Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Conners season 5, episode 12.
While The Conners may have dropped one Roseanne cast member at the beginning of season 5, the sitcom spinoff did reference his existence in episode 12. The Conners has a complicated history with its predecessor, Roseanne. On the one hand, The Conners would not exist without the successful 1990s sitcom. On the other hand, The Conners only exists because the star of Roseanne, Roseanne Barr, was fired from the show’s modern revival in 2018, resulting in the network rapidly restructuring the sitcom and killing off her character. As such, The Conners owes its existence to Roseanne, but cannot focus on her character too much.
While much of The Conners season 5 has used Roseanne right, referencing the character’s impact without dwelling on her absence, the spinoff has taken a long time to reach this point. The first season of The Conners had a dark, heavy tone as the characters grieved the loss of Roseanne, while The Conners seasons 2 and 3 awkwardly avoided mentioning Roseanne’s existence. This gave The Conners an uneven tone and meant that the few references to Roseanne that were featured in season 4 felt out of place. Luckily, The Conners season 5 has finally become comfortable acknowledging the previous show’s impact.
How The Conners Season 5 Referenced Roseanne’s DJ
Although Roseanne’s DJ appeared in the first four seasons of The Conners, by seasons 3 and 4 he ceased being a regular fixture on the show. Since The Conners no longer needs Roseanne cameos to succeed, the show dropped DJ at the beginning of season 5. His existence was barely acknowledged for its first few episodes but, in The Conners season 5, episode 12, “Stuck in the Middle and Stuck in the Past,” Dan and Jackie shared an anecdote about DJ getting stuck in the mouth of a clown statue while playing mini golf. Thus, The Conners season 5 confirmed that DJ will still be mentioned going forward.
DJ was not killed off by The Conners season 5, meaning the character could technically return, unlike Roseanne. Also unlike Roseanne, DJ's actor was not let go due to any known behind-the-scenes controversy and, while The Conners seemingly set up a tragic fate for another one of its heroes in Dan, the sitcom spinoff has not given any reason to believe that DJ will die any time soon. Much like how The Conners seasons 3 and 4 already made DJ a less central figure in the spinoff, season 5 has taken this approach to its logical conclusion. A likely reason for this choice is that The Conners already had enough main characters.
Why DJ No Longer Appears On The Conners
Between Dan and Louise, Jackie, Becky, Harris, Mark, Mary, and Ben and Darlene, The Conners season 5 had plenty of central characters without the inclusion of DJ. DJ was already reduced to an occasional presence on the show before The Conners season 5, and he can still return since Mary remains a character in the series. Even without DJ, The Conners season 5 is wasting Ben and Darlene’s story, so it makes sense that the series might wish to tighten up its focus with less characters. Unlike the Roseanne spinoff’s awkward handling of Roseanne’s death, however, The Conners season 5’s reference to DJ proves the series is not erasing his existence.