After 7 seasons, 'The Conners' ends with sweet, sentimental, compassionate finale

WHAT IT'S ABOUT The abbreviated seventh and final season of "The Conners" ended Wednesday, as Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) rejoined the police force; Darlene (Sara Gilbert) got back into the arms of husband Ben (Jay R. Ferguson); Mark, Darlene's son (Ames McNamara) headed off to the Big Apple; Becky (Lecy Goranson) and Tyler (Sean Astin) started to get a better sense of their own future together; and so did Dan (John Goodman) and Louise (Katey Sagal).

A journey that began 37 years ago on ABC ended around Roseanne Conner's gravestone — she had died from an opioid overdose — then closed with Dan's final words: "Good night ... ."

MY SAY Those of you just tuning into "The Conners" for the first time in seven years Wednesday were probably surprised to learn that Sagal had joined the show, along with Astin — she as Dan's new wife, he as Becky's love interest. Or maybe most surprised to learn "The Conners" is still on?

Indeed, "The Conners" is, or was, a testament to a network's radically shrewd (and unprecedented) decision to keep the cameras rolling long after its inimical lead star was fired. The history is (or was) an only-in-Hollywood tale, if Hollywood were crazytown, which it kind of/mostly is.

On March 27, 2018, ABC relaunched "Roseanne" — which had been gone some 21 years — as a 10th season. A couple of months later, the reboot was canceled after Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Obama official Valerie Jarrett. A couple of weeks after that, "The Conners" was reborn sans you-know-who, and was officially launched that October.

Crazy, but in hindsight, smart — or lucky. The deep-seated fury of that abbreviated 10th season would have inevitably sunk the reboot anyway. It was a bald-faced pitch to the zeitgeist, or a Red State/Blue State battleground played out in the Conners' living room. It's one thing to get ulcers watching the nightly news, another altogether watching a sitcom. That new "Roseanne" was ulcer-inducing.

Not "The Conners." Absent a lead who tended to soak up all the oxygen on-set and on-screen, the rest of the Conners were finally allowed to breathe. Those characters, some of them beloved, were also allowed to grow (see: Darlene) or move on (Dan). They managed this in a less-heated environment while keeping the essence of the original — the everlasting, never-ending search for dignity and money in a world where both are hard to come by. Dan captured this spirit perfectly (and poignantly) in a line from last week when he learned Becky would get paid "a lot" in her new job.

"What's a 'lot?'," he asked. "A lot for a Conner or a lot for a guy who could buy four new tires at once?"

The irony of Wednesday's wrap reinforced all this. Reluctantly seeking financial compensation for Roseanne's death, Dan finally ended up with his grand payoff all right — a $700 check from the opioid settlement lawyers, or enough to cover takeout for the post-graveside party. Dan: "We always wondered what a Conners' life was worth, now we know."

"The Conners" endured because there were millions of other Conners in hollowed-out towns like Lanford wondering what their lives were worth, too — also wondering how they were going to pay for groceries, or for two tires, much less four.

Those challenges animated "Roseanne" all the way back to 1988. Around her gravestone in Wednesday's final scene, you almost wondered whether the cast was forgiving the real Roseanne — or thanking her for this epic journey. Maybe both?

 Compassion and thanks felt like a nice way to end this, although we can all still be grateful Roseanne wasn't around for the final ride. 

BOTTOM LINE Sweet, sentimental, compassionate. Nice way to go out after 37 years.