Roseanne's Ratings and Ranking the Best Sitcoms

• 52:30Tim checks Roseanne's second-week ratings after the premiere.
• 52:41The second episode averaged 15.2 million viewers, down 24% from the first week.
• 52:57Tim argues that even a slow decline to 6 million would still be solid numbers for a network show.
• 53:20Roseanne was never a show you'd seek out actively; it was something you watched if it was on Tuesday.
• 53:39Half-hour comedies now are made mostly as background noise rather than appointment television.
• 54:13Perfect Strangers was great; Taxi was a classic.
• 54:31Tim questions whether Mr. Belvedere was actually funny as a kid show.
• 54:42The concept of Mr. Belvedere is creepy: some old British guy living in your house, correcting your kids' etiquette.
• 55:22Tim riffs on Mr. Belvedere's backstory and photos dressed as Lawrence of Arabia justifying his presence with vague world experience.
• 56:02Tim met a writer for Empty Nest who was morbidly obese and arrived in a van with french fries from In-N-Out.
• 56:47The Empty Nest writer claimed the cast hated each other and had shocking behind-the-scenes gossip nobody cares about.
• 57:08Tim tells her no one knows the half of it because no one cares; she's had a meaningless life.
• 57:25Empty Nest's opening sequence: the show sacrifices kids in a forest, then cheerfully announces life goes on.
• 58:07Tim liked Harry and the Hendersons as a kid and enjoyed most of the TGIF block shows.
• 58:41Three's Company was a great, racy classic featuring John Ritter's comic genius.
• 59:00John Ritter died of a heart attack during his later show, Eight Rules for My Teenage Daughter.
• 59:13Tim jokes that rule number nine of that show should have been about resuscitation after Ritter's death.

John RitterAll in the FamilyThree's CompanyCheersSeinfeldTaxiFrasierPerfect StrangersEmpty NestHarry and the Henderson'sFamily MattersALFWingsRoseanneMr. Belvedere