As millions of Americans welcomed the Conner family back into their homes with the revival of “Roseanne” this week, the show’s titular character says the best response has come straight from the White House.
President Trump personally reached out to Roseanne Barr to congratulate her on the reboot’s impressive ratings, she said Thursday.
“It was pretty exciting, I’ll tell you that much,” Barr, 65, said during a call to “Good Morning America.” “They said, ‘Hold for the President of the United States,’ and that was about the most exciting thing ever, and it was very sweet of him to congratulate us.”
Tuesday’s premiere drew in 18.2 million viewers, topping that of the show’s finale 21 years ago.
The stellar viewership impressed Trump, whose call made Barr’s day.
“We just kind of had a private conversation, but we talked about a lot of things,” the actress said. “He’s just happy for me. I’ve known him for many years, and he’s done a lot of nice things for me. It was just a friendly conversation about work and television and ratings.”
Barr is an outspoken Trump supporter both in real life and on the show, which viewers have praised for tapping into the often overlooked working-class issues that many Americans face and that the president has vowed to address.
“An analysis shows that ‘Roseanne’ delivered its highest ratings in states carried by Trump in the election,” CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas told Inside Edition. “Tulsa was ranked No. 1, followed by Cincinnati and Kansas City, Mo.”
The show’s overwhelming success has prompted some soul searching, as Fox is now said to be considering a reboot of the Tim Allen sitcom “Last Man Standing.” The show featured a conservative central character and was canceled by ABC last year.
And arguably the most famous blue-collar sitcom of all, the TV classic “All in the Family,” is also rumored to be under consideration for a revival.
Barr said she recognized the divide in the country and among families in choosing to have her character support Trump, which is at odds with the political beliefs of her sister Jackie, played by Laurie Metcalf.
“The idea that people can agree to disagree is kind of missing from everything,” Barr said on “GMA.” “But I think conflict resolution and agreeing to disagree are important things that I like to feature and talk about, and I haven’t seen much of that anywhere.
“But that’s what we need to do as a country: Figure out what we don’t like, talk to each other and discuss how we’re going to get it changed or fixed,” she continued. “I hope that it opens up civil conversation between people instead of mud-slinging. I do because I think we need to be more civilized than that.”
