The Conners S04 720p AMZN WEB-DL DDP2.0 H.264-NTb
After a sudden turn of events, the Conners are forced to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before. This iconic family – Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and D.J. – grapples with parenthood, dating, an unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging and in-laws in working-class America. Through it all, the fights, the coupon cutting, the hand-me-downs, the breakdowns – with love, humor and perseverance, the family prevails.
Genre: Comedy, Family
Stars: John Goodman, Michael Fishman, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Laurie Metcalf
The Conners: how does Roseanne survive without Roseanne Barr?
The retooled sitcom brings back the cast that surrounded the disgraced star for a competently realized, if formula-reliant look at suburban life without a matriarch
@zach_vasquez
Tue 16 Oct 2018 09.00 BST
In the wake of Roseanne's cancelation last May, following racist tweets sent out by star and producer Roseanne Barr, many observers took to the site of her downfall to joke about looking forward to the show's eventual return under the new title Dan.
Those jokes proved to be pretty on-the-money, although the latest iteration of the series is called The Conners. It brings the rest of its cast back intact - John Goodman as the gruff-but-loving patriarch Dan; recent Oscar-nominee Laurie Metcalf as aloof Aunt Jackie; Sara Gilbert and Lecy Goranson as night-and-day sisters Darlene and Becky; Michael Fishman as the constantly ignored DJ; and the various newcomers and guest stars (including Johnny Galecki, Juliette Lewis and Mary Steenburgen) that make up their various kids, partners, exes, friends, neighbors and co-workers - as well as its trademark brand of character-driven humor suffused with working-class melancholy. It also retains its interest in issue-driven storylines (the two episodes screened early for critics, one and four, deal with addiction, sex, sexual orientation, healthcare and job security), while this time avoiding any explicit mention of current controversies and figures (ie there's no mention of Trump).
Of course, the main questions surrounding The Conners isn't what's in them, but rather, what's missing from them.
First and foremost, while Roseanne Barr may be gone, Roseanne Conner isn't. The show picks up on a number of plot points left dangling from the truncated 10th season - a couple of which now come off as extremely serendipitous - and without going into the details surrounding her character's fate (as per studio mandate), those who watched probably have a pretty good idea as to how things play out (though, to its credit, the show throws in a reveal that muddies the waters and makes for good drama). Roseanne's absence isn't a logistical hurdle, but the focus; not only of the premiere but, judging by the other episode I saw, the season as a whole.
While it seemed unlikely The Conners would write off its main character and move on without looking back, it's not as if other long-running shows haven't done exactly that (see Two and a Half Men - or, rather, don't). Given the charged political nature of Barr's dismissal, there surely must have been those behind the scenes advocating for the series to get any mention to her out of the way as quickly and succinctly as possible. It is a sitcom, after all; if it can make people laugh, it may well make them forget. That the show has chosen not to do such speaks to its strengths as a cultural institution, as well as its faith in the cast.
When it comes to the latter, that faith is mostly well-founded. Political and personal viewpoints aside, Barr's time away from the camera was highly noticeable last season in her muggy performance and stilted line delivery. Goodman, arguably our most consistent character actor of the last several decades, has no such problem. His acumen at drama proves especially essential, as the new series is constantly taking turns in heavy territory. Goodman makes it possible to forget that you're watching a three-camera sitcom reboot (of a reboot) mired in annoying controversy and invest purely in his three-dimensional portrayal of a man forced to deal with a sudden load of emotional strain.
The same can be said of Metcalf, who is given a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the dramatic scenes, although for the most part her character remains the high-energy doofus she's always been. Gilbert also proves surprisingly adept at switching between drama and comedy (not to sell her previous work short, but she's had less opportunity to show off her chops over the years). She has the hardest job of anyone in the case, moving as she does into the lead role, even as her characters takes up the mantle as the acid-tongued, steel-spined matriarch of the family.
Despite The Conners' mature handling of Roseanne's departure and the gameness of its lead cast, the rest of the show proves to be a standard sitcom in every way. The jokes are half-clever, with one in 10 truly landing. That seems unlikely to drive away fans, though, indistinguishable as it is from what they're used to by this point.
As far as the chances of the show's broader success, that's harder to predict. Those who came to Roseanne specifically for the title character and/or Barr's singular comic persona will definitely feel her absence, while her political partisans seem unlikely to return in the first place, let alone give it a fair shake if they do (especially now that, without Barr serving as a counterbalance, the show's liberal bent is far more prevalent). But to those who found the larger family dynamics and humor of the show engaging, and for who Roseanne herself isn't a deal breaker, The Conners is offers as dignified and consistent a transition as could reasonably be expected.
That smoothness does, however, signify the lack of an edge, the same which Roseanne brought to it even before her rightwing conversion and public disgrace. Whether or not The Conners can sustain itself without that edge remains to be seen.
General
Complete name: The.Conners.S04E01.Trucking.Live.In.Front.of.a.Fully.Vaccinated.Studio.Audience.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb.mkv
Format : Matroska
Duration : 21 min 43 s
Video
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec: Bit rate : 6 000 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Audio
Format/Info : Enhanced Audio Coding 3
Bit rate : 224 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Language : English
Subtitles : English. English SDH
Screens
