‘The Conners’ Teases Halloween Episode As Irate Fans Slam Spooky Celebration Without Roseanne
The Conner clan is getting ready to celebrate their first Halloween without Roseanne, but not everyone plans to tune in to see their tricks. The spinoff of the ABC comedy series will show the grieving family as they celebrate their late matriarch’s favorite holiday in the upcoming episode, “There Won’t Be Blood.” ABC posted a synopsis of the upcoming third episode of The Conners.
“It’s Halloween, the favorite time of year for the Conners, but an email from the school banning certain costumes, including Mark’s, sets off an argument between Dan and Darlene. Jackie introduces someone new to the family at the Halloween party and insists that Dan vet him, only to immediately wish that she hadn’t.”
In addition, the network posted a photo of the familiar Conner front porch to Instagram. In the photo, the porch is decked out with spooky Halloween décor and bears the caption, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
But not everyone is a fan of the ad for the episode. Several irate viewers hit the comments section to write that they won’t be watching The Conners episode without Roseanne Barr, whose character was killed off via an opioid overdose on the first episode of the Roseanne spinoff.
“Won’t be watching without Roseanne. She made the Halloween episodes,” one angry viewer wrote. “Shame on the other actors for turning on her.”
Another Roseanne fan wrote: “Not a true Halloween episode without Roseanne. PASS!!
Fans of the original series know that Roseanne featured an annual Halloween episode every year from 1989 to 1996, kicking off with the Season 2 episode “Boo!” and ending with “Satan, Darling” in Season 9. And before she was fired from ABC over an offensive tweet, Roseanne Barr had planned for a lavish Halloween episode for Season 11 of Roseanne.
In May, Barr took to Twitter to tease that the previously greenlit Roseanne season would feature “the killermost Halloween show on TV ever.”
Barr also wrote a Twitter post about the high-tech special effects that would be needed for her dream episode, which she revealed had already been written in her head.
“I will donate my salary on Halloween show for more props/special effects. Need Top Gun Level,” the Roseanne star wrote.
Roseanne Barr previously dished about her show’s Halloween tradition in an interview with Yahoo TV, revealing that the network initially “refused to let us have a Halloween episode because they said the Bible Belt doesn’t like Halloween, that they think it’s satanic.”
“And we’re like, ‘Are you crazy? It’s a big holiday,'” Barr said. “They were very kind of fundamentalist about it, but you know, that was the first dragon we slayed on the Roseanne show.”
No one does Halloween like #Roseanne! What was your favorite costume? pic.twitter.com/mMidDZDScK
— Roseanne on ABC (@RoseanneOnABC) October 31, 2017
Once they got the green light to celebrate Halloween, the Conners did it in the biggest way possible. Barr even joked that the Conner family’s extravagant Halloween celebrations contributed to their financial problems, which were an ongoing storyline on the show.
Indeed, in a teaser for the Barr-less Conners spinoff, Darlene (Sara Gilbert) suggested that the clan stick with tradition when planning for their first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas without their mom.
“I say we follow the Conner tradition,” the Conner daughter said. “Spend every dime on Halloween and then we have nothing to be thankful for or buy gifts with!”
The Conners episode “There Won’t Be Blood” airs Tuesday, October 30, at 8 p.m. on ABC.
