The Conners premiere ratings up 4% from Roseanne's season finale, but down 35% from last season's massive premiere

Deadline

Early numbers show The Connners giving ABC "some breathing room," according to Deadline's Dominic Patten, who adds: "Down 35% from the Roseanne opener, the start of The Conners was just 4% better than the mothership series finale in metered market numbers. In fact, even with a massive marketing push, The Conners wasn’t even the highest rated show of Tuesday night. Though The Conners was ahead of This Is Us by 22% in the early numbers, it was CBS’ NCIS that topped the night with a 8.1/13 in metered market results with the fourth episode of its 16th season." UPDATE: The Conners premiered to 10.5 million viewers, on par with Roseanne season finale's 10.6 million.