The revival of Roseanne made a massive impact in its return on Tuesday night in the Nielsen overnight ratings.
ABC aired back-to-back episodes of the show from 8-9 p.m., with the show generating a staggering 5.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 18.2 million viewers for the hour. For comparison, NBC’s revival of “Will & Grace” at the beginning of this season drew a 3.0 and 10.2 million viewers in its premiere, while the launch of “Big Bang Theory” prequel “Young Sheldon” drew a 3.8 and 17.2 million.
The Conner family’s return after 20 years no doubt drew plenty of nostalgia viewers, while others were surely motivated to watch to see how series creator Roseanne Barr’s support of President Trump would play out onscreen. The only scripted show this season to outperform Roseanne was the post-Super Bowl episode of This Is Us, which drew a 9.3 and 26.97 million viewers.
The Roseanne glow carried over to ABC’s entire Tuesday lineup. Black-ish more than doubled its performance from last week with a 2.6 and 8.7 million viewers at 9, while the series debut of Splitting Up Together opened strong with a 2.2 and 7.2 million viewers. Freshman Shondaland legal drama For the People had its best performance to date with a 0.9 and 3.6 million viewers at 10.
