TV line