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Roseanne Barr not only revived her immensely popular sitcom on Tuesday night, she also resuscitated the type of robust ratings network TV shows were used to seeing in the nineties. The always controversial comedian returned to ABC earlier this week with a brand new season of Roseanne. To say that viewers welcomed the show back with open arms would be an understatement. Even with a palpable buzz surrounding the sitcom’s return after a 21-year absence, the ratings for Roseanne exceeded expectations, earning 18.2 million total viewers. For perspective, the revival drew 10% more viewers than the 1997 series finale, per Deadline.
That, in a word, is incredible. But is it sustainable?
The polarizing series proved that nostalgia and controversy are a potent combination, but recent history suggests that the ratings may have reached their apex. Last year Will & Grace made its return to NBC after an 11-year absence. The year before, X-Files revival premiered on Fox. Both series had strong openings but saw a significant drop in ratings from Episode 1 to Episode 2. X-Files went from about 16 million viewers to a little over 9.5 million, while Will & Grace saw a decrease of about 3 million viewers (10 million to 7 million). If we’re basing our projections solely on the numbers, we should except Roseanne’s massive ratings to take a dip. But this could be the one TV series that evolves into a ratings outlier.
The show’s strong return and even stronger buzz may attract a whole new crop of viewers when the series returns next week. Factor in that people who missed the first two episodes can catch-up on Hulu, the enticingly divisive political conversation surrounding the show, and the continued interest in Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki’s return to the series (not to mention the George Clooney of it all!), we could actually see Roseanne’s ratings increase. If not next week, perhaps for Galecki’s return episode.
Regardless of where the numbers go, the ABC sitcom’s massive ratings means that the era of network reboots is just getting started.
