Tim Allen...Last Man Standing. OFFENSIVE

[rsmith6621]

There was nothing on the 260+ cable channels tonight and I left the switcher alone and let the TV be background noise while I sat on my laptop filling out job applications online.

It was about 10 minutes in to the season premier of Last Man Standing with Tim Allen that I finally came out of my focused attention with what I was doing when Allen called President Obama a DICTATOR.

Within a few minutes there were several other hit comments from Allen, I quickly turned the channel to Airplane Repo.

Time to write a complaint to the Chair of the FCC and ABC. This is an abuse of the public airways.

[Dreamer Tatum]

1. My television is equipped with a power switch.

You might look into one, too.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. so you are pretty much saying ignore it.

[AnalystInParadise]

50. Perfect response

LOL

[alp227]

2. Complain to the FCC over this?

Well, there's much worse out there on the public airwaves like Rush Limbaugh.

[PeteSelman]

3. Buzz Lightyear is a bagger?

No!

Seriously, change the channel. Solves everything.

[hughee99]

6. If I'm not mistaken, it's a sit-com and Allen is playing someone who is supposed to be

a RW nut job. I'm not sure how much you can read into an actors personal beliefs based on them reading someone else's scripted words.

[PeteSelman]

8. That's true.

I thought perhaps it was Allen doing his own stand up.

I don't watch much network TV.

[Live and Learn]

17. Nope, Tim is portraying himself in the series.

TV Guide reports that Allen, a rare Republican in Hollywood who helped GOP presidential candidate John McCain raise funds in the 2008 election, off the air leans “slightly right of center.” On the air, Allen plays “Mike Baxter,” a feisty conservative character that Allen has likened to a modern-day Archie Bunker.

Though the “communist” line got axed from the Nov. 2 episode of the show, Allen’s character was permitted to speak this zinger: “Democrats love spending other people’s money. Free health care for everybody … Whoopee! Now lazy people can go around licking doorknobs.”

Allen claims another line, in which he compared Bill and Hillary Clinton to a disease – “They’re like shingles; just when you think they are gone, they pop back up” – also got censored by ABC.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/abc-censors-conservative-comedian-again/#ze2rACRx6gd4YeJ4.99

I can't stand the show because of him.

[caraher]

19. Memo to Tim: One problem with playing an Archie Bunker...

What made Archie work was that his ideas were portrayed as buffoonish. It's a different matter entirely when you portray an "Archie" as a common man of keen insight who conveys his wisdom through clever one-liners.

[notadmblnd]

30. I'd just ask him if he was back on the drugs he spent time in prison for

and advise him to be careful lest he get caught again.

[cwydro]

51. Not only that

but Carrol O'Connor was a liberal.

[hughee99]

20. You lost me at "read more at world nut daily".

Nt

[louis-t]

29. Repugs really think those lines are funny?

[merrily]

33. Allen is not "slightly right of center." He's a full blown winger.

[merrily]

32. Allen is a winger IRL.

[hughee99]

38. Fair enough, I still don't think it's right to blame actors for things they say

on scripted TV, unless they're also the writers. I also don't think it's the FCC's place to start regulating political content.

[merrily]

40. I posted the same thing as to the FCC elsewhere on this thread

in response to the OP. However, that is a different issue from the issues that you raised in your reply 6, which is what I replied to you about.

Tim Allen may or may not participate in the writing of that show. Before he ever had any TV show, he did stand up and presumably wrote his own material. So, I would guess he does participate. Regardless, though, I am dead certain he has a veto. If Obama is called a dictator on his show--and I won't watch this show of his--be sure he had, at the very least, a veto on that and chose not to exercise it. So, no, I don't think it's unfair to blame him for that.

[hughee99]

43. That's reasonable. I looked it up and found

He is not credited as a writer on the show, but as an executive producer, I'm sure he does have veto power over the scripts.

He also has a whole bunch if people talking about his show that don't even watch it because of what he said. Simply because he didn't veto it doesn't necessarily mean he believes it. There may be other motivations at work here as well. I'm not trying to suggest that he's not a bagger, just that making this leap from what someone says on a scripted show to what the actor believes is not as clear cut as I think some here have made it out to be.

