'Last Man Standing' Reboot Might Not Be as 'Conservative' as You Think
Fans of the “Last Man Standing” television show were initially elated to learn about FOX’s decision to start broadcasting a new season of the “conservative” show beginning on Sept. 28, 2018, after it had been canceled last year on the ABC network.
One has to wonder, however, just how thrilled the show’s former supporters will be once they learn more about the “Last Man Standing” reboot.
At the Television Critics Association conference, FOX TV Group chairman/CEO Gary Newman said about Mike Baxter (Tim Allen’s character), “He’s a character with a conservative viewpoint,” and then he added later that he sees the character possessing a “fairly centrist viewpoint.”
On FOX’s version of “Last Man Standing,” Baxter won’t be taking a stand one way or another concerning President Donald Trump, but producers do claim that could potentially change over time. Let’s hope FOX’s focus groups, ratings and the moistened fingers they stick up in the air to gauge how the prevailing winds blow will eventually allow Baxter’s character to stand proudly in support of the most conservative president the United States has known since President Ronald Reagan.
“Last Man Standing” is also bringing in a character who is a teenage Chinese foreign exchange student who obviously comes from a country with a political system that will naturally clash with Baxter’s political belief system. It’s supposed to add a little humor for the show … but to what end?
It’s highly doubtful they will allow Baxter to completely dissect and destroy China’s 20th century economic failures and extreme human rights violations in front of the young Chinese student. So how will these scripted debates be put to rest? One would hope not with the usual television cop out involving both sides making points with an implied moral equivalency between our two nations – because there is no equivalence to be found.
Will Conservatives Ever Be Fairly Represented on Sitcoms?
Back in the 1970s, people absolutely loved the Norman Lear-created propaganda extravaganza called, “All In The Family.”
“All In The Family’s” lead character was a Richard Nixon-loving conservative named Archie Bunker. Archie was an “old white male” who was a genuine racist, misogynist, homophobe and xenophobe.
Whenever Bunker spoke, he displayed his ignorance by mispronouncing words and therefore appearing ridiculously incorrect about everything, no matter how correct his underlying beliefs might have been in certain situations. The intellectual of the show was his leftist, hippie son-in-law named Michael Stivic aka Meathead. Predictably, the leftist Meathead was always right and the conservative Archie was always wrong.
Then there was Roseanne Barr’s return to primetime television, which wasn’t even close to being a conservative program. During Roseanne’s first night of programming, they pushed acceptance for her transgender grandchild. In another episode, we saw “conservative” Roseanne overcome her fear of Muslim immigrants to pay for her Muslim neighbor’s groceries after the evil white cashier said highly inappropriate and Islamaphobic comments to her neighbor.
And let’s be honest — “Last Man Standing” was never truly a conservative show. Kristen and Ryan (Mike’s oldest daughter and son-in-law,) Vanessa (Mike’s wife) and Chuck and Carol Larabee (the Baxter’s neighbors), frequently shared their leftist/liberal viewpoints in opposition of Baxter’s conservative views. And Vanessa Baxter was almost always laughably uncomfortable around her African-American neighbor Carol Larabee and would frequently make a fool out of herself trying to make simple conversation with her.
Television sitcoms rarely ever provide us with a conservative character, and when they do, it often portrays them as less educated, racist, or at least uncomfortable around minorities and people from different religions. It’s a shame because nothing could be further from the truth.
Think about it. How many liberal Barack Obama supporters did you hear exclaim, “He’s so articulate!” after hearing Obama speak for the very first time? It was as though they never could have possibly imagined that an African-American male could accurately read from a teleprompter with proper voice inflection.
Conservatives throughout America know that African-Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans and all Americans can work equally hard to educate themselves and to succeed in our great country without any unnecessary and condescending racial or gender quotas. Conservatives believe in equality of ability and equal opportunity for us all — liberals do not.
“Last Man Standing” isn’t a conservative show but it needn’t be in order to be entertaining for the shows millions of fans to thoroughly enjoy. But if they’re going to have a conservative character on the show, then let him be truly conservative and stand up for President Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again” message.
Leftists have full control over late-night television, daytime television and almost every single news channel on cable. Is it really too much to ask that conservatives be given just one show made unapologetically and especially for them?
Apparently it is.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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