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.
On NBC, “The Voice” (1.6, 8.9 million) was down significantly in both measures from last week, as were “Rise” (0.8, 4.5 million) and “Chicago Med” (1.0, 5.8 million).
For CBS, “NCIS” (1.3, 11.8 million) was down in both measures while “Bull” (1.2, 10.7 million) and “NCIS: New Orleans” (0.9, 8.6 million) held steady.
New episodes of “LA to Vegas” (0.6, 2 million) and “The Mick” (0.6, 1.8 million) were down on Fox.
On The CW, “Black Lightning” (0.5, 1.5 million) was even.
ABC handily won the night in the demo with a 2.8 but finished second in total viewers with 9.9 million. CBS and NBC tied for second in the demo with a 1.1. CBS was first in viewers with 10.3 million. NBC was third with 6.4 million. Fox was fourth with a 0.5 and 1.9 million. The CW averaged a 0.3 and 1.2 million.
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