Last Man Standing is one of the most-watched sitcoms in American television today. It is therefore difficult to imagine trying to cancel it. The show has been around for close to 10 years now and 8 seasons in, the Tim Allen star vehicle has seemingly overstayed its welcome. Last Man Standing has provided viewers with something exciting to watch and keep their Fridays worth staying home. However, everything with a beginning definitely has an end and for this show, its end should be after its recent 8th season. Since the show has carved solid viewership , we will have have to provide compelling reasons as to why we think it might be time to close the curtain on the funny family.
What is the show all about?
The show Last Man Standing that currently airs on Fox stars the leading main man Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, Molly McCook, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders, Jet Jurgensmeyer, Jordan Masterson, Hector Olizando and Jonathan Adams just to mention a few. The series centers on the life of Tim Allen’s character Mike Baxter who is the marketing director of the sporting goods stores called the Outdoor Man in Denver Colorado and is seemingly a people’s person. His family of 3 doesn’t see eye to eye with him and it can be difficult for Baxter to stand his ground with them.
Ratings
The show’s premiere on the ABC network drew a 3.5 18-49 adults rating. This was a 9% improvement for the network’s other show No Ordinary Family premier which drew a 3.2 rating. Season 2, however, saw the rate dropping to 2.0 with the show’s premiere. This figure was a 38% drop of viewership from its season premiere. It was however not all bad news with the rate being an 18% improvement of the show’s rating as compared to the first season’s finale. The seventh season of the show Last Man Standing averaged a 1.09 adult rating in the 18-49 age groups which loosely translates to 5 million viewers. Compared to the previous season this was a drop within the demographic age group of 18-49.
Here are three reasons why it is time to cancel Last Man Standing:
1. The show is old and has become expensive
Usually, if a show runs past its fifth season, every additional season becomes harder to acquire even if the show’s ratings are solid. The reason for this is because most of the cast and crew begin to earn significantly higher to lock them in. Usually, post-season 5, a studio begins to get their money back from production by syndication and other means. Last Man Standing has the benefit of earning its studio both the cable rerun deals and lucrative syndication with other networks. These have mainly been paid off from the show’s solid powerhouse ratings that went back to the main program. These numbers put the show in a dilemma though. It was successful with no doubt but it was not successful enough. The show was doing significantly well to negotiate better and more pay for the cast but not enough to warrant more money from the show’s network. To aggravate the situation, Tim Allen commanded a huge salary from the show due to his previous fame making him an expensive asset or liability to the show.
2. Viewers of the show and its cast are aging
This happens with almost all of the long-running shows on television. The show has been around for close to a decade and most of the cast is all grown up now. The network recast some of the characters including Boyd who was recast to age him faster but even he is all grown up. Viewers get to see some of the cast members grow right in front of their eyes and so do the viewers themselves. Even though the show has managed to acquire significant viewership increases, the rating among younger viewers has decreased. The show’s numbers have never been impressive within its younger audiences either. Most of the viewers of the show have always been on the older level than most networks prefer. The reason for this is because a show that has an older audience is less marketable and valuable to advertisers. According to Vox, advertisers pay huge amounts to shows with a younger viewership because that age group tends to switch up easily on the different brands that they buy. The issue is also compounded by the fact that Last Man Standing is not a blockbuster hit. The fact that it was unable to gain younger audiences by the time it was gaining an increase in viewership makes the problem worse.
3. The politics issue
This might not be a major reason to end the show but it is worth checking out. There are plenty of reasons why its viewers might have dropped significantly. The show has gained a reputation for being a sitcom for Trump supporters. Their reputation is not at all wrong because Tim Allen himself is a huge supporter of Donald Trump. The show has made various attempts to dive into the political arena. This is all evident from the seventh season premiere which made it one of the most awkward and uncomfortable scenes to watch. According to Wikipedia, a study that was conducted during the 2016 presidential election found out that the show was the tenth most-watched television show with Republicans.
Summary
The show might be famous with its audiences but it has overstayed its welcome and viewers finally feel it might be time to say goodbye to it. If by any chance the network decides to cancel the Last Man Standing for good, then it would only be fit to give the audience and its cast a proper goodbye. The final season reprieve is not uncommon in the film industry as CBS did so with the show How I Met Your Mother in 2014 despite its solid ratings. The cast and crew of Last Man Standing have had a fun run but it would benefit them to leave when they are still on a high to keep enjoying the tide even after the show ends.
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