--- title: The Conners' Premiere Ratings Fall Short of Roseanne Success description: Although the debut of The Conners managed to outperform the Roseanne finale, its ratings were nowhere near those of the revival's premiere. canonical: https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-17T20:11:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:06:14.950Z og:title: The Conners' Premiere Ratings Drops From Roseanne's Success og:description: The debut of the spinoff saw a major decline from its predecessor og:url: https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fe6fe5d830875a2/69893cb4e76ad24184633420/150223_0149r1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: MAYA LYNNE ROBINSON, AYDEN REY, MICHAEL FISHMAN, JOHN GOODMAN, LAURIE METCALF, SARA GILBERT, EMMA KENNEY, AMES MCNAMARA, LECY GORANSON og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Conners' Premiere Ratings Drops From Roseanne's Success twitter:description: The debut of the spinoff saw a major decline from its predecessor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fe6fe5d830875a2/69893cb4e76ad24184633420/150223_0149r1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The First Episode of _The Conners_' Ratings Drops From _Roseanne_'s Premiere Success > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 17, 2018 8:11 PM UTC  Maya Lynne Robinson as Geena Williams-Conner, Jayden Rey as Mary, Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, John Goodman as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner, Ames McNamara as Mark, and Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner in "The Conners." Maya Lynne Robinson as Geena Williams-Conner, Jayden Rey as Mary, Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, John Goodman as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner, Ames McNamara as Mark, and Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner in "The Conners."Robert Trachtenberg/ABC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 17, 2018 8:11 PM UTC Although the debut of ABC’s [_The Conner_s](http://time.com/5426408/the-conners-review-roseanne-spinoff/) managed to outperform the [_Roseanne_ finale](http://time.com/5319445/roseanne-spinoff-the-conners-abc/), its ratings were nowhere near those of the [revival’s premiere](http://time.com/5220322/roseanne-revival-ratings/). Tuesday night’s episode of _The Conners_—a spinoff starring the _Roseanne_ cast minus Roseanne Barr—pulled in 10.5 million viewers with 2.3 rating among adults 18-49, beating out _This Is Us_ for the demographic’s top spot of the night. However, this was still a 35 percent decline from the 18.2 million viewers and 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 delivered by its predecessor’s March premiere, the highest-rated comedy broadcast since a 2014 premiere episode of CBS’s _The Big Bang The_ _o_ _ry_, according to [ABC](https://www.disneyabcpress.com/abc/shows/roseanne/press-releases/). Titled “Keep on Trucking,” the premiere of _The Conners_ confirmed previous reports that Roseanne’s absense would be explained by having her character die from an opioid overdose. Following the episode’s conclusion, Barr took to Twitter to remind fans that, in real life, she is still alive and well. “I AIN’T DEAD, B—HES!!!!” she [wrote](https://twitter.com/therealroseanne/status/1052371163161088001). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/"},"headline":"The First Episode of The Conners' Ratings Drops From Roseanne's Premiere Success","datePublished":"2018-10-17T20:11:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:06:14.950Z","description":"The debut of the spinoff saw a 35 percent decline from its predecessor","url":"https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fe6fe5d830875a2/69893cb4e76ad24184633420/150223_0149r1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fe6fe5d830875a2/69893cb4e76ad24184633420/150223_0149r1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"MAYA LYNNE ROBINSON, AYDEN REY, MICHAEL FISHMAN, JOHN GOODMAN, LAURIE METCALF, SARA GILBERT, EMMA KENNEY, AMES MCNAMARA, LECY GORANSON","caption":"MAYA LYNNE ROBINSON, AYDEN REY, MICHAEL FISHMAN, JOHN GOODMAN, LAURIE METCALF, SARA GILBERT, EMMA KENNEY, AMES MCNAMARA, LECY GORANSON","creditText":"Robert Trachtenberg/ABC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5427508/roseanne-the-conners-ratings/","name":"The First Episode of The Conners' Ratings Drops From Roseanne's Premiere Success"}}]}] ```