Last night, ABC brought back one of the most celebrated sitcoms of all times as Roseanne returned to the air after more than 20 years. Amazingly, for all that’s been made about changes to the television landscape in that time, the premiere managed to pull in more viewers than the Season 9 finale did in 1997. As Variety reports, 18.2 million people tuned in to watch the two episodes of Roseanne revival that aired last night, compared to 16.6 million that watched the original show’s farewell (notably, many of that episode’s plot points — including the death of Dan Conner — were reversed within the first few minutes of the new episode). On top of that accomplishment, Roseanne ranks as the second highest-rated scripted show so far this season, only being topped by the episode of NBC’s This is Us that aired after the Super Bowl. TV by the Numbers also notes that it was the highest-rated Tuesday entertainment program in the key demo (18 to 49-year-old) of the past six years and the best an ABC show airing in the Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. timeslot has rated in the demo since November 2009. As a result, ABC has announced it will be reairing both episodes on Easter Sunday (April 1st) at 7 p.m.
