The Conners' Sara Gilbert & Jay R. Ferguson On Season 6's 'Torturous' Wait & Big Changes - Exclusive Interview
Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert) hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to love, from her rocky marriage with David Healy (Johnny Galecki) to her on-again, off-again relationship with her former news magazine boss Ben Olinsky (Jay R. Ferguson).
However, in Season 4 of "The Conners," she and Ben are finally able to make things work, and even tie the knot in a joint wedding with Jackie Harris (Laurie Metcalf) and Neville Goldufski (Nat Faxon). At the end of Season 5, which finished airing in May 2023, things are good — they have their own place and are excited about the next chapter for Darlene's son Mark (Ames McNamara), a recent high school graduate. But can the couple keep this positive trajectory going? Audiences will have to find out when "The Conners" Season 6 premieres on ABC on February 7.
In an exclusive interview with Looper, Gilbert and Ferguson shared details about the upcoming season, including Darlene and Ben's current stability, the growing bond between Ben and Mark, the major impact that the strike had on production, and more.
The couple is in a good place
The relationship between your characters, Darlene and Ben, it's had its highs and lows. When we enter Season 6, can you talk about what that looks like?
Sara Gilbert: Yeah, I think we're in a more stable place this season. We've worked out some kinks in our relationship. I think now we're dealing with the world and how to find time to be together. And I think we're dealing personally with accepting where we are in life. We've let some dreams go, and that affects how you feel about yourself.
Jay R. Ferguson: Yeah, I would echo the same. Just get over one bridge, and then there's another one to cross. And so we try to do that delicately and not forget that we've got a good, stable foundation for most of the time, and moving forward in life.
You're going into your sixth season, which is something I feel not a lot of network shows achieve anymore. How does it feel to be doing this for another year?
Ferguson: Lucky, blessed, grateful. Yeah, it's very unique. And especially in this day and age, you really don't see that happen a lot. So yeah, just very happy to get to come to work every day. More importantly, we all really have a fun time together, and that's what it's all about. So as long as that's happening, then I'm happy personally.
Pulling double duty
Sara, you're one of the executive producers of the show. Can you talk about what your experience has been like doing that, and what your creative vision looked like going into this season?
Gilbert: Well, I love working with the writers and my fellow EPs. And I think, especially because it's 13 episodes this season, having tight, neat arcs has been really important. And knowing where the story goes and bringing these characters into these new chapters. Dan [Conner (John Goodman)] and Louise [Goldufski (Katey Sagal)], they're empty-nesters now, finally, as grandparents. And then still there was so much family there. So seeing them navigate that, and watching Darlene having sacrificed, and now is a lunch lady so that Mark can go to college, and seeing her come to terms with that. And Becky [Conner (Lecy Goranson)] trying to make a better future for herself but living at [mine and] Ben's house right now. Yeah, so I think touching on all those things.
The show tends to unfold organically. We find the characters where they were last season and then bring them to the next level.
Ben is a proud stepfather
And Jay, at the end of last season, there was such a cute moment between Ben and Mark, when Mark included him in his graduation speech [and] really considered him a father figure. Will we see more of their relationship in the new season?
Ferguson: You'll have to wait and find out, but I can tell you that anytime I get some good scenes with Mr. Ames, I relish because I love that guy so much. And I've literally watched him grow from a little person to a person that's about a foot taller than I am now. And I've loved our characters' developments over the years. And understandably, as young people grow older and turn into teenagers, then that presents new issues and new problems. And so we were probably juggling a few of those, but now he's a college man. So I'm sure that we'll have to deal with some bumps in the road there along the way. I couldn't divulge anything at this point, though, simply because I don't know.
Audiences can see themselves in The Conners
Can you talk a bit about the relatability of "The Conners"? I feel like it's not often that we see the working middle class depicted in a show, where they're just trying to find a job, just trying to make ends meet for their kids.
Gilbert: Yeah, it's true. I think there have been more shows over the years that have tried to do it now, but still, there is a conspicuous number of shows [where] people, they say they're in their 20s trying to get by or are middle class, but then they have huge, gorgeous apartments. It's sort of like fantasy. So I think it is relatable, this show, because it actually tries to stay grounded in what it really looks like to be working class.
I enjoy how, over the years, you've had a lot of different celebrity guests on, from Matthew Broderick to Ozzy Osbourne. I know you can't give anything away, but do you expect there to be more famous faces? And what's it like having those people on set?
Gilbert: Yeah, we got a really good one coming up that I can't say yet, but I think it'll be very exciting for people. And then we have some of the fan favorites that we've had before. Sean Astin's coming back. And we have Estelle Parsons, who's 96 now, who plays my grandmother. She flies in from New York and just comes in and slays it here. She's so funny and brilliant and young-seeming and I don't know, we're all trying to get her secrets.
Impacts of the strike
I know that Halloween episodes are a big thing for you guys. Will that tradition continue?
Gilbert: No, not this year, just because of when we're airing.
Aw! Can you speak to the strike more and how that affected the schedule?
Ferguson: Well, it affected it because we couldn't start for many months past the time that we ordinarily would. And it was torturous. It's hard to ... not just the actors are a family, but the whole group is a family. Everybody working behind the scenes. All of our crew we care deeply about. And knowing that they were having to go through a moment of struggle that didn't even have to do with their union was hard. But [we're] so grateful to have gotten back a couple of weeks before the holidays so we could put some money in people's pockets going into the holidays. So that was nice. And we didn't get to start as soon as we would've liked to, but we're making the best of it.
Gilbert: The advantage is we do 13 episodes and we have really tight storylines. And in some ways, hopefully, we can make a really strong season because we're just focusing on less episodes.
One last question to wrap up: why should people tune in for the new season?
Gilbert: Because our jobs depend on it. *laughs* Well, hopefully, we will make them laugh.
Ferguson: Yeah, that's the objective always. To entertain, to feel feelings, and to laugh.
"The Conners" Season 6 premieres on February 7, at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.