Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff

The political play of the week goes to the American Broadcasting Company, Roseanne Barr and John Goodman for the surprise revival of the old TV show “Roseanne” and their portrayal of a ‘normal’ middle-class American family torn apart by POLITICS over the 2016 election of the most controversial president ever – Donald Trump.

“Roseanne” went off the air in 1997 but last Tuesday the new premier exploded the ratings to the highest of any network program in six years, according to the New York Post. Who would have thought that ABC – one of mainstream media’s biggest players – would have had anything to do with anything that showed President Trump in a favorable light?

The contrast between the ratings of mainstream Hollywood’s Academy Awards show hosted by late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel — that aired in early March – and Tuesday’s “Roseanne” revival is sure to get a lot of attention from advertisers as 18.4-million viewers tuned in to see what Roseanne Barr was up to while the Academy Awards show had the lowest ratings ever.

This ratings bonanza should lead the way for Hollywood to end their endless assault upon the Trump presidency and finally learn that politics and entertainment don’t mix well when the President of the United States is relentlessly attacked every day in the mainstream media and made malicious ‘fun’ of every night by the likes of Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and the worst of all — nitwits Steven Colbert, Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler and Kathy Griffin. Just ask Griffin why her career went in the gutter last year after her little political stunt when she posed holding by the hair a bloody Trump head.

Late-night King Johnny Carson — who ruled the Tonight Show for 30 years — never was malicious, but he was always funny even though his jokes stung the rich and powerful but he stung them all, nobody cared back then because Carson was inherently a really funny guy – a master of standup comedy and he earned that respect unlike these jerks of today’s late-night TV.

Roseanne Barr, of course, played her controversial self as the same working-middle-class mother and now grandmother she has always been. John Goodman was there as well and showing in the last 20 years he hadn’t lost any weight. In the show, Roseanne said grace before dinner and ended her prayer with thanks for “making America great again.” Jackie, Roseanne’s long-time TV sister played by Laurie Metcalf, was there too wearing a bright red T-shirt with “Nasty Woman” in big white letters and she wore a pink vagina hat, too. They argued back and forth about real news and fake news. In real life Barr is a Trump supporter but Metcalf is not.

“One might point out that the first ‘Roseanne’ episode … was absolutely sensational,” wrote John Podhoretz in the New York Post. “Bruce Rasmussen’s script centered on a political feud between the Trumpy Roseanne and her Hillary-centric sister Jackie – and it was funny and barbed and fair, unquestionably one of the best renderings of the cross-ideological tension in America since Trump came down the escalator nearly three years ago.”

Hollywood so far has done a pretty good job of alienating 63-million Trump voters and surely they must see that the future of mainstream Hollywood may well rest with producing TV programs and movies that don’t actively insult Trump supporters. It’s not funny anymore to keep bashing President Trump or the ongoing disrespect for the “Star Spangled Banner” before National Football League season games. The NFL has paid dearly for the politicizing of football – ratings are way down, season ticket sales — too.

News reports say President Trump called Roseanne Barr on Wednesday praising the new “Roseanne” and he liked the ratings the show received.

In a New York Times interview, Barr, 65, said she “wanted to have that dialogue about families torn apart by the election and their political differences of opinion and how we handle it.”

According to ABC, the new “Roseanne” is contracted for nine episodes with the full original cast. The next eight episodes will not center on divisive Trump politics, but rather the opioid crisis, guns and medical-care issues faced by blue collar families. The opioid crisis, guns and medical care are all political, all the time these days.

How will the new “Roseanne” handle gun control issues? Will there be a school shooting/standoff down the street with a grandchild trapped inside the school or will it be something else?

Here’s a possible scenario that would stun the nation. Husband Goodman wakes up hearing a distant neighbor’s dog barking at 2 am. He also hears faint noises coming from his front door. He gets up, retrieves his .357-caliber six-shot revolver kept in a locked bedside case. In the dark you hear him cock the gun. He walks out of his bedroom with Roseanne sleeping.

Then “Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam and Bam.” Roseanne is screaming. Then silence as Goodman turns on the lights. Three black-hooded men are dead in his home – two in the living room and the other blown right through the front window onto the porch in a scene straight out of mainstream Hollywood’s ‘Dirty Harry’ movies.

Goodman calls 911. “I just shot three men breaking into my home. I think they are dead. Please come right away.” Police later identified the three men as members of the infamous MS-13 gang that often uses home invasion as a means to steal money, guns and drugs. No charges filed.

ABC has got a ‘Tiger by the Tail’ with this new “Roseanne.” We should all watch this glimmer of light coming from the dark world of politics and stop losing friends and family over politics.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.