Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Last Man Standing isn’t only a family show, they also tackle political issues. Just like All In the Family, the ABC sitcom shows all side of the political front. Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) and his youngest daughter Eve (Kaitlyn Dever) are staunch Republicans, his eldest daughter Kristin (Amanda Fuller) and her husband Ryan (Jordan Masterson) are very liberal, and his wife Vanessa (Nancy Travis) and their middle child Mandy (Molly Ephraim) are in the middle. On many episodes, they each have their political views and by the end of the episode, they have listened to all sides and made a decision that suits them. Sometimes they see things Mike’s way, OK almost all of the time they do, but it is his show!
Seriously though, as a viewer, I find it is refreshing to watch a show on television that is not just one sided. So recently, when I got to talk to Tim Allen and Nancy Travis, I asked them about being a show that tackles politics.
Not only is Allen the star, he is also the Executive Producer, so I wanted to know how important that is to him. He said, “I adore my liberal friends. I just don’t see eye to eye with them. We don’t demonize them. That is what we do here very well.” Then he explained how, “We have a very liberal writing staff, maybe one or two conservatives on it. It is fun to see liberals make fun of themselves. And in the middle of that, the conservatives sometimes say, ‘We’re not going to say that.’
“Between liberals fighting, you have a mitigating factor, because they all love each other. We’ve all learned to listen to the other side. You can admire the other side, but they are not your demon. I think the best thing about this show is it is stacked. I think all the girls are liberal leaning, except maybe Nancy, but I think what it’s caused us to do on this set is listen to each other.”
How does his Nancy feel about it? Travis said, “I love it because I think this show is very different from anything else that is on television, and thru Tim’s character, Mike Baxter, we have a point of view you really don’t see anywhere on network television. I have been interesting to try to balance that and have counterpoint voices within the show but his voice has been a very clear point of view. It is interesting how many followers we’ve gotten and how many people are interested in watching the show.
“The show is reflecting other points of view in our country that you don’t really see in the media or on other shows. There are a whole lot of people who identify with the point of view of the show.” And at the end of the day she reminded us, “It’s not trying to tiptoe or be precious about anything. It’s, Here it is! It’s funny and it’s a joke. Have a laugh. Let’s find where we’re similar.”
So have a laugh, have several of them tonight and every Friday at 8p on ABC.