Over 18 million people tuned into ABC to watch the revival on Roseanne on Tuesday (March 27) night. The show drew a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 and was the highest rated comedy show in four years. It was also the biggest launch of a show this season, besting Young Sheldon which drew 17.2 million viewers for its inaugural episode.
The show, which kicked off primetime lineup at 8 pm, boosted ABC's other shows for the night. The ratings for Black-ish more than doubled drawing a 2.6 in the key demographic, while Splitting Up Together pulled in over 7 million viewers and a 2.2 rating.
The show's return to television was watched by more people than the final episode of the show in 1997.
The show has made headlines because of the pro-Trump views expressed by Roseanne Barr, and her character in the show. She recently got into an argument over her support of President Trump with late-night host and frequent Trump critic Jimmy Kimmel. She defended her support of the president in an interview with the New York Times and explained the reasons why she chose to have her character support Trump on the show.
Roseanne Conner has become a Trump supporter. How did that happen?
I just wanted to have that dialogue about families torn apart by the election and their political differences of opinion and how we handle it. I thought that this was an important thing to say at this time.
Was it your idea for Roseanne to back Trump?
Yes. Because it’s an accurate portrayal of these people and people like them. In terms of what they think, and how they feel when they are the ones who send their kids over to fight. We’ve been in wars for a long, long time, which everybody seems to forget — but working class people don’t forget it because their kids are in it.
Roseanne was picked up for ten episodes, but if it can continue to draw a large number of viewers, the show will likely be renewed.