The return of "Roseanne" dominated TV ratings Tuesday, with the revived sitcom averaging 18.1 million viewers and a 5.1 rating in the key demo, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
The back-to-back return episodes drew cheers and jeers on social media as it sought to answer lingering questions from when the show ended on ABC in 1997, TV Guide reported.
Roseanne, played by the star Roseanne Barr, is a supporter of President Donald Trump; viewers learn that the death of husband Dan in the show's final episode in 1997 was all just a bad dream; and that Mark, who was played by the late Glenn Quinn in the previous series, has died on the show as well, TV Guide wrote.
Barr, who is a Trump supporter in real life, took comical digs at former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the show while her sister Jackie, played by recent Oscar nominee Laurie Metcalf, took on Trump, the magazine wrote.
"Roseanne" ran for nine seasons on ABC from 1988 to 1997, and Barr won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for her performances. The series takes up where the fictional working-class family left off 20 years later.
The Hollywood Reporter called "Roseanne's" ratings "unbelievable" and compared them with the revival of NBC's "Will & Grace," which premiered with just over 10 million viewers and a 3.0 rating in the key demo.
Variety television critic Sonia Saraiya wrote that while she enjoyed the content, the timing of the acting showed its age.
"Unfortunately, the revived series is a bit rough around the edges," Saraiya wrote. "Not in terms of its humor or content, which are remarkably well-adapted for a modern audience, but in terms of its pure execution; it's undoubtedly quite difficult to return to the rhythms of a sitcom that debuted 29 years ago."
Many took to social media to say that they loved the return.
Others, though, not so much.
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