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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
24
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Oct 12, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The [series’ writers Bruce Helford, Bruce Rasmussen and Dave Caplan] struck what felt like the perfect balance between darkness and light, while also being respectful--almost reverential at times--to the character of Roseanne. But make no mistake: While The Conners is packed with poignant and tearful moments, it’s mostly really, really funny.
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IndieWireOct 12, 2018
Season 1 Review:
Having played Darlene (well, with a 20-year gap) for 30 years, it’s almost effortless to see Gilbert so naturally play Darlene as her mother’s daughter. She’s got a bit of Roseanne Conner in her as we remember her from 1988, not 2018. ... Darlene isn’t Roseanne. But with Barr off the show, “The Conners” can finally be “Roseanne.”
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Oct 22, 2020
Season 3 Review:
[The Conners and Black-ish] manage to squeeze humor out of the dismal realities of lockdown and viral surges while still honoring the pain and loss many American families have endured since March. Each household features frontline workers at different ends of the economic spectrum and folks struggling to cope. And each show strikes its own balance of snarky/smart humor, empathy and newsworthy candor, highlighting what it takes to muddle through unprecedented times.
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Oct 16, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The show works fine without her [Roseanne]. ... The Conners still wants to be a sitcom for both Democrats and Republicans, but instead of making hay of culture war flashpoints, it stays focused on the Conners’ bleakly circumscribed reality--and the foreshortening of opportunity that applies to the have-nots of both political tribes.
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Oct 15, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The Conners rises admirably to that challenge, delivering kitchen-sink comedy that, at least in the initial two episodes, the first of which airs Tuesday night, is just as funny as anything in Roseanne 2.0. The Conners even feels closer in tone and intent to the original Roseanne.
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The Daily BeastOct 12, 2018
Season 1 Review:
In what’s been a woefully bland fall TV season, especially for network comedy, it’s frankly a delight to watch a sitcom this solid, with a cast of people you love this much, all executing so well, and, we hope at some point, not have to couch their praise in caveats about the Roseanne of it all.
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Oct 12, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The sudden nature of it all is unavoidably awkward, but the script from creators Dave Caplan, Bruce Helford, Bruce Rasmussen manages to squeeze in a surprising amount of jokes for the occasion, and the accomplished cast is more than up to the challenge of landing them. Goodman, Gilbert, Metcalf, and Lecy Goranson as Becky are particularly sharp, finding ways to let their characters’ personalities come through their fog of grief.
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Screen RantAug 28, 2025
Season 7 Review:
Admittedly, some of the jokes in The Conners season 7, episode 1 don't land effectively. However, those that do are from scenes that involve either Dan or Jackie. The physical comedy that both John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf bring to the sitcom continues to be unmatched.
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Dec 13, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The result is a very interesting little sitcom, where what’s happening backstage reflects what’s happening on camera. It’s mostly about loss; for Dan, Darlene, and Jackie, it’s become about the redefinition of their roles in the Conner family. The setting snaps so familiarly into place that it’s like a time capsule.
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TV Guide MagazineOct 25, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The lovingly biting tone of the working-class comedy remains much the same. [29 Oct - 11 Nov 2018, p.11]
Oct 17, 2018
Season 1 Review:
It was unsettling and raw and fitfully funny. But it also felt more like “Roseanne” than last spring’s revival did. ... [Darlene's] dry, Gen X humor could give The Conners a distinct voice from Barr’s gleeful bullhorn. There’s still plenty to do with the underdeveloped family branch of D.J. (Michael Fishman), his soldier wife, Geena (Maya Lynne Robinson), and their daughter, Mary (Jayden Rey).
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Oct 17, 2018
Season 1 Review:
Tuesday’s episode was loaded with characters and jokes, but a viewer quickly got the sense that only Goodman and Laurie Metcalf (as Roseanne’s sister Jackie) have the acting chops strong enough to convey deep grief along with sudden segues into catharsis and punchlines about condolence casseroles. Callous as it may sound, the sooner Roseanne is forgotten, the better the show might become.
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Oct 16, 2018
Season 1 Review:
The two episodes I screened also made me laugh quite a bit. None of the jokes are going to be all-timers--okay, maybe one line about Pierce Brosnan will make it into the time capsule but the characters have a warm and funny way about them that the original Roseanne had in spades and the new version too often replaced with mean-spirited insults and the like. While the characters still tease and insult each other incessantly, there’s more warmth to it.
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Oct 15, 2018
Season 1 Review:
Some of the problems that existed on “Roseanne” this past spring are still areas of concern in “The Conners,” most notably the acting by some of the show’s secondary cast members. And there are occasional groaner bits of dialogue. But reliably winning performances from stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert continue to carry the series.
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Oct 19, 2018
Season 1 Review:
None of them has ever carried a series before, and as good as they were in The Conners debut, the glue that held the show together was the unseen ghost of Roseanne, as aggravating and amusing as ever, invisible but never absent. I'll believe she's replaceable when I see it.
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