BetterForgotten

‘Roseanne’ Revival Premiere Sets Delayed Viewing Record

Did anyone see this interview Christopher Goutman did with Nelson Aspen in 2013? He basically takes no responsibility for ATWT's demise (said it had been happening since B&B took ATWT's timeslot), and said ATWT did not have the same passionate audience as other soaps to keep it alive in another incarnation...

This week has been weird though - it feels like I'm in a time warp back to 1990 where Roseanne is the #1 show in America, and the media won't shut up about her and the show.

ABC is touting a 23 million figure - I guess final figures are still trickling in for DVR playback:

I definitely miss her and she certainly left us way too soon. In my head, I always cast her and Carrie Genzel (who played Skye briefly on AMC) as a mother/daughter pair on some imaginary soap. For some reason, Carrie always reminded me of Nancy.

Roseanne seems to want a fall premiere for season 2 - she's talking about how much she wants to do another Halloween episode on Twitter. ABC now needs to be very careful with the shorter seasons so they don't lose momentum.

Thanks for the link. Hmm, didn't know she left to try her hand at Hollywood (she was probably considered "too old" by Hollywood by then, sadly). It couldn't have been for very long though, as she was briefly on AMC later in '89, and later on Loving.

Thanks, I can't imagine she had any great material by the end, but had I been watching in real-time back then, I know I would've missed her.

Random question - was Nancy Addison Altman fired, or did she leave on her own accord in 1988? Jillian was probably my favorite character early on, and I don't think Altman ever got the respect she deserved as an actress. Such a stunning woman in her prime too.

Sara Gilbert's reaction to the ratings success on The Talk.

Maybe when Modern Family ends, and they put that crap CBS comedy Katey Sagal is on out of its misery, they'll attempt a Married ...with Children reboot. That was the show that put Fox on the map, and they cancelled it after 11 seasons with no finale.

I thought she talked about DJ dying in Iraq?

Jerry and Larry David said millions of times that they'd never do a reboot. Seinfeld is also still raking in millions in syndication (more so than any show from that era), so it's very unlikely that will ever happen. NBC sure wishes though.

I mean, she also called Israel a "Nazi state" at one point... She speaks about the picture controversy :45s in. At 3:30 in, they speak about how "political correctness" has ruined comedy.

Oh, must be an old Tweet, she did that picture a few years back.

I mean, the good thing is Roseanne never had much of a reputation to uphold. The people who follow her and employ her know exactly what they're getting.

IMO, Murphy Brown will be lucky to do as well as Will & Grace, let alone Roseanne. There several things I think don't work in its favour, despite it's pop culture peak with the Quayle debacle and a few seasons in the top 10 during its original run: There's nothing compatible with it in terms of comedies on the CBS lineup; You can argue ABC has created a niche with non-traditional family comedies, which Roseanne fits seamlessly into Murphy Brown was not a hit in syndication; Generations of people got exposure to Roseanne by watching a re-run, and while not as visible in syndication, Will & Grace has had a more accessible run than Murphy Brown has Murphy Brown is naturally a more divisive show due to its innate and overt topical/political nature - you'll already have people who won't bother to check it out because of that I know almost no one who was clamoring for a Murphy Brown reboot before it was announced; Roseanne and Will & Grace initially sparked talk because of fan interest after some actors appeared together for one-off things I would be very surprised to see if that reboot generates the same type of interest.

Even if it got half this audience in other episodes, it would still be a hit by today's standards, sadly.

Lecy's a smoker, I believe, so not surprised by her deeper voice....

I have to say that it's nice that an actress like Laurie Metcalf at her age is getting such renewed interest and respect for her craft across film, TV, and theater. The show instantly has some level of credibility because she's in the cast.

The EW ratings article had some interesting tidbits: 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) 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 premiere audience also grew slightly from its first quarter to its second, which is a good sign 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

If this were NBC, it would already have a 5 season pick-up.

Different generations have also discovered the show in syndication (since it's always on), so besides the nostalgia factor for people who were alive when it was originally on, I think a lot of different people were probably interested in checking the revival out.