Hitting 100 episodes is a noteworthy pinnacle for any TV show, and all the more so in the modern era of shortened seasons and widespread cancellations. Which makes The Conners a stand-out on top of a stand-out for reaching the milestone in its sixth season after its predecessor Roseanne had gone well beyond 200 episodes. It’s a pretty unique honor for the little Lanford family that could (which Sara Gilbert celebrated with cake and scripts), and CinemaBlend got showrunner Bruce Helford and executive producer Dave Caplan’s thoughts about the big accomplishment.
With the episode “Smash and Grab and Happy Death Day,” The Conners gave audiences its 100th outing as a proper spinoff, and thankfully without actually having any of the characters get killed repeatedly as the Happy Death Day title reference implies. I talked to Helford and Caplan — not quite as catchy as Laurel and Hardy — ahead of the airing, and also inquired about the duo’s favorite guest stars from everyone who’s appeared so far.
While some shows might choose to use Episode 100 to go all out with big-named guest stars, The Conners already pulls that kind of move on a regular basis, and turned past guest star Sean Astin into a Season 6 regular as Becky’s newest. beau. And for what it’s worth, this ep did feature Extended Family’s Sofia Capanna.
When I asked both Helford and Caplan about which guest stars stood out as their favorites, there wasn’t much hesitation before the answers started flowing:
Bruce Helford: From the first hundred, I think Candice Bergen is one of them for me.
Dave Caplan: Yeah, that’s right up there.
Bruce Helford: She was just wonderful, and she fit so beautifully into the group. I mean, she’s just a natural actor, and definitely very honest.
Dave Caplan: It was fun for me to work with Jason Alexander. I had never done that. That was fun.
Bruce Helford: Yeah, Jason was great. He was great. Bill Macy was wonderful. I’ve always been a big fan of his.
Dave Caplan: And of course, Paul Reubens. You get to work with Pee-Wee Herman, why wouldn’t you?
It feels like something of a missed opportunity not to follow Season 2’s “Lanford, Toilet of Sin” by reconfiguring the plot to center entirely on Paul Reubens’ town historian Sandy Bitensky. But I guess I can’t hold it against anyone.
Bruce Helford continued, ackowledging how The Conners and its cast have the ability to convince just about anyone to show up.
God, we’re just lucky. I mean, we just call up and say hey, you want to come play with John Goodman and and Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert? They’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, sure.’ We had Matthew Broderick on the show. Also, I’m a big fan of Matthew. So you know, we’ve been very lucky. And Katey Sagal, to have her on a regular basis is crazy.
Truer words never spoken. And clearly, the aforementioned Sandy Bitensky revamp would have also included Katey Sagal. (R.I.P. Paul Reubens.)
Why The Conners Hitting 100 Episodes Is Such A Surprise
To the average non-jaded TV viewer, The Conners’ continued existence isn’t such a surprise, considering its TV legacy, its stars, and the fanbase that continues truckin’ along with it. But showrunner Bruce Helford says it’s still altogether surprising for those behind the scenes, since the family’s return to TV wasn’t intended to last this long. As he put it:
Yeah, it’s funny because we never set out to do [this many]. We set out to do one season to correct the legacy of Roseanne. And then when that blew up, we had to correct the legacy of that. [Laughs.] So we didn’t know beyond one season where we would be going, so it’s a surprise to us. A happy surprise, a wonderful gift. But we didn’t plan on trying to go this far.
I suppose in some ways, the fact that Roseanne only returned for the lone tenth season before its cancellation fits into those original short-lived expectations, even if I’m sure no one involved would ever have wished for things to go the way they did. But the flagship sitcom did get ordered for a second season before the cancellation and retooling, with The Conners emerging as both a continuation and its own entity.
Which means it had to start over from the bottom as far as episode counts though, making it seem even less likely that the cast and crew would one day celebrate 100 episodes. Here’s what Dave Caplan had to say:
I never for a second thought about 100. And I was just saying that when you start writing sitcoms, that’s the goal. Everybody says, ‘Can I get 100 episodes out of this thing that we’re writing?’ And I never for a second thought about that with this show. They just kept accumulating, and we kept telling the stories, and then suddenly it was 100.
No word yet on whether or not ABC will order up a seventh season to follow the truncated Season 6, which was affected along with everything else on TV by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. But so long as there are more stories to tell, and there always will be for this family, I wouldn’t be surprised to be talking to Helford and Caplan about hitting Episode 150 in a few years.
