The Conners: The most daring episode was also its most historic, here's why

The Conners made history on February 11, 2020 by incorporating live election results in one of their episodes in Season 2. Much like its parent series, Roseanne, the sitcom has never shied away from including daring topics and breaking the norm.

The sitcom is hailed as one of the first shows to portray the struggles of a working-class family authentically and it took this up a notch in Season 2 Episode 12 "Live from Lanford''.

The episode created history by being the first sitcom with a live episode that incorporated the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary election results on live television.

The Conners not only included the live results, but the family gathered around and shared their opinions on politics and elections, raising much-needed awareness about the issue.

More on this in our story.

The Conners created history with a live episode that incorporated live election results

Walking into its parent series' footsteps, The Conners created history in Season 2 by filming a live episode that incorporated the live election results.

Since sitcoms usually shy from including political opinions and controversial topics like elections in their scripts, this was a daring step. As revealed in an ABC News segment, The Conners cast rehearsed for Season 2 Episode 12 like they normally do, but there were deliberate gaps in the scripts for them to ad-lib according to the live election results.

The makers and cast members felt that it was an important event in US history and the audience should be made aware of it. As executive producer Sara Gilbert (Darlene) discussed with ABC News:

''We're hoping that maybe people who wouldn't be watching the results might, because it's integrated into an entertainment program. It's like kind of giving them a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.''

While the cast and crew went the extra mile to pull off this historic hour of television, it was high time that sitcoms included tough subjects and real topics affecting middle-class families.

The Conners' historic episode helped engage the audience like never before and created a unique connection with them by mimicking their real-life situations on-screen. Primarily, it opened a dialogue about the importance of getting involved in politics, especially voting and urged viewers to exercise their rights and pay attention to the elections.

However, the conversations centred around elections did not feel preachy or forced because the cast did an excellent job. They tried to replicate the conversations in real-life households during election time, which felt natural.

In addition, politics is a highly debatable topic but the sitcom handled the situation very well. They took advantage of the upcoming elections and centered an episode around it, also making it family-friendly and funny.

While The Conners episode focused on live election results, it did not lose its comedic streak and retained the laugh-out-loud moments just like any other episode.

Since the episode was naturally creating history on television, there was also added pressure among the cast as John Goodman (Dan Conner) discussed with ABC News:

''I'm channeling them [pressure] into excitement it's I'm wanting to make this fun. I want to make this unique and have a ball with it.''

Episodes like these pushed the sitcom to great heights and made it a fan favorite. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the sitcom continued to speak out on difficult topics and challenged norms throughout its run.

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Also Read: The Conners Season 7 ending explained

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