‘Roseanne’ Scores its Highest Ratings in Middle America

Roseanne‘s grand return was the hit that many expected, and most of its success came from Middle America.

As The Hollywood Reporter points out, the top two markets in the U.S. New York and Los Angeles, did not play large roles in the sitcom’s 18.1 million viewership.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, contributed the most to the ratings success with a 19.0 rating, which is 60% above the national average. This number is especially surprising considering the market only have 500,000 TV-watching households.

Other top markets included Cincinnati, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chicago, the third largest TV market in the U.S. came in fifth in the rankings, possibly propelled by the fact that Roseanne is based in Illinois.

As for the aforementioned dominant markets, New York only average a 12.8 rating (just over the national average), and Los Angeles accumulated a 11.4 rating (just under the national average).

Some have attributed this success in Middle America to the show’s portrayal of conservative ideals. However, it did not receive complete success in “red state” markets.

Greensboro, North Carolina, raked in the lowest ratings in the country with only 9 percent of the market’s households tuning in. The Roseanne ratings in Memphis, Tennessee, were the eighth-lowest in the country.

See then top 10 highest-rated markets and the 10-lowest rated markets below.

Roseanne‘s 10 highest-rated markets
1. Tulsa, Oklahoma
2. Cincinnati, Ohio
3. Kansas City, Missouri
4. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
5. Chicago, Illinois
6. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
7. Detroit, Michigan
8. Buffalo, New York
9. St. Louis, Missouri
10. Indianapolis, Indiana

Roseanne‘s 10 lowest-rated markets
1. Greensboro, North Carolina
2. San Francisco, California
3. Jacksonville, Florida
4. Miami, Florida
5. New Orleans, Louisiana
6. Providence, Rhode Island
7. Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. San Diego, California
10. Baltimore, Maryland

With this massive ratings success, sources are telling TV Line that a second season of the revival is “a forgone conclusion.”

Star Roseanne Barr is apparently on-board for more episodes, as she recently told The Howard Stern Show.

“We all want to keep doing it, so we just hope people like it and they watch it, and it gets renewed, you know, we all want that,” she said.

Whitney Cummings, who serves as showrunner and executive producer, is also pushing for another season, but noted that the cast has to have clear schedules in order for things to work out.

“Laurie [Metcalf] can’t stop getting nominated for awards,” Cummings told TV Line. “[Hopefully] we can find a way to get her for a couple months straight. From what I gather, everyone is ready to do it again. Everybody wants to do it again.”

Roseanne airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: ABC / Adam Rose