The Conners fans reacted to a clip from a Season 3 episode featuring guest star Katey Sagal.
Series star Emma Kenney posted a peek of the upcoming episode to her Instagram page. In the scene, Sagal was in character as Dan Conner’s (John Goodman) girlfriend, Louise. The 66-year-old guest star sat on the familiar Conner couch as she played the guitar while Dan sang a COVID-19 themed tune while humming on a harmonica.
In the caption to the clip, Kenney revealed that Sagal even brought her own guitar to the set of the ABC sitcom for the scene.
While she’s best known for her breakout acting role as Peg Bundy on Married With Children and her subsequent parts on 8 Simple Rules and Sons of Anarchy , fans know that Sagal started out as a singer-songwriter and worked as a backup vocalist for big-name music stars including Bon Dylan, Bette Midler, and Gene Simmons.
In the comments section, many viewers expressed their happiness to see Sagal back on the show. But some couldn’t get past the fact that she was taking the place of Dan’s wife Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) on the sitcom fam’s iconic afghan-topped couch two years after the Conner matriarch was killed off of the original series.
“Disgrace of a scam show,” one commenter wrote of the Roseanne-less spinoff.
“It’s like watching the Simpsons without Homer,” another added.
Sagal also posted the scene to her Instagram page, seen here , where other commenters were thrilled to see her back on The Conners.
‘The only woman who could replace the brilliant [Roseanne Barr]. Big fan,” one viewer wrote.
“I’m so excited! You’re my favorite part of this show,” another fan told the actress.
Viewers know that Dan’s romance with Sagal’s Louise was a long time coming. The widower spent much of the first two seasons of the sitcom mourning the death of his wife. He finally committed to Louise at the end of Season 2, but some viewers worried the romance would be short-lived after Sagal scored a starring role in the upcoming ABC drama, Rebel.
The Conners executive producer Bruce Helford told TVLine fans need not worry. After she signed on to the new series, Sagal apparently sent the EP a note telling him she still wanted to be on The Conners.
“The first thing that Katey did [after Rebel was picked up] was send us an email saying, ‘Do not hire a new girlfriend for Dan — I am not abdicating my role,’” Helford told the outlet.
The Conners showrunner admitted that it will be a lot of work for Sagal to juggle both shows when Rebel starts production early next month.
“There will be some conflict,” he admitted. “But we’ll work on Saturdays [if we need to]. We intend for Louise to be around all season.”