Tim Allen on "Last Man Standing" Demise:
"Nothing More Dangerous Than a Funny, Likeable Conservative Character"
by Ryan Parker
Sept. 26, 2017


Tim Allen is still baffled by the cancellation of his hit show "Last Man Standing". The actor and stand-up comic vented his frustrations Tuesday while he was a guest on "Norm Macdonald Live".

ABC canceled the series in early May after six seasons. ABC network president Channing Dungey said in May that the "ownership structure" of the series played a factor in the network pulling the plug and that Allen's conservative views had nothing to do with it.





Allen, who played conservative Mike Baxter, the father of three girls, told Macdonald he didn't buy it.

"I always wanted 'Last Man Standing' to be like 'All in the Family's' Archie Bunker," Allen said. "Archie Bunker pushed boundaries, but Carroll O'Connor was not that guy at all. I am a version of that guy. But there is nothing more dangerous, especially in this climate, than a funny, likable conservative character. He is mitigated on the show by a family of women who had a difference of opinions, but Mike Baxter was a likeable guy and a principled guy about work and ethics and all this stuff, I think."





The show hailed from an outside studio, 20th Century Fox Television, which made it expensive for ABC to license. But Allen said it was a hit and could have been used to help other shows, such as the upcoming "Roseanne" reboot, which is also a multicam.

(In its final season, "Last Man Standing" averaged a 1.7 rating in the adults 18-49 demo and 8.3 million viewers.)

"I have no idea why they did what they did," Allen said of the network. "You couldn't have handled this worse." He continued, "Second biggest show, ABC hadn't won a Friday night in 15 years. They put us out to pasture on Friday and we won Friday. Big night for us. Big night for them. I would have put 'Roseanne' after us. Use us just to launch shows, if nothing else."





There was some talk of CMT, which found success with reruns of LMS, saving the series, but the Viacom-owned cable network also found the project to be too expensive and talks subsequently broke down.

Allen gave an exhausted shrug when Macdonald brought that up.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tim-allen-last-man-standing-cancellation-nothing-more-dangerous-a-funny-likeable-conservative-charac-1043231

How Tim Allen really feels about his axed TV show — and President Trump (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/entertainment/tv/article174492846.html)

When ABC abruptly cancelled his hit sitcom “Last Man Standing,” Tim Allen (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/72ofw1/tim_allen_on_last_man_standing_demise_nothing/#bottom-comments) took to Twitter to voice his shock: “Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years.”

“It tore me up,” recalled Allen, his voice still raw with emotion months later. “Every aspect of (that show), everything about it, I loved. I was grateful every day.”

Allen, 64, is best known to audiences as cocky everyman Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on hit ABC sitcom “Home Improvement.” (He’s also the affable star of “The Santa Clause” movies and the “Toy Story” franchise.)

But ABC’s “Last Man Standing” — about a tradition-minded marketing director at a chain of sporting goods stores who occassionally clashes with his wife and three daughters — pushed Allen’s popular on-screen persona as a red-blooded American male obsessed with sports, cars and powertools even further.

“Essentially, Mike Baxter was Archie Bunker with a college education,” Allen explained, a funny family man with conservative, Christian values.

When ABC dropped “Last Man Standing” in May after six seasons despite strong ratings, some suspected politics played a part.

“Last Man Standing (sic) is one of the only shows on broadcast television ... that is not constantly shoving liberal ideals down the throats of the viewers. And sadly, that is likely the real reason the show has been cancelled,” wrote the author of a Change.org petition calling for the network to renew the sitcom. (Although the petition has garnered more than 410,000 supporters, ABC, NBC and CMT have all passed on picking up the show.)

Allen, who brings his stand-up act to Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez on Sept. 29, recently chatted with The Tribune about the show, politics and President Donald Trump.

