Although The Conners season 6 mostly respects Roseanne, the sitcom spinoff jeopardized the original show’s legacy by bringing back one of its worst revival gags. The main characters of The Conners are all decent, hard-working people, but this wasn’t always the case. Before the sitcom spinoff killed off Roseanne and changed its title, Roseanne’s season 10 revival introduced Darlene’s daughter Harris as a spoiled, entitled brat. Harris was a one-note character throughout the show’s tenth season and most of her plots revolved around her ungrateful attitude. While The Conners season 7 might revive this, the spinoff thankfully outgrew Harris’s original characterization.
Initially, Harris’s personality hinged on her personifying the worst stereotypes about Gen Z, even though these characteristics flew in the face of her backstory. Harris’s mother was the bitter, sardonic Darlene, who was one of the most ruthless and sharp-witted characters in Roseanne. However, the sitcom’s season 10 revival revealed that Darlene was a shockingly permissive pushover as a parent, despite her remaining a tough customer in every other facet of life. The sitcom made Darlene and David’s relationship worse to justify Harris’s behavior, all so the series could have a mean-spirited caricature of Gen Z in its revival.
The Conners Season 6, Episode 10 Revives Roseanne’s Weak Gen Z Gags
Fortunately, after Roseanne Barr was fired for a racist Twitter tirade, The Conners turned Harris into a more believable, rounded character. She remained something of a slacker, but she was as caring, strong, and smart as the rest of the eponymous family. Thus, it was a massive disappointment when season 6, episode 8, “Toilet Hacks and The Management Track,” returned to Roseanne season 10’s hackneyed “Gen Z are all entitled” jokes. The Conners season 6 risked ruining Harris’s best plot for the sake of this tired trope, as the show dismissed her ambition and returned Harris to her ignominious origins.
Both the teens in Dan’s life skills class and the student cafeteria workers whom Darlene assembled were universally unhelpful, ungrateful, and unpleasant. The teens were openly rude to Dan, constantly checking their phones and ignoring his advice, while the cafeteria workers were portrayed as clueless amateurs who wouldn’t work fixed hours. Although The Conners season 6’s Jackie and Dan story also featured a Gen Z character who was a petty thief, this guest star at least got some development. The teens of episode 8 were thinly sketched Gen Z stereotypes that have been played out since before Roseanne’s 2017 return.
The Conners Season 6 Contradicts The Show’s Main Purpose
Since its inception, Roseanne has been notable for its approach to blue-collar struggles and life on the poverty line. Although the Conner family is never depicted as saints, they are never blamed for their poverty. Roseanne and The Conners depict their working-class heroes as essentially decent, dignified people even if their cable is stolen and their bills are overdue. Most recently, Darlene working as a cafeteria worker to pay for Mark’s college tuition was depicted as one of many working-class jobs she has taken to make ends meet, not an embarrassing role worthy of scorn or derision from other characters.
Roseanne and The Conners once valorized blue-collar work but, in its attempts to mock Gen Z, “Toilet Hacks and The Management Track” depicted minimum wage earners as losers incapable of hard work and critical thinking.
However, as The Conners season 6 continued a bad trend of under-using its younger cast members, the spinoff made things worse by portraying all of Darlene’s coworkers as ambition-less, incompetent, and self-centered. The student cafeteria workers were a universally gormless bunch who refused to implement any of Darlene’s proposed improvements, and their scene completely contradicted the show’s positive portrayal of the working class. Roseanne and The Conners once valorized blue-collar work but, in its attempts to mock Gen Z, “Toilet Hacks and The Management Track” depicted minimum wage earners as inveterate losers incapable of hard work and critical thinking.
The Roseanne Revival’s Gen Z Jokes Betray The Original Show’s Hero
It is no surprise that The Conners season 6 betrayed the show’s premise since Roseanne’s revival already ruined the show’s heroine with a Gen Z joke. As noted by YouTuber Jose, Roseanne’s original run included a subplot about corporal punishment in season 6, episode 11, “The Driver’s Seat.” In this outing, Roseanne tearfully apologized to her son DJ after hitting him, admitting that her abusive father had a negative influence on her flawed parenting. In contrast, season 10, episode 3, “Roseanne Gets the Chair,” saw the title character gleefully dunk her granddaughter’s head in a sink full of dirty dishes.
In the show’s desperate attempts to bemoan the perceived laziness of Gen Z, Roseanne season 10 abandoned the sympathetic image of working-class life that made the original series a success. This reactionary approach explains why The Conners season 6 ignored a promising plot in “Toilet Hacks and The Management Track” as the series attempted to bring back Harris’s negative character traits. After Darlene’s co-workers proved useless, she asked her daughter Harris if she would prepare cafeteria food for 200 students in only one day. Eager to prove that she was ready to run a restaurant, Harris agreed.
The Conners Season 6 Risks Ruining Harris’ Great Story For A Bad Joke
Harris soon found herself overwhelmed, and Jackie offered to help her with the massive workload. This scene wasn’t a problem in itself since Harris had clearly taken on too much work and Jackie wanted to ease her burden. However, Harris immediately stopped working the moment Jackie offered her help, a gag that only makes sense in the context of the episode’s recurring depiction of Gen Z as shiftless, uncaring slobs. This directly contradicted Harris’s entire season 6 character arc, which focused on her taking over the Lunchbox from Jackie because she has better, more ambitious plans for the restaurant.
It makes no sense for Jackie to give up control of her restaurant to the younger, less experienced Harris if Harris refuses to work hard. Harris proved she was a hard worker with good ideas in season 6’s premiere, so this reversal was completely unjustified in-universe and only worked as a tired, snide generalization about young people. Particularly after The Conners season 6 finally addressed Roseanne’s biggest tragedy, it was disappointing to see the sitcom spinoff take a big step backwards. Judging by this outing, the weakest gags from The Conners could still end up ruining Roseanne’s legacy.
