Reboots and revivals are all the rage on TV nowadays, and ABC has a big hit with the brand new Roseanne revival. The revival brought back the majority of the original cast and explained the absences of the characters who could not return for various reasons, and a whole bunch of people tuned in to the two-episode premiere on March 27. Now, only three days later, ABC has given the order for a second season of the revival and eleventh season overall.
All things considered, the renewal doesn't come as a huge surprise. Roseanne already delivered TV's biggest premiere this season. The earliest ratings that could be calculated after the episode aired were Live+Same Day, revealing that 18.16 million people tuned in for the premiere, which scored an impressive 5.1 rating in the key 18-49 age demographic. Now that one day of delayed viewing (courtesy of Nielsen) can be calculated, the Roseanne premiere already saw its viewership boosted by more than 3 million viewers for a total of 21.869 million on average for the two episodes. After just that single day of playback, the rating also got a big bump, rising from the 5.1 to 6.24 in the 18-49 demo. That makes a jump of more than 20% over the Live+Same Day numbers. No wonder ABC was quick to order a second revival season!
Of course, a second revival season couldn't happen no matter what ABC's wishes if the cast was unwilling to sign on for more episodes. After all, the show is called Roseanne, and it couldn't very well continue without Roseanne Barr. Besides, as much as the first revival season could get away with the absence of David, the same probably wouldn't be true if Darlene or Becky or Dan wasn't around. Fortunately for fans who were already happy to get the Conner family back in primetime with the revival, Roseanne Barr had already revealed that the cast would be on board for another batch of episodes. Sara Gilbert, who plays Darlene, has stated that nobody expected the ratings that the premiere scored, and we can bet that nobody at the show was expecting a call from Donald Trump either!
There is no news just yet about how many episodes we can expect, when we can expect a premiere, and/or how Roseanne will continue to address current events. Fans may hope that some of the guest stars who will pop up in Season 1 will reprise their roles more often in Season 2. Johnny Galecki has shown enthusiasm for the project; if he gets some time off from The Big Bang Theory, maybe he and Darlene can get a more permanent reunion. We'll have to wait and see.
Tune in to ABC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for new episodes of the Roseanne revival, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in Roseanne news. If you're still in the market for other show, we have a handy midseason TV premiere schedule and summer premiere guide. For the other network TV shows that have (and have not) gotten renewals, check out our rundown of TV renewals and cancellations.