[merrily]

44. Even if he were not producer, he is a huge TV star. As such, he would have a veto.

Be it TV or film, an A-list star saying "I am not comfortable saying that" will get a line change or a deletion.

(Just how big a star? in the late '90s, the former drug dealer turned down $50 million for one more season of Home Improvement.) He was also known for fighting for which material was used. So, whether or not he is Exec. Producer of Last Man Standing, I guaranty he did not have to call Obama a dictator on that show unless he wanted to.)

I'm not trying to suggest that he's not a bagger, just that making this leap from what someone says on a scripted show to what the actor believes is not as clear cut as I think some here have made it out to be.

Doesn't matter what he believes: saying on the show when you have a veto (at the very least) is bad enough. As the OP says, "Offensive."

And, yes, that does indicate something about Tim Allen, as you and I both established. However, I and others here are not going by the line alone, but what we have previously heard Tim Allen say in interviews.

I think you are making too little of how much a big star has to say about his or her lines.

[razorman]

48. I've watched the show. Allen's character often makes disparaging remarks

about progressives. But the guy's family usually throws it right back at him. So, it is not just a one-way thing.

[bigwillq]

4. Meh

Bad jokes, maybe, but nothing to get crazy about. Don't like it, don't watch. Never watched that show because I am not a fan of Allen. Just don't think he's that funny.

[yeoman6987]

5. Not every show is liberal

But we do have The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, The Newsroom, Modern Family and many others.

They have Blue Bloods and Last Man Standing which are on Friday night the least viewed night of the week except Saturday. You have a ton of options to watch.


Thankfully our political views are way more represented then theirs.

[merrily]

34. Remind me of the so-called liberal shows that called Bush names like Dictator.

It's not a matter of representing views. When Bush was in office, all I heard from the right was "respect for the office." But, they portray Obama as Hitler or a monkey and call him a Dictator in a freaking comedy show, no less?

[yeoman6987]

36. You missed "what's my Bush"?

An entire sitcom about President Bush. Nobody is innocent when politics are involved.

[merrily]

41. Which major network was it on? How many years was it on?

Which names, comparable to Dictator, was Bush called on that show?

[NuclearDem]

49. "That's My Bush!" was cancelled after eight shows.

And it was originally supposed to be "That's My Gore" until Florida.

And it was by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, not exactly liberals.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Tim Allen has been a right wing hack for decades now.

This should come as no surprise.

[Hoyt]

9. He's more benign than the tens of millions of right wingers he portrays.

But, I understand what you are saying.

[sueh]

10. I saw the show tonight and was offended, too.

I don't watch this show very often, but I will NOT be watching it again. The anti-Obama comments and the pro-gun stance on this show are horrid.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. OHHH...thought you were talking about Last Comic Standing

which is pretty damn good. What is Last Man Standing?

[merrily]

13. Try the sponsors of the show. They stand to lose money.

FCC = Constitutionally prohibited from regulating program content based on political view.

ABC = No reason to give a shit as long as sponsors keep paying.

Sponsors = Might not want to offend customers because it might cost them money, so only ones likely to care even a little.


(Tim Allen = long time winger.)

[DemocraticWing]

14. It's just a character.

Archie Bunker said horrible things, but All in the Family was a liberal show.

[merrily]

35. Nope, that's him IRL, too.

[Blue_Adept]

42. Yup

Which is why when the show came back in the second season and this type of humor became stronger (and the recasting and changing of the show), I ditched it and haven't looked back. I loved the old Home Improvement show and enjoyed reruns over the years, which are free of this kind of stuff. I don't look for sitcoms that have politics in it for a reason as I don't want it in every facet of my life. Sitcoms with it tend to not last long for me.

[TexasProgresive]

15. I suppose you were offended by Archie Bunker

in All in the Family. I haven't seen this show often but the premise as I see it is a political take of a modern family. The show with that name modern family is not political but has a mix of people from Latin, Anglo, straight, homosexual, young, old. Last Man Standing the people come from all other the place politically. One daughter is caught up in fashion, one and her man are to the left, one is junior ROTC, the mom tries to be all things to all of them. The husband is so far to the right it is funny. Then there are the grandfathers.

