Donald Trump phoned Roseanne Barr to congratulate her after the relaunch of her self-titled sitcom drew an estimated 18.4 million viewers.

The US president also wanted to thank the TV star for her support – both the actor and the character she portrays are Trump backers.

Speaking to ABC’s Good Morning America, Barr said the call on Wednesday night was pretty exciting.

Barr said Trump congratulated her and talked about television and ratings. She said he 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.

Speaking at an official White House event to tout his infrastructure plan on Thursday, Trump touted Barr’s ratings.

“Even look at Roseanne,” said Trump. “I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings. Look at her ratings.”

Trump told the audience that the show “was about us”.

“The fake news hasn’t figured it out yet,” he added.

The updated sitcom starring Roseanne Barr returned more than two decades after the original ended its hit run. The hour-long debut episode was watched by 10% more viewers than saw the May 1997 finale of ABC’s original Roseanne.

Given the explosion of platforms and series since then and compared with other successful sitcom reboots, that figure is impressive.

NBC’s Will & Grace, for example, returned with its original 1998-2006 cast to a debut audience of 10.1 million viewers and was quickly renewed for a second and then a third season.

For its freshman year, NBC’s show is averaging 5.7 million people watching episodes on the day they air. But with the time-shifting viewership that networks are focusing on, its audience averages 9 million per episode over a seven-day period.

Another promising sign for Roseanne was the estimated audience growth from the first half hour (18 million) to the second (18.9 million), a sign that viewers liked what they saw. Future episodes are a half hour.

The revival had a coattail effect for the shows that followed, significantly boosting viewership for Black-ish and helping to launch new the Jenna Fischer-Oliver Hudson comedy Splitting Up Together.

Barr is back as the matriarch of the Conner family, with other returning cast mates including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Michael Fishman and Lecy Goranson.

The family is grappling with new personal issues and political realities: Roseanne embraces Trump, her sister Jackie (Metcalf) is a staunch opponent, and they are at odds.

Barr says she thought it was important to show how the Conners deal with the same issues many American families currently face.

“It shows people’s different opinions and how they resolve them,” Barr said at the show’s New York premiere on Monday. “I saw it happening in all the families I know, so I thought, ‘Well, this is, you know, it’s good, hopefully it will get people talking to each other.’”

The Associated Press contributed to this article