Roseanne Barr receives phone call from President Trump after reboot ratings soar

U.S. President Donald Trump reached out to Roseanne Barr to congratulate her after her ABC sitcom reboot Roseanne drew 18.4 million viewers this week.

Speaking by telephone Thursday on ABC's Good Morning America,Barr said the call was "pretty exciting."

She described the exchange as a "friendly conversation about working in television and ratings."

Barr, who said she has known Trump for years, is a political supporter of the U.S.president. Her revamped sitcom tackles current politics, with the title character embracing Trumpand clashing with her sister, a staunch opponent.

The White House confirmed the Wednesday night phone call, which was first reported by the New York Times. They did not say if Trump had watched the show. But the former reality star is keenly interested in ratings.

Barr said Trump was happy for her.

"I've known him for many years and he's done a lot of nice things for me over the years," she said.

During a Q&A session with television critics earlier this year, Barr noted that"it was working-class people who elected Trump. So I felt that was very real, and something that needed to be discussed."

The same holds true for "people actually hating other people for the way they voted, which I feel is not American. And so I wanted to bring it [the series]right down the middle, and we did," Barr said.

She added that she's not an apologist for the president and doesn't agree with all he's said and done.

Roseannereturned on Tuesday, more than two decades after the original series ended its hit run.

The hour-long debut episode was watched by 10 per cent more viewers than theMay 1997 finale of ABC's original Roseanne.