DATE: Tuesday, May 20, 1997                 TAG: 9705200049

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Larry Bonko 

                                            LENGTH:   95 lines

BLUE-COLLAR CONNORS KEPT "ROSEANNE" ON TOP OF NIELSENS

WHEN THE FINAL episode of the final season of ``Roseanne'' was taped a few weeks ago, the producers put up a plaque where the cast and crew worked for the past nine years.

The inscription: ``May the laughter created here echo on this soundstage for years.''

That was a nice touch from Carsey-Werner, but let's face it. The laughs were scarce in the past two seasons as star and producer Roseanne made the dreadful mistake of converting the blue-collar Conners of Third and Delaware in Lanford, Ill., into lottery-winning boors.

They mixed with royalty, indulged themselves at spas and resorts, and lost millions of viewers who once connected with Roseanne's struggling family - the family of beanless bean-bag chairs.

In a scene in tonight's hour-long finale on ABC at 8, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie has a reflective moment in the Conners' kitchen. ``The time we spent running around on planes and trains, and hob-nobbing with the rich didn't work for us. We're glad to be home.''

It most definitely did not work, Jackie.

The dry-wall-installing, toiling-behind-a-lunch-counter Conners, who at one time brought 25 million people to ABC on a weekly basis, disappeared the day they won the $108-million lottery. Gone were the Conners who rejoiced when Becky and her husband moved into a trailer, inspiring Roseanne to say if a trailer is good enough for carnival folk, it's good enough for the Conners. That was vintage ``Roseanne,'' a show that finished No. 2 or No. 3 in the national Nielsens for five years running. This year, it has been as low as No. 59.

``There were flowers and cake on the set for the last taping, but not many tears, not much emotion,'' said a Carsey-Werner spokesman. ``The cast had been preparing for the end for some time.'' In the finale, Darlene, David and their baby move in with Dan and Roseanne, and Becky announces that she is pregnant.

Roseanne, who is on Broadway in ``The Wizard of Oz,'' and is talking about returning to TV with a daytime talk show, closed out the sitcom, and a Conners' family reunion, with these words: ``We owe God in a big way.''

They do, indeed.

``Roseanne'' made its star a millionaire, enhanced the careers of John Goodman and Metcalf, and gave the kids in the cast more than enough money for good educations.

Until lately, ``Roseanne'' was as good as TV comedy gets. Now it's finis.

This has been the season of finales for long-running series. ABC's ``Coach'' shut down last week. Wednesday night at 9 on NBC, ``Wings'' is grounded after eight seasons. NBC will not bring back ``Unsolved Mysteries.''

Earlier this spring, ``Married with Children'' and ``Martin'' packed it in. Now ``Roseanne'' is over except for reruns. (WGNT shows it weeknights at 7).

Over on NBC tonight at 8, it's new-beginnings as Jamie gives birth in a one-hour ``Mad About You.'' This is the last time that ``Roseanne'' and ``Mad About You'' go head to head in a ratings skirmish that ``Mad About You'' has been winning for months.

If Roseanne wants to blame anyone for her show's cancellation in 1997, she could blame the Buchman baby. Jamie's season-long pregnancy - ``An honest chronology of a woman's pregnancy,'' said star Paul Reiser - pulled viewers by the millions away from ``Roseanne.''

Tonight, the baby comes.

It you don't want to know the sex of the baby, stop reading now.

It's a girl.

Look for a surprise ending, said Reiser. Reiser, who co-stars with Helen Hunt, helps to produce the sitcom, and also wrote the theme. ``Now that Ellen has her life together, we've decided to hand the baby over to her right after it's born,'' said Reiser.

He's the father of an 18-month old son, and therefore knows what it's like to welcome a newborn into the family. He's writing a book about it called ``Babyhood.''

``On our show, we'll keep the birth of the baby real, but we'll make it fun. If we make a show about new parents too real, nobody would watch. Who would want to see two exhausted people yawning and falling asleep on television?'' Reiser said.

For next season, which could be the last for ``Mad About You,'' Reiser isn't planning what he calls a cutesy-baby sitcom. ``The show will still be about a couple, Jamie and Paul. The baby won't get in the way. We'll open each show by saying the baby just fell asleep, and then when the half hour's about over, we'll say the baby just woke up.

``It's either that or we prop the baby in the corner somewhere out of the way.''

The man's joking. Or is he? Anybody seen Murphy Brown's kid lately?

As for next season, Reiser more than hinted it will be the sixth and perhaps final run for ``Mad About You'' because he has other things he wants to do. Hunt has evolved into a movie star.

``Next year could be our last. I never saw this series as a 10- or 12-year commitment. We'll do it as long as we're having fun,'' he said.

You'll know the end is near when the Buchman baby wins the lottery. ILLUSTRATION: ABC

Roseanne and John Goodman...

NBC

Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt) welcome their baby

tonight at 8 in the season finale of ``Mad About You.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu