"The Conners" overcame much turmoil to say goodbye to its fans

The final season, comprised of six story-concluding episodes, returned to the circumstances that kicked off "The Conners." Namely, Roseanne Conner dies from an opioid overdose. The family sues the pharmaceutical company in question and, in the end, wins a pittance of a settlement, a far cry from the lottery winnings of season nine of "Roseanne."

The family then goes to visit Roseanne's grave, a way of honoring the character and - to a degree! - Barr. Variety broke down the finale with the executive producers of the show (hat-tipped below), and Bruce Helford noted that without Barr's acceptance, "The Conners" couldn't have happened:

It was by her grace that we were allowed to continue. She had to agree  that she would not be participating — because we were faced with having  almost 300 people to be out of work at that moment in time. What  transpired at that point, it was by her grace to say, "Go ahead and  continue." She obviously had legal rights in the ownership of the show,  and she let it continue, so she definitely deserves that place of honor that we try to respect.

Of course, it was also noted, one imagines with the vocal equivalent of underlining, that Barr appearing in the finale season was "never a consideration."

The most-remarkable part of the series finale, though, was evidently unscripted. As the characters began to say their goodbyes, and in turn the actors, things got misty-eyed. Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne's sister Jackie) was the first to get her sendoff, and when things got emotional, the producers ran with it. "We left it in, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before on TV, where you break the fourth wall to see what the actors are really feeling," Helford said.

Then, John Goodman, family patriach Dan Conner, made his own unscripted choice to truly break the fourth wall and look dead into the camera to bid farewell to the audience at home. "It jolted us when he did it," said producer Bruce Rasmussen. They did other takes, but ultimately went with it. After all Goodman did for both "Roseanne" and "The Conners," letting him have his moment was smart.

Everything could have careened off a cliff after Barr's Twitter kerfuffle, but instead the cast, creatives, and crew rebounded, got over 100 episodes out of "The Conners," and got a chance to say goodbye to fans who have been watching the family, off-and-on, for almost 40 years.

(h/t Variety)