ABC: ‘The Conners’ could be biggest show of season without Roseanne

“The
Conners”
ABC

• The “Roseanne” spin-off, “The Conners,” premieres on ABC on
  Tuesday.
• ABC exec Andy Kubitz told Vulture that the show will be “the
  number one new show for the season” if even half of the
  “Roseanne” audience tunes in.
• “Roseanne” was the biggest show of the year, and still had
  over 10 million viewers by its finale in May before it was
  canceled.

ABC’s “Roseanne” reboot was short-lived, but the controversy
surrounding it doesn’t mean a death sentence for its spin-off,
“The Conners,” which premieres Tuesday.

Andy Kubitz, ABC’s executive VP for programming strategy
and scheduling, told Vulture, “If we can
capture even half of ‘Roseanne’s’ audience from last year,
we’ll be the number one new show for the season.”

“Roseanne” is the biggest show of the year. 18.2 million viewers tuned in
to its two-episode, hour-long premiere in March. By its finale in
May, viewership had dipped, but it still reeled in over 10 million viewers for
its final episode and had 23.2 million average viewers for the
whole season, according to Nielsen ratings.

The only other sitcoms that can compete are CBS’ “The Big Bang
Theory” and its spin-off “Young Sheldon.” The former had 18.7
million average viewers, while the latter had 16.5 million
average viewers. By comparison, even NBC’s hit “Will & Grace”
revival — the fourth most popular sitcom of
the 2017-18 season — only averaged 5.5 million viewers
in its first season, which concluded earlier this year.

But “Roseanne” was cancelled in May after star
Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist remark at former Obama
adviser Valerie Jarrett, comparing her to an ape. So when the
Conner family returns this week, it will be without its former
lead.

That doesn’t seem to ruin the show, though. “The Conners”
currently has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, and
critics have said that Barr’s absence actually elevates the
show.

“Given everything it went through to become its own series,
‘The Conners’ makes a solid case for itself by trusting its cast
to sell the hell out of a particularly tricky
situation,” Variety’s Caroline
Framke wrote.

Time will tell whether “The Conners” will attract the audience
that “Roseanne” did, or even half. 

“The Conners” premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.