The 'Roseanne' spinoff puts up pretty strong numbers with its premiere, but they are well below the massive start for its predecessor last season.

The Conners, ABC's Roseanne Barr-less Roseanne spinoff, fell considerably short of its predecessor's debut last season — although it still put up solid numbers and is the top series premiere in adults 18-49 this fall.

In metered-market households Tuesday night, The Conners drew a 7.5 rating/12 share, off about 35 percent from the 11.6/19 for Roseanne's premiere in March. The declines in the fast national ratings were steeper: The premiere's 2.3 rating in adults 18-49 is down 56 percent from Roseanne's 5.2; in total viewers, it's off by 43 percent (10.46 million vs. 18.44 million).

The numbers for The Conners are below Roseanne's same-day averages last season (3.3 in the 18-49 demo, 13.48 million viewers) but in line with the latter show ended in May: The Roseanne finale delivered a 2.5 in the demo and 10.58 million viewers.

Ratings for The Conners were at the low end of what several ratings-watchers predicted for the show. In The Hollywood Reporter's informal survey of industry insiders, most had the show debuting in the high 2s or low 3s among adults 18-49 and around 12 million viewers.

The 2.3 rating in adults 18-49 for The Conners was Tuesday's highest, a tenth of a point better than This Is Us on NBC. It's also the highest-rated series premiere of the fall, coming in just ahead of the 2.2 and 10.4 million viewers for Manifest on NBC.

Oct. 17, 8:15 a.m. Updated with additional ratings figures.