Roseanne revival premieres to massive ratings

The revival of Roseanne premiered to massive ratings Tuesday night.

The return delivered an incredible 18.2 million viewers along with an equally impressive 5.1 rating among adults 18-49.

According to ABC, this is the highest-rated comedy telecast on any network in nearly four years (since a premiere episode of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory from 2014).

So, yes, even bigger than NBC’s mega-hit This Is Us during any of its regularly scheduled episodes, where the weepy dramedy usually tops out around a 3.0 adult demo rating (the special This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode was bigger, but that’s to be expected).

In the adult demo, it also trumps Sunday’s blockbuster 60 Minutes episode which featured an interview with Stormy Daniels.

Also kinda incredible, given how ratings have declined over the years: Roseanne’s return was actually higher among total viewers than its 1997 finale 21 years ago!

The Roseanne hour-long premiere audience also grew slightly from the show’s first episode at 8 p.m. to its second at 8:30 p.m., which is a good sign.

A couple other data points: This is Tuesday’s highest-rated entertainment telecast in six years among young adults and ABC’s best results in the time slot since 2006.

Also read: Here is an interview with the producers breaking down that premiere.