The Conners fans have seen Sara Gilbert’s Darlene take quite a few unique and potentially non-ideal approaches to motherhood with her two kids, and both have managed to grow into functioning adults. (Mark ever so slightly more so than Harris, it’s safe to say.) She’s not changing that skill set up anytime soon, either, as evidenced by Season 6’s fifth episode, “When Sisters Collide and The Return of the Grifters,” in which the oft-struggling Darlene and Ben attempt to show off their intelligence for a college trivia night, at the expense of taking Mark down in front of his friends.
In our exclusive clip from The Conners seen below, Darlene wastes no time in aiming directly for Mark’s jugular ahead of trivia night commencing. Well, maybe not for the jugular, as this involves a much sweeter crimson concoction than anything blood-related. Check it out!
In more mature times, Darlene has helped Mark with some huge issues, such as his temporary fixation with ADHD medication, which Ames McNamara talked to CinemaBlend about at the time. Or when she and Ben pulled off that impromptu mini-graduation for the Season 5 finale to make up for David’s absence as a father seeing his kid land the honor of valedictorian. Where does “ordering Shirley Temples as a means of age superiority and intimidation” rank on the list of Top Mom Achievements? I mean, not extremely high.
But it’s funny, and sometimes being a parent is about more than just doing the right thing. And dunking on one’s offspring with non-alcoholic beverages is almost definitely a huge and healthy part of the nurturing process. It’s gotta be in a few parenting books somewhere.
The ep “When Sisters Collide and The Return of the Grifters” — featuring the return of Roseanne co-star Natalie West as Crystal — points out that Darlene “crashes” the college trivia event to prove she’s got brains, but there are probably other, wiser avenues to provide such proof. Such as…watching trivia game shows with one’s kids.
Which gives us the segue into this also-exclusive tidbit from executive producer and writer Dave Caplan, who responded via email to my inquiry about how the trivia night festivities compare to Jackie’s Jeopardy! experience. In his words:
Jackie was dreaming of Jeopardy stardom and ran afoul of Aaron Rodgers. Darlene wants to prove something to herself but can't seem to get out of her own way.
Showrunner Bruce Helford told CinemaBlend when that episode aired that the original plan was to get Alex Trebek on the show, which wasn’t able to happen due to the iconic host’s death. But while that hosting change-up might have had a more positive effect on Jackie’s Jeopardy! journey, I’m not sure what change would have been necessary to convince Darlene not to spend her hard-earned money on a round of antagonistic Shirley Temples.
The Conners will soon celebrate its 100th episode, an honor that Sara Gilbert highlighted during filming, so don’t miss out on the fun when it airs in April or May. The sitcom airs Wednesday nights on ABC at 8:00 p.m., and is available to stream the next day with a Hulu subscription. Head to our 2024 TV schedule to see all the other new and returning shows that are on the way.
