https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/without-roseanne-who-are-the-conners-now/

The Roseanne spinoff seems to be doing fine, despite falling to a season low (https://deadline.com/2018/12/conners-season-low-ratings-flash-rise-ncis-the-voice-cbs-nbc-1202514467/) last night. "Nevertheless, it is missing something," says Melanie McFarland. "Now that something is not Barr — no, not at all. If the relative success of The Conners in the first half of this 10-episode run tells us anything, it’s that Darlene, Becky, Dan, Jackie and the rest can be watchable, entertaining and relevant to broad audiences without their cackling mother throwing bitterness into the recipe." She adds: "We know these characters as they exist in relationship to Roseanne. Even Darlene, the one many presumed would step into the space left behind by her mother’s death (in the opening credits sequence, she’s the one sitting beside Dan), was at her best as a deadpan counterweight to her mother’s lunacy. "Without that foil, Gilbert’s performance can only do so much to hold our attention. Darlene is too level, too perfectly deadpan."

Disagree, the new series works perfectly

I agree with Lorimar.

I think the last couple of episodes have been the funniest since maybe Season Seven of the original series. Things feel like they are back on track. The Darlene-Becky scenes are good, Jackie is less idiotic than she's been since S7, and it feels like the old show.

I want to see Jerry and Andy, though.

Agreed, we should see them. Funnily if this were another show I’d probably be more upset but I never really noticed Jerry and Andy, so it’s not as much of an issue to me.

It's missing all the divisive political crap, which the reboot used as a crutch for every one of their plot lines. Because of that, it feels truer to the original show. It's actually refreshing that this reboot doesn't mention Hillary and/or Trump, because people watch this show to escape from them, not to be constantly reminded about them (unlike the Murphy Brown reboot).

Darlene does have foils. They made Becky the dumb blonde bimbo and they created the Ben character to clash with Darlene. So they keep the reboot fun to watch.

I still think Jackie is a little off her rocker, constantly reminding people that she's a life coach, and getting herself involved with all these wacky situations like raising roosters, so I'd agree that bringing in her son, Andy might have offset that.

It's a little upsetting that we haven't seen Jerry yet, especially to mourn his mom's death. It seems like they haven't developed his character yet or even gave the storyline breathing room to have him come into the show. There's room for him to come in now that Roseanne is gone. If this show gets a second season, I would like to see his character re-introduced.

Too bad Norm McDonald got old. A 1998 Norm would of been perfect for the part of Jerry.