Now Roseanne is back, the fantasy is out and Trump is in.
The opening minutes of the Roseanne revival are all about rebuilding the lives of the Conner family. The afghan is still there, slung over the sofa. Darlene has moved back home with her children. Roseanne and Dan are older, but they’re still hot for each other and they’re still cracking jokes. Roseanne wears the chicken shirt. Times may have changed, but for the most part, the Conner household is the same.
The show’s Emmy-winning star, Roseanne Barr, returns Tuesday night to ABC with a nine-episode revival season. Dan’s back too, once again played by John Goodman, as is daughter Darlene (Sara Gilbert, who is also an executive producer) and much of the original cast.
“Roseanne” was a bona fide trailblazer the first time around, with its focus on blue-collar Americans, its diversity of L.G.B.T. characters, and its star — a woman who did not look or sound like a typical television female lead. The new “Roseanne” is topical in its own ways, starting with Roseanne Conner’s full-throated support for President Trump. Ms. Barr is a Trump backer as well, to the dismay of many fans; she argued on “Jimmy Kimmel” recently that supporting Mr. Trump was critical to keeping Mike Pence from the presidency.
Ms. Barr, now 65 and living in Hawaii where she has a macadamia nut farm, recently spoke by phone with Patrick Healy, the politics editor and a former culture reporter and editor at The Times, about the “Roseanne” revival, her stormy past on the show, her views on women in Hollywood and her feelings about President Trump. This interview has been edited and condensed.
