Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 27 September 2019
Sara Gilbert: ‘The Conners’ works because it’s relatable

By ALICIA RANCILIO back and do it and I just
Associated Press feel like it’s my job to make
NEW YORK (AP) — TV re- it a happy place to work
vivals are usually met with with a great outcome.”
fanfare, but some — like Gilbert points out that it’s
“Murphy Brown” — failed hard to have a successful
to click with the audience. sitcom because many lack
An exception is the sitcom substance.
“The Conners,” a spinoff of “They’re usually pretty
“Roseanne.” bad,” she said. “Somebody
Ratings for the first season that I know is studying writ-
of the series exceeded ing and ... my advice to him
ABC’s expectations. The was just to make it mean-
second season launches ingful. Because I think the
Tuesday. trap is people think ‘Oh, it’s
Sara Gilbert, who plays sar- just a sitcom’ and they pick
castic single mom Darlene a silly circumstance or a silly
Conner, thinks “The Con- story and there’s no meat
ners” works because it’s on the bone and I feel re-
relatable. ally the key is high stakes
“We’re just really lucky and conflict and the same
that it’s a timely revival, things we deal with in all of
that we’re talking about our lives and then the lens is
the middle class and the This Sept. 19, 2019 photo shows actress Sara Gilbert, star of the ABC comedy “The Conners,” comedy, but the more im-
struggle of the middle class posing for a portrait in New York. portant the problem really
and that’s as relevant as Associated Press the funnier it can be.”q
ever,” Gilbert said. “We’re
lucky that these characters
resonate with people and
people relate to them and
I guess there’s a timeless-
ness about that.”
“The Conners” follows the
family of “Roseanne’ as
it struggles to make ends
meet, squabbles and
grieves the loss of its ma-
triarch, who died from an
opioid overdose.
The Roseanne” reboot was
canceled by ABC in 2018
after star Roseanne Barr
made a racist tweet about
Valerie Jarrett, a former
adviser to President Barack
Obama. The network fired
Barr. The comedian said
she is not a bigot and apol-
ogized.
Asked if she feels there’s
less pressure now that the
show has had a whole sea-
son without Barr, Gilbert fo-
cused on the cast.
“We love making the show
and we always have loved
making it,” Gilbert said.
Though she’s an execu-
tive producer on the series,
Gilbert brushes off the no-
tion that she has any sort of
boss status over castmates
she began working with in
the late 80s.
“I’m not really the boss,”
she said. “I feel like I’m try-
ing to make them happy
and make sure the show
stays great for all the ac-
tors that are willing to do it
and it’s up to them every
year if they want to come