After parting ways with its main star and pulling the plug on the hit revival following Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets earlier in the year, ABC launched its Roseanne-less Roseanne spinoff The Conners last night.
The series premiere episode ‘Keep on Truckin’ – which saw the Conner family facing up to life after the death of its matriarch – pulled in 10.5 million viewers and a 2.3 rating in the key 18-49 demo.
Those numbers edge of NBC’s Manifest (2.2 rating and 10.4 million viewers) to give The Conners the biggest “new” series debut of the TV season so far, and the second biggest premiere audience for a comedy series after CBS’ The Big Bang Theory.
Despite a strong start, The Conners saw a huge drop in viewers from last season’s Roseanne premiere, with the first episode of the revived series drawing in 18.2 million viewers and a 5.2 rating.
That shouldn’t be too surprising however, given that the beloved sitcom was coming back after a 21-year-absence, and The Conners’ numbers are pretty much on par with the Roseanne finale, which had 10.3 million viewers and a 2.4 rating.
Did you tune in to The Conners? What did you make of the show? Let us know in the comments below…
