A Trump-loving "Roseanne" is making the Nielsen ratings great again for ABC.
The reboot of the sitcom starring Roseanne Barr premiered in the Tuesday 8 p.m. hour to an audience of 18.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. The series was one of prime time's biggest hits during its run from 1988 to 1997.
On Tuesday, "Roseanne" delivered the largest audience for any network sitcom episode since Sept. 22, 2014, when CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" drew 17.8 million viewers. The only scripted network program to score more viewers in the 2017-18 season is the post-Super Bowl episode of NBC's "This Is Us," which had 27 million.
The revived "Roseanne" reunited the cast of the original series that was praised for honestly portraying the travails of a working-class family.
The new version received significant public discussion ahead of the premiere because of Barr's outspoken support for President Trump, which has been written into her character on the show.
The 18.2 million viewers who watched Tuesday topped the number for the final episode of the original series in May 1997 _ 16.6 million _ when the TV landscape was far less competitive.
