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Last Man Standing Returned and Twitter Had Thoughts

...Surprisingly good thoughts

malcolmvenable.jpg
Malcolm Venable

Last Man Standing never mentioned the president's name in the premiere of its debut on Fox, but it didn't have to. Politics -- and the ways we talk about politics -- ran deep through the first episode of Season 7, with both the show and some of its characters drawing a definitive line in the sand about what they believe and how they'll choose to express that. In the wake of Roseanne's cancelation and with no definitive declaration of what stance (if any) The Conners will take, Last Man Standing's title becomes particularly apropos, since it seems to be the lone bastion of openly Republican-leaning primetime broadcast comedy.

In the season premiere, Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) found that his family's discourse -- like the country's -- had taken a troublingly nasty turn, with his grandson Boyd (Jet Jurgensmeyer) bearing the ultimate brunt of it. In the end, Mike asked everyone to focus on what united them, and the need for civility, in an impassioned plea.

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Any time "Tim Allen" and "politics" are mentioned in the same sentence, you'd expect a strong reaction from Twitter. By and large though, the internet was glad to have a family comedy back on the air to take a break from the traumatic news cycle. Even though the premiere episode was about that very topic, it allowed everyone at home to finally have a laugh.

However, there was some ire for the show, mainly in response to the replacement of Molly Ephraim with Molly McCook as the new Mandy Baxter.


Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8/7c on Fox.

Megan Vick contributed to this article.