Sara Gilbert on why 'The Conners' works: 'Not many' shows 'deal with the middle class and the struggles in this country'
Sara Gilbert is back for another season of The Conners and the actress feels like they have found their groove in year two.
“I feel like we’re getting our stride, understanding what the show is,” the former The Talk co-host said, stopping by BUILD Series. “You know, we had to figure out, ‘What is this version of the show.’”
ABC greenlit the Roseanne spinoff last year after a racist tweet by its star, Roseanne Barr, led the popular reboot to be canceled. Now, “Everybody seems to be in lock step,” Gilbert exclaimed. “We are excited to tell these stories and go on this adventure with this family.”
Gilbert added that it feels “important” to be telling the stories of the Conner family right now.
“There’s not many shows that honestly deal with the middle class and the struggles in this country,” she exclaimed. “I think there are shows that say the characters don’t have money and then you can’t really tell, whereas I think on our show we are really up against it.”
She continued, “You see us paying bills or not being able to pay our bills and dealing with health care, dealing with when we go up against a big company or all these things that people face in their day-to-day life we’re trying to give an honest voice to.”
Gilbert, who is an executive producer on the spinoff, noted that the authenticity in the storylines come from the people behind-the-scenes.
“Pretty much I think all… the writers have working-class backgrounds, [they] grew up that way,” she explained. “Often they’re bringing stories from their lives… I think they’re drawing on their own experiences.”
Gilbert said she’s happy to be making this show after the whole Barr controversy.
“I felt like we definitely wanted the crew especially to continue on and we wanted to not let the viewers down who wanted to see the show,” she stated. “And most importantly, I think we wanted to preserve the legacy of the original show and have it continue and at that point, get the reruns back on the air an all that.”
Season 2 of The Conners premieres Tues., Sept. 24 on ABC at 8:00 p.m. EST.
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