ABC’s fears realized: Premiere of ‘The Conners’ confirms life after Roseanne ain’t so rosy

ABC’s fears realized: Premiere of ‘The Conners’ confirms life after Roseanne ain’t so rosy
(Image: Screen grab of NBC video, YouTube)

Last week, it was reported that executives at ABC feared that “The Conners,” their Roseanne-less version of “Roseanne,” was destined to crash and burn without the character the show was named for. Last night, they found out just how valid that concern was.

The show debuted to respectable 10.5 million viewers, but the ratings were down 55% percent from the premiere of the “Roseanne” remake last spring.

According to Entertainment:

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When Roseanne returned on ABC earlier last March, the first episode delivered a staggering 18.2 million viewers and a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 in the overnight Nielsens.

The program was pulled last May, days after Roseanne Barr posted a tweet about former Obama right-hand Valerie Jarrett that many claimed was racist. So obsessed was TV-land with damage control that Viacom, the cable syndicate that had been broadcasting reruns of the original “Roseanne” series, which ran from 1988 to 1997, pulled the plug on that series as well.

In May ABC announced that “The Conners” would explain the absence of the family matriarch by saying that she had died. Last night, viewers learned that the death was from opioid overdose, prompting Barr to say in a statement that the “opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show.”

LU Staff

LU Staff

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