“The Conners” dropped in everything last night–total viewers, key demo. In the nightly ratings battle. the “Roseanne” spin off continues to trend downward.
Last night, “The Conners” was beaten by everything- “NCIS,” “The Voice,” etc. This was their first really objective run, no World Series, nothing to distract potential viewers.
But the key demo sank, which isn’t a good sign. And the total viewers were down by 180K, which is a lot, frankly. People are leaving and they’re not coming back.
ABC has ordered 1 extra episode to the original order of 10. Sounds to me like a finale. Someone wakes up and says they dreamed Roseanne died. There’s a cackle from the next room. Fade to black.
ADDENDUM Variety is reporting that John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Sara Gilbert are each being paid $375,000 an episode. Let’s say Lacy Goranson and Michael Fishman get $100,000 apiece, then there the kids and DJ’s ex wife. That’s a heavy load per week if the ratings keep falling. “The Conners’ has to be added to “Roseanne”‘s syndication package eventually– it will never reach 100 episodes and have its own package. So Werner TV is in trouble, with millions going out and not enough coming back. “The Conners” is doomed.
