It makes fun of liberals, it is pro-Second Amendment, the leading character is a hunter who brings wild game home to the family dinner table and most important of all, it is reportedly a ratings sizzler.
But ABC has cancelled the hit sitcom “Last Man Standing,” and now even Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has gotten in on the protest, tweeting to star Tim Allen, “Looks like ABC is playing politics with your show, despite decent ratings.” There is mounting public opinion that Walker hit the bull’s eye. Social media has erupted since the announcement late last week.
Allen plays Mike Baxter, a strong male figure and head of a family with three daughters and a working wife. He’s taught his kids gun safety, parental respect, and family values while he runs a Colorado sporting goods store called Outdoor Man. During the past six seasons, there have been cut-to-the-marrow jokes critical of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, liberalism in general and political correctness that viewers in fly-over America have loved with a passion not seen in an audience since Carroll O’Connor’s buffoonish Archie Bunker became a blue collar sensation.
The Washington Examiner reported that one petition protesting the cancellation gathered 10,000 signatures in one night. The Atlanta Journal Constitution, quoting Deadline, said Last Man Standing is ABC’s “second most watched comedy this season with 8.1 million viewers in Live +7, only behind flagship Modern Family (8.7 million)” and was the “third most watched ABC scripted series overall behind Grey’s Anatomy and Modern Family.”
Viewer belief is strong that ABC management simply cannot stomach the show’s success, with its conservative, pro-gun, anti-liberal humor. Newsbusters pressed that point, noting about ABC that, “In 2015, the network’s long-running drama Scandal featured the main protagonist getting an abortion to the tune of Silent Night. It’s still airing. Earlier this year, a so-called “comedy” on ABC called Black-ish told viewers that “a vote for Trump is a vote for racism.” Hysterical. And using an entire episode of Grey’s Anatomy to smear anybody who supports the Second Amendment won’t get you into any trouble either.”
For a boycott to really work, it’s got to hit ABC’s local affiliates. That could lead to a worth-watching situation in far-left Seattle, where KOMO is suddenly in the crosshairs of liberals over reports that the station’s owner, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, insists that the station’s news department include some conservative-oriented reports in its broadcasts. The Seattle Times and New York Times mention a syndicated segment called the “Terrorism Alert Desk” as one controversial report.
This begs the question, in today’s volatile environment with attacks in Paris and Nice, San Bernardino and Orlando, why shouldn’t there be such a segment?
But Seattle’s liberals are talking about boycotting the station, too, over actual news reporting rather than a prime time comedy.
These combined scenarios suggest that liberals are a pretty thin-skinned lot, incapable of hearing news they “just might” disagree with and unable to laugh at themselves. They suddenly don’t trust seasoned KOMO veteran reporters they have trusted for many years prior to the Sinclair acquisition; reporters who have given no outward indication they are abandoning a tradition of quality journalism.
Perhaps another network will pick up Last Man Standing, and sail to new ratings highs. As for Seattle liberals, what’s next for them? A book burning at Westlake Plaza, perhaps?
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