It's funny that Tim Allen (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tim-allen-last-man-standing-cancellation_us_59cbdb74e4b05063fe0e8103) brings up Archie Bunker (http://jezebel.com/four-months-later-tim-allen-is-still-pissed-off-at-abc-1818838400) as an inspiration (https://moviepilot.com/p/tim-allen-says-last-man-standing-was-too-dangerous-to-be-on-tv/4378600) because Archie was meant to be an over the top conservative (https://www.mediaite.com/online/tim-allen-on-last-man-standing-cancellation-nothing-more-dangerous-than-a-likable-conservative/) stereotype (albeit his case, the primary trait for this purpose was bigotry, not conservatism). The writers of All in the Family were surprised when tons of people actually agreed with him.

Tim Allen on "Last Man Standing" Demise:
"Nothing More Dangerous Than a Funny, Likeable Conservative Character"
by Ryan Parker
Sept. 26, 2017


Tim Allen is still baffled by the cancellation of his hit show "Last Man Standing". The actor and stand-up comic vented his frustrations Tuesday while he was a guest on "Norm Macdonald Live".

ABC canceled the series in early May after six seasons. ABC network president Channing Dungey said in May that the "ownership structure" of the series played a factor in the network pulling the plug and that Allen's conservative views had nothing to do with it.





Allen, who played conservative Mike Baxter, the father of three girls, told Macdonald he didn't buy it.

"I always wanted 'Last Man Standing' to be like 'All in the Family's' Archie Bunker," Allen said. "Archie Bunker pushed boundaries, but Carroll O'Connor was not that guy at all. I am a version of that guy. But there is nothing more dangerous, especially in this climate, than a funny, likable conservative character. He is mitigated on the show by a family of women who had a difference of opinions, but Mike Baxter was a likeable guy and a principled guy about work and ethics and all this stuff, I think."





The show hailed from an outside studio, 20th Century Fox Television, which made it expensive for ABC to license. But Allen said it was a hit and could have been used to help other shows, such as the upcoming "Roseanne" reboot, which is also a multicam.

(In its final season, "Last Man Standing" averaged a 1.7 rating in the adults 18-49 demo and 8.3 million viewers.)

"I have no idea why they did what they did," Allen said of the network. "You couldn't have handled this worse." He continued, "Second biggest show, ABC hadn't won a Friday night in 15 years. They put us out to pasture on Friday and we won Friday. Big night for us. Big night for them. I would have put 'Roseanne' after us. Use us just to launch shows, if nothing else."





There was some talk of CMT, which found success with reruns of LMS, saving the series, but the Viacom-owned cable network also found the project to be too expensive and talks subsequently broke down.

Allen gave an exhausted shrug when Macdonald brought that up.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tim-allen-last-man-standing-cancellation-nothing-more-dangerous-a-funny-likeable-conservative-charac-1043231

Ron Swanson from Parks & Rec is possibly, one good example of a "likable, funny conservative character". The thing about Ron was he was kind of an old time conservative. Self reliance isn't a bad trait. The problem with radical conservatives is that they have made self reliance into a zero sum game and lost all empathy for those less fortunate.

The main issue with LMS arguably, is that Mike Baxter (I guess, being an idiotic, intolerant, sarcastic knucklehead that belittled every person with a dissenting opinion, and rolled his eyes anytime someone tried to explain themselves is "likable" in Tim Allen's world) had no real liberal character (second main character who was as liberal as he was conservative, like Ron had with Leslie Knope) to play off him. At the end of the day, he hardly ever had to acknowledge when he was wrong.

There are very few successful actors who admit to being conservative. The few that do, such as Tim Allen and Patricia Heaton, better be damn well sure they have their ducks in a row. Both have been quite successful--probably have good managers.

Re belittling everyone with a dissenting opinion--that's a quality that affects both sides of the debate. It unfortunate, and seems to get worse over time, not better.

Thank you so much for the great links! I love what Tim had to say about Donald Trump! :) :) :)

God bless you and Tim and our nation's leader always!!! :) :) :)

Holly

In a round about way, you can if you want blame Disney. ABC wanted to cancel Agents of SHIELD, but Disney wouldn't let them. So, ABC needed somewhere to put the show, and the easiest and cheapest decision was to cut the old, unowned show (bare in mind that ABC had to actively pay Fox to air it and it was harder for the show to make a profit on the same ratings) that was about to head into pay raise territory.