After 7 seasons, The Conners had its series finale on Wednesday, April 25, 2025.
Postmortem
The finale episode was titled The Truck Stops Here which is fitting since the first episode was called Keep on Truckin'.
Regarding the 7th and final season, there was only 6 episodes and I guess they had a general condensed idea of what they wanted to tackle storyline wise to wrap things up. Sadly, those ideas weren't very interesting nor rewarding for the viewer. For example, Darlene's husband Ben was essentially absent the entire season as he was spending his time starting a new magazine with the insurance money from when his hardware store burned down. Darlene was essentially having an emotional affair with Seth Greene's character, and then it was resolved with a simple "I'm sorry" from both of them.
Unfortunately the downfall of this show, as seen by this thread not really having any activity since 2019, is when the show was trying to push a specific message or be too preachy. That didn't bother me as much as it bothered others; I simply wanted to be entertained. The comedy (and entertainment) of the show came from the characters interactions and their comedic timing. The family dynamic of ribbing on each other is very relatable. Sure, you need some emotion moments but time to time, but sometimes they felt too manufactured. So while the plotlines were lackluster, I thought the comedic writing was pretty good for the most part.
In the end, I was never a huge fan of "Roseanne" when it was on because they always felt stuck in a rut which I guess was the point. It was "Gillian's Island" in Chicago. This lower middle class family was never meant for greatness. You appreciate what you have, you deal with the hard times, and you celebrate your small wins. "The Conners" was more of the same so while I found the show mostly entertaining each week with some clever writing, this isn't something that I would revisit in syndication.
