Keep on Truckin'

"Keep on Truckin'"
Season 1: Episode 1(1 / 112 episodes)
Network	ABC-TV
Production Code	101
Air date	October 16, 2018
Written by	Dave Caplan Bruce Helford & Bruce Rasmussen
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Episode Guide
Previous	Knee Deep (Roseanne)
Next	Tangled Up In Blue

Keep on Truckin' is the premiere episode of the new spin-off of Roseanne titled The Conners, thus it is the 1st episode of Season 1. It's the first episode not to feature the character of Roseanne Conner as played by Roseanne Barr.

Summary

A sudden turn of events forces the Conners to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before.

Plot

Three weeks after Roseanne’s funeral, the Conners are still grieving over her death. Out of everybody, Dan Conner is the one who mourns her the most, because it is mentioned that shortly before her death, Roseanne had knee surgery, but when she realized that her knee wasn’t healing fast enough, she turned to her friend Marcy Bellinger for some painkillers (opioid pills) to get back to work, because the Conners were running out of money at the time. Roseanne was secretly getting pills from several other people. Because of this, Roseanne became addicted to painkillers, which deteriorated her already-poor health even more.

One night, Roseanne took a few pills before she went to sleep, but her health problems finally took their toll on her, and the pills that she took before bed were enough to stop her breathing.

At first, the Conners thought that Roseanne died in her sleep from a heart attack, but Jackie gets a call from a friend in the coroner’s office who says that Roseanne’s autopsy stated that it wasn’t a heart attack; Roseanne overdosed on opioid pills.

Cast

Starring

• John Goodman as Dan Conner
• Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris
• Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner
• Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner
• Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner
• Emma Kenney as Harris Healy
• Ames McNamara as Mark Healy II
• Jayden Rey as Mary Conner
• Maya Lynne Robinson as Geena Williams

Guests

• Estelle Parsons as Beverly Harris
• James Pickens Jr. as Chuckie Mitchell
• Natalie West as Crystal Anderson
• Mary Steenburgen as Marcy Bellinger

Trivia

• This marks the first episode not to feature Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) at all.
• Geena Williams is now portrayed by Maya Lynne Robinson and upgraded to a main cast member.
• This episode features the first appearance of Marcy Bellinger, the acquaintance of Roseanne Conner from whom she obtained prescription pills. She had previously been mentioned in the penultimate Roseanne episode "Netflix & Pill"
• Strangely, DJ is the only original character not shown to mourn Roseanne onscreen.