While the ABC-dropped “Last Man Standing” continues to rule the Friday night ratings battle over at Fox, the premiere of ABC’s Roseanne-free spinoff of “Roseanne” aired Tuesday night and barely managed to attain half the record-setting opening of its precursor.
“Roseanne,” starring the pro-Trump Roseanne Barr, shocked the television world back in March by earning a stunning 18.2 million viewers (5.1 rating in the key demo) in its debut. Before the show came to a screeching halt after Barr infamously tweeted that former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was the love child of the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes,” viewership had tapered off to a still solid 10.3 million (2.4 rating).
“The Conners” opened Tuesday at about where “Roseanne” left off. “The debut airing delivered 10.5 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49,” Entertainment Weekly’s James Hibberd reports. “That’s down 55 percent from the premiere of Roseanne last spring, but was on par with Roseanne‘s finale and even managed to edge out NBC’s This Is Us for the night.”
Meanwhile, the Fox reboot of the widely popular show that ABC inexplicably dropped last year, “Last Man Standing,” starring conservative Tim Allen, has dominated the competition on Friday nights, averaging 8 million viewers and a 1.8 rating in its premiere. – READ MORE