Tim Allen’s hit TV show Last Man Standing premiered on FOX Friday night, Sept. 28, after its cancelation from ABC last May.
On its seventh season, Last Man Standing follows the life of Mike Baxter, played by Tim Allen, and his family.
Mike is the marketing director at the outdoor sporting goods store Outdoor Man, and is married to his wife, Vanessa, played by Nancy Travis.
The couple has three daughters, Kristin, Mandy, and Eve.
Mike is known for his conservative views, which leads to disagreements with his wife, and two of his daughters.
Eve is the youngest and most like Mike because she’s athletic, in the air force, and shares his conservative beliefs.
The family has differing views on several topics and issues, which makes for humorous banter.
Last Man Standing had been on ABC for six years, airing from its premiere, Oct. 11, 2011, to May 2017.
On May 10, however, ABC announced the cancellation of the sitcom, following comments made by Allen on an appearance he made on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
On the talk show, Allen compared living in Hollywood as a conservative to living in Nazi Germany.
Allen said, “You got to be real careful around here. You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody else believes. This is like ‘30s Germany.”
Allen’s comments spurred a debate across the country.
Many thought that Allen was brave to stand for his conservative values in liberal-leaning Hollywood, while others were upset that he undermined the Holocaust.
However, ABC executive and producer, Channing Dungey, claimed that the cancellation had nothing to do with politics.
Exactly one year since its cancellation, FOX CEO and Chairwoman, Dana Walden, announced that the network would be picking the show up for an eighth season.
The show’s executive producer, Kevin Abbott, spoke with USA Today and shared his thoughts on why Tim Allen’s character stands out.
Abbot said, “You really don’t see a conservative character who isn’t an idiot or a villain [at] the center of the show.”
During the hit sitcom’s comeback premiere, the characters took jabs at their former network, ABC.
In the opening scene, Mike and Vanessa’s son-in-law, Kyle, is looking for his favorite show on TV, but couldn’t find it.
Vanessa then says that it might have been cancelled with Kyle’s response being, “Why would they cancel a popular show that everyone loves?”
This is when Mike walks out and says, “Maybe they’re a bunch of idiots!”
Kyle then notices that it’s on a different network and Allen’s character says, “Am I wrong or is it way better on this network?”
Even though the show makes political jokes mocking the left, it takes on serious issues that American families deal with today.
Politics is affecting every aspect of our lives including education, entertainment, family, and sports.
In the show, Mike and Vanessa’s oldest daughter, Kristin, is married to her husband, Ryan, with whom she has a son named Boyd.
Ryan is a big liberal and often butts heads with his father-in-law.
Ryan becomes so stressed about the outcome of the 2016 election, he wants to move himself, Kristin, and Boyd to his native Canada.
Boyd realizes how serious his father is about moving and is sick of everyone fighting, so he runs away to the Outdoor Man.
The whole family comes together to look for him and eventually Mike finds him at the store.
Their family crisis brought them all together as a family, politics aside. Allen’s character even suggests that Ryan become an American citizen.
The show seems to be just as conservative as it was on ABC.
The only change is the broadcasting network and a couple of re-castings.
The original Mandy, who was played by Molly Ephraim, and the original Boyd, played by Flynn Morrison, decided to not return to the sitcom.
Cinema Blend reported that the premiere episode achieved a strong 1.8 Nielson rating, with an audience of 8.01 million viewers in the 18-49 age range.
Considering the season 6 premiere and finale had a 1.1 Nielson rating, their current rating holds the highest viewership of the show.
TVByTheNumbers said that this episode almost beat out every other Friday night primetime show, but CBS’s Blue Bloods kept their spot at the top with 8.69 million viewers.
With these statistics, Last Man Standing is predicted to potentially be FOX’s biggest show of the year.
The sitcom gets the conservative voice out there by showing a typical conservative family who has family members with differing views.
It displays what life is like in today’s America, which makes the program incredibly relatable.
Everyone is constantly bickering back and forth about which party is correct in real life, and Last Man Standing brings that to life in a home and family setting.
The season eight premier episode was able to represent how family and listening to one another is much more important than politics.
Last Man Standing airs every Friday at 8:00 p.m. on FOX.
IMAGE TAKEN from NOLA.com
