‘The Conners’ Introduces Matthew Broderick as Jackie’s New Boyfriend

The Conners welcomed legendary actor Matthew Broderick into the fold, though not everyone was a huge fan of the new man in Jackie’s life.

During the Roseanne-less spinoff series’ Halloween episode, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) took her new boyfriend Peter (Broderick) to the family’s spooky holiday party and he brought his own unique costume to the festivities.

“Hey man, nice to meet you,” Dan (John Goodman) says to the man, while complimenting his “Two Face” costume.

“Good to meet you too, but uh, tonight I’m actually dressed as the mind-body dualism of Descartes,” he responds, before Becky (Lecy Goranson) makes a joke, not having any idea what he’s saying.

Peter proves to be an intellectual, providing interesting facts about Halloween to Dan, who is clearly not interested in his fun facts.

Later in the episode, Jackie asks Dan what he thinks about her new beau, though she does not get the answer she was expecting.

“What do you think about Peter?” She asks.

“He’s nice,” he responds.

“Nice,” she says, anxious to hear more from her brother-in-law. “That’s it? Before I had my sister around to vet my boyfriends and tell me if I was making a huge mistake. Can you do a little of that, just be honest?”

“Well, he does seem to know a lot and is not shy to about sharing it,” he says, with Jackie asking for more feedback. “Well, he’s the kind of guy that even though you haven’t spent much time with him it feels like you spend a lot of time with him.”

“I just want you to be honest… find some flaws,” Jackie says. “Roseanne would tell me how she felt and I’d blow up at her for meddling but I’d hear it.”

Dan begins to speak more freely, which pushed Jackie over the edge.

Dan says, “I’m new at this but… I think I might hate him, but I think I need more time.”

“I knew you’d try to destroy this,” she says. “I don’t know why I bother talking to anybody in this family, and by the way, do you know how hard it is to find a single guy, in his forties, with a job? He’s damn unicorn!”

Given the resolution of episode, we doubt we will be seeing Peter again, which makes sense as he has been cast as a series regular in Netflix’s new series, Daybreak.

Broderick has been enlisted to play Principal Burr in the 10-episode series based on the graphic novel by Brian Ralph.

Jackie was last romantically linked on the series to her husband Fred, played by Michael O’Keefe, who appeared during seasons 6-8.

The episode also featured the return of the Conners‘ Muslim neighbors Samir and Fatima Al-Harazi, who viewers first met during the Roseanne reboot.

The Conners airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.