How to Watch Roseanne and The Conners in Order

The Conner family has one of the longest stories in TV history. It starts with Roseanne in 1988, picks up again with a revival 21 years after the original finale, and finishes with the spin-off The Conners in 2025. Along the way there's a twist ending, a retcon, a recast, a cancellation and a whole new show.

If you want to watch the Conners from the beginning, here's the order, what each part covers, and which seasons you can't skip.

Roseanne and The Conners watch order: the quick answer

Watch them in the order they aired. The story runs in a straight line:

1. Roseanne seasons 1–9 (1988–1997), the original run
2. Roseanne season 10 (2018), the revival
3. The Conners seasons 1–7 (2018–2025), the spin-off

That's 231 episodes of Roseanne plus 112 of The Conners, or 343 episodes in all. The only real choice is what to do about season 9 of Roseanne, which we'll get to below.

Roseanne seasons 1–9 (1988–1997): the original series

Roseanne aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997. It follows Roseanne and Dan Conner and their kids Becky, Darlene and D.J., a working-class family scraping by in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois. It was a ratings giant, reaching No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings in its second season.

Start with Roseanne S01E01: Life and Stuff, where Roseanne tries to keep her sanity and her family together. From there, the show settles into a rhythm that fans still love: money worries, sharp-tongued family fights and some of the best holiday episodes on TV. The Conners' over-the-top Halloween episodes became a yearly tradition (see our best Halloween episodes guide), and so did Thanksgiving, from Roseanne S02E09: We Gather Together onward.

Watching this stretch, you'll notice Becky changes actresses. Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke swapped the role in the middle of the run, and the show had fun with it. We cover the whole story in why Roseanne had two Beckys.

Season 8 ends on a big moment. In Roseanne S08E24: Heart & Soul, Dan has a heart attack at Darlene's wedding reception.

Roseanne season 9: the lottery season and the twist ending

The ninth season, originally the final one, is the most divisive. The Conners win the $108 million Illinois lottery jackpot, and the stories get bigger and stranger. John Goodman is absent for much of the season because he was filming The Big Lebowski.

The two-part finale, Roseanne S09E23: Into That Good Night (1) and Roseanne S09E24: Into That Good Night (2), reveals that the series is actually a story written by Roseanne Conner, inspired by her real life. In "reality," Dan's heart attack at the end of season 8 was fatal, and the family never won the lottery.

Roseanne season 10 (2018): the revival

Twenty years later, the original cast came back. Roseanne season 10 premiered on March 27, 2018, with two back-to-back episodes, and it was a huge hit, averaging around 18 million viewers per episode.

The revival opens with Roseanne S10E01: Twenty Years to Life. It almost completely wipes out season 9: the lottery and Dan's death are treated as a story Roseanne wrote, and Dan is alive. Darlene loses her job and moves back home with her kids Harris and Mark, and Becky decides to become a surrogate. Sarah Chalke returns, this time as Andrea, the woman who hires Becky. The season has nine episodes and ends with Roseanne S10E09: Knee Deep.

ABC renewed the show for an 11th season, then reversed that decision. On May 29, 2018, the network canceled Roseanne after Roseanne Barr posted a widely condemned tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The Conners seasons 1–7 (2018–2025): the spin-off

On June 21, 2018, ABC ordered a spin-off starring every original cast member except Barr. The Conners premiered on October 16, 2018, in the time slot Roseanne would have had. The show reveals that Roseanne Conner died of an opioid overdose, and the family carries on in Lanford without her, with Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and the next generation at the center.

Start with The Conners S01E01: Keep on Truckin'. Michael Fishman's D.J. was written out of the show for season 5. The seventh and final season is just six episodes, and the series ended on April 23, 2025, with two episodes on the same night, closing with The Conners S07E06: The Truck Stops Here, where final farewells are made in true Conner family fashion.

Can you skip Roseanne season 9?

You can. The Conners' producers chose to ignore nearly all of season 9, and some developments from season 6 onward, including Jackie's marriage to Fred, the birth of her son Andy, and the birth of Roseanne and Dan's fourth child, Jerry.

Our advice depends on what kind of viewer you are:

• Completists should watch season 9 anyway. It's part of the show's history, and knowing the finale's twist makes the revival's opening make more sense.
• Story-first viewers can jump from the end of season 8 straight to season 10. You'll miss very little that matters later.
• Short on time? Watch the season 8 finale, then the two-part season 9 finale, then start the revival.

Roseanne and The Conners FAQ

Do I need to watch Roseanne before The Conners?

It helps a lot. The Conners continues the story told in the revival, and much of its emotional weight comes from decades of history with Dan, Jackie, Darlene and Becky. At minimum, watch season 10 of Roseanne first.

Is the revival season 10 of Roseanne or season 1 of The Conners?

The revival is season 10 of Roseanne. The Conners started its own numbering with season 1 in October 2018.

How many seasons are there in total?

Ten seasons of Roseanne and seven of The Conners, for 17 seasons in all.

Is there a connection to The Big Bang Theory?

Yes, two in fact. Johnny Galecki, who played Darlene's on-again, off-again husband David Healy, went on to play Leonard on The Big Bang Theory. And Laurie Metcalf, who plays Jackie, played Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper, on that show. Her real-life daughter, Zoe Perry, plays the younger Mary on Young Sheldon. If that's your next binge, see our Young Sheldon watch order guide.