The new trend these days on television seems to be the success of conservative-minded TV shows. Just look at how Roseanne catapulted to the top of the ratings due, in part, to its star's unadulterated, not to mention unfiltered, pro-Trump rhetoric. Trumpsters love to have their values represented in pop culture, something that so rarely happens in mostly liberal-minded Hollywood. So it is not a surprise that Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" is doing so well. A popular ABC show which was all-of-a-sudden cancelled by the network earlier this year, 'Standing' found a new home at FOX where, surprise surprise, it has become a major hit. ABC had originally cancelled it due to some bogus explanation of how the show's economics just didn't work, whatever that means. And yet, "Last Man Standing" was consistently the highest-rated show on Friday nights, among the four major networks, for ABC.
Fox does indeed own the show now, through sister studio 21st Century Fox TV, and, clearly, they gambled right. Last Man Standing's Sept. 28 premiere had a multiplatform audience of 12.4 million viewers, making it Fox’s most-watched Friday telecast in 18 years. Fox has won Friday nights among adults 18-49 for six consecutive weeks now because of the show.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Allen explained how it felt to be a minority conservative voice in a Hollywoodland filled with agenda-driven antagonists:
"I’ve always said that, certainly, relationships are politics. The political discourse between a male and female energy is politics. And children, that’s all political stuff. I like to mess around because I’ve been a standup fiery comic for 30 years. And I like pissing people off, and I said there’s nothing, especially in this area, that pisses people off more than a very funny conservative. A smart, funny conservative that takes shots and is certainly self-effacing. The left-wing point of view is so pervasive that they don’t even realize it’s a point of view. It is just a point of view. I think this character likes that, he likes to have another point of view. It makes him sharper and more interesting. But we don’t push it. I don’t think we’ve mentioned pro or con Trump once now."
Allen's words are a subtle nod to Roseanne Barr whose massively popular reboot of "Roseanne" was met with backlash when it premiered to record-breaking numbers earlier this year for ABC, before being cancelled after controversial tweets written by Barr surfaced.
The timing is interesting. The settlement talks will occur nearly a month after the $7 million-per-day ticking fee start tabulating, which puts real pressure on Paramount to get this done.