Was Last Man Standing’s Cancellation Politically Motivated?

Ever since a few weeks ago when ABC announced Last Man Standing‘s cancellation, there has been fierce debate as to the motivation for the cancellation. It is no secret that Tim Allen’s character, Mike Baxter, was a staunch conservative, and that the six seasons of the show were riddled with cracks at Obama and Hillary Clinton. The debate since its cancellation has been a fiery one, with some calling the show “conservative propaganda”, and others insisting that it was a victim of “liberal networks”. While there are certainly arguments that can be made for both of these stances (some better than others), I’m writing this in hopes of creating mutual understanding, and perhaps discerning factors that went into this decision from all sides.

First of all, as someone who closely followed this show throughout its run (and reviewed it for much of that time), I would like to refute the claim that Last Man Standing is “conservative propaganda”. Yes, Mike Baxter was a staunch conservative character, and his daughter Eve followed in his footsteps. But, as I often said in my reviews, there was so much more to it than that. Mike was the main character, but he only expressed one viewpoint out of a plethora of viewpoints existing within the show. What I saw on the show was a Christian couple take in their daughter (a single mother) and her child. I saw acceptance and love of an extremely liberal son-in-law, who returned to do right by his son. I saw unconditional love between family members. I saw neighbors, like Mike and Chuck (pictured above) tease and argue over differing viewpoints, but never to the point of name-calling or bigotry. I saw shaping of children’s views as they became adults. I saw empowerment of women in nearly every episode. If you think these aren’t the conservative principles you’re used to hearing about on TV, you’d be right. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. As a TV writer, a challenge I try to abide by is to watch shows before I make judgement calls, and I fell in love with this one. It reminded me of my own life. Though I’m considerably more moderate than Mike Baxter, my upbringing was remarkably similar to that of his daughters.

All of that said, fans of the show are upset because they felt ABC silencing their own voice. Viewers like me who grew up in church-going conservative homes have struggled in the Peak TV landscape to find shows that resonate with them. I applaud ABC’s commitment to family comedies like The Middle, The Goldbergs, Fresh Off The Boat, Black-ish, and Modern Family. But, those speak to a decidedly younger audience. Last Man Standing resonated with a large portion of rural America, and an older, Friday night watching audience. I’m 28 and I’m young for a primary Last Man Standing viewer. It’s easy to understand the cancellation from their perspective as silencing their viewpoint for shows that express more progressive ideals, or who are nearly apolitical. Though I don’t consider Last Man Standing “conservative” programming, the key demographic recognizes the conservative character as a key difference between that and other comedy programming, and its cancellation understandably begs that question.

Aside from that, people who are not fans of the show have pointed to consistent renewal and cancellation factors such as ratings on the flip side of this argument. Frankly, on that front, they don’t have much of a case. Last Man Standing was a consistent performer in the ratings on Friday nights, and that performance was likely to have continued should the show have continued. Overall viewers matter less to advertisers than viewers in the demographic, but Last Man still performed admirably. So the ratings argument really isn’t a valid one.

Now, do I think the cancellation was politically motivated? I don’t. ABC was moving a different direction on Friday nights, and though I believe Last Man Standing would have done just as well at mid-season or on a different night, it’s easy to see why ABC didn’t agree. Moving Once Upon A Time and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (preceded by Marvel’s Inhumans) to Fridays makes sense as they cater to younger audiences, who tend to make more use of their DVR. If they were looking for an increase in live ratings on Friday nights, this was not the right move, but I believe they have accepted the nature of Friday nights in an ever-evolving TV landscape. Last Man Standing was also not produced by ABC, which made keeping it around more expensive than Disney or Marvel properties, which comes from the same ownership as ABC.

As a fan, I sincerely hope that Last Man Standing is picked up elsewhere for a 7th season. I have enjoyed covering it for the last few years. I do not believe that its cancellation was political, but I can see why people feel that way. I can also empathize with ABC and their reasoning is valid. My advice, then, is not to demonize the other side of an argument. If you didn’t like the show, that is OK, but don’t chastise someone who did, and vice versa. I believe Last Man Standing contributed to growing empathy and compassion around the world, and I will do my best to carry on that mantle in its absence.