I was a big fan of the original Roseanne during its original run from 1988 to 1997. So, when I learned that Roseanne Barr would be reviving the show and portraying a very vocal Trump supporter, I made sure to catch it.
It appears that I am not the only one, as the ratings are…YUGE!
The revival of Roseanne premiered to massive ratings Tuesday night.The return delivered an incredible 18.2 million viewers along with an equally impressive 5.1 rating among adults 18-49.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)….The Roseanne hour-long premiere audience also grew slightly from the show’s first episode at 8 p.m. to its second at 8:30 p.m., which is a good sign.A couple other data points: 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.
The show did even better than the highly publicized CBS interview with porn star Stormy Daniels.
In real life, Barr’s politics are complicated. She once ran for President, first trying to win the nomination of the Green Party (losing to Jill Stein), then finally leading the Peace and Freedom Party to a 6th place finish in the 2012 election.
In a nutshell, she hates crony capitalism and likes legalized pot. To get a better feel for Barr’s approach to politics, it is worthwhile checking an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that aired before the revival’s premiere.
The best bit was Barr’s smackdown of Kimmel, when he expressed surprise at her choice of Trump because of her socially liberal positions.
“I’m still the same — you all moved. You all went so f—ing far out you lost everybody,” Barr exclaimed.“A lot of us, you know, no matter who we voted for, we don’t want to see our president fail,” Barr said.
I anticipated a snark-filled show that was politically incorrect, and I was not disappointed. The shows cast still had wonderful chemistry, and Roseanne was unafraid to tread into socially sensitive waters.
The co-executive producer Bruce Rasmussen explained why the decision was made to have the character of Roseanne Conner be a Trump voter.
But the moment we got in the writers’ room with Roseanne, she really wanted to be a supporter of Trump, not because she is one herself, but there are a lot of people in the Midwest who voted for him. We had debates and discussions. [Writer] Dave Kaplan and I were two of the people who had least understood that there are people who voted for him who aren’t misogynists or racists and who felt betrayed by other administrations….
I hope the rest of Rasmussen’s team discover something more about flyover country after the success of the premier, which also featured a grandson who likes feminine attire and talk of a surrogate pregnancy. Time will tell.
Will the rest of Hollywood learn anything from the revival’s clear success? I am doubtful, as a closer look at the numbers indicate that Roseanne mainly appealed to Trump-voting states.
Not surprisingly, the top TV markets where Roseanne delivered its highest ratings were in states handily carried by Trump during the 2016 Presidential election. No.1 was Tulsa in Oklahoma, which Trump won with 65.3% of the vote. It was followed by Cincinnati, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri. The only marquee city from a blue state in the Top 10 was Chicago at No. 5 — that is the area where the series is set.
It is clear that the working class viewers have been as under-served by Hollywood’s glitterati as its voters have been under-served by Washington, D.C.’s politicians. The numbers prove there the country is hungry for quality shows that embrace all American values, not just the social justice ones.
One fan, in particular, called to thank Barr for the show.
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