You can be offended but I doubt our president is.

Since I started with Archie, he was a hero to the right wing. Since they are irony deprived with little sense of humor unless someone is injured they didn't realize that Carroll O'Conner was making fun of them. It would be sad if the Left starts to fall into the same humorless pit.

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. There's a HUGE difference between Tim Allen and the late Carroll O'Connor.

O'Connor played the PART of Archie Bunker, who he admitted was a caricature. O'Connor was a good and decent progressive in real life.

Tim Allen is a right wing hack, who certainly had a funny stand-up routine and while "Home Improvement" was a good show and had a good run, he made no secret of his politics.

I saw him in person on a regular basis when I was in IndyCar racing in the 1990's, as he was partner/owner of a Race team with Steve Saleen that often ran on IndyCar weekends. I knew a couple of the guys who worked on the team. I am speaking based on my conversations with them.

[sendero]

16. It's a comedy...

.... about a wing nut. If that offended you I'd hate to see your reaction to a real comedian, say Jim Jefferies for example.

[whistler162]

18. If you had been alive when All In The Family

was on you would have found it offensive.

It is a good show. If you don'ty like it turn it off and go back to FOX news.

[Lurks Often]

21. So the 1st Amendment only applies to things YOU support?

Is that really what you meant?

[Oktober]

22. Not sure if serious...

Hoping for not...

[a kennedy]

23. We loved Tim Allen.....his old show, and some of his old stand up routines.....Now?? Not so much...

We watched his new show, started what 3 years ago?? My husband and I thought we heard him say some snide remark about the President, and when it got to be a regular mantra of his we just quit watching. Ugh..... don't need to hear that crap while trying to "get away" from all the political noise. Nope, haven't watched this show, and don't miss it at all.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. Complain to ABC and sponsors

But to the FCC? No free speech unless you agree with it?

Letting businesses know that you disapprove and that you will not support the show with your dollars is one thing.

Asking the government to censor political speech with which you disagree is something entirely different, and something that I personally would never support.

[louis-t]

26. I like Airplane Repo.

I've never watched Last Man Standing.

[valerief]

27. Members of Congress say worse. nt

[roody]

28. I saw it and thought it was funny. It is the character.

[ZombieHorde]

31. Some flowers are more delicate than others. nt

[brooklynite]

37. UNREC

Unless you're prepared to accept deletions of criticism of Republican politicians, I would let that old First Amendment stand.

[Yavin4]

39. If Tim Allen were African American, he'd still be in jail

On October 2, 1978, Allen was arrested in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport for possession of over 650 grams (1.43 lb) of cocaine. He subsequently pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, and provided the names of other dealers in exchange for a sentence of three to seven years rather than a possible life imprisonment. He was paroled on June 12, 1981, after serving 2 years and 4 months in Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone in Sandstone, Minnesota.[15][16][17] Allen had the Federal Bureau of Prisons Register # 04276-040.[18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allen

[jtuck004]

45. This is ironic. In this family, his father runs a Medical Marijuana store. In WA state they

have made some steps toward legalizing marijuana, and yet medical marijuana patients are under attack by state Democrats, who appear to want to increase their prices, make them pay taxes, make them stop growing, submit to more second-guessing.

Among the champions of the MMJ crowd? The Republican representative who pulled a gun on someone in a traffic stop, put pictures up of his female Democratic opponent's home (so his supporters could find it?). etc.

sheesh.

Beyond Allen's whining, however, did you notice that one of his daughters is a West Point candidate?

So a little challenging of the gender roles but in a way many Democrats would not support, medical marijuana which gets more support from Republican\libertarian\ass clowns than from Democrats here (I mean in WA state politics. Why you want to beat up on sick people? Are you needing to appear tough? Want my support for anything? Leave them alone.).

All that so he can create a platform to use against Democrats. Allen isn't the funniest one on there, so we will see who wants to continue sponsoring it. I suspect they are gonna need some luck to go along with their money if they want a return.

[Throd]

46. I'm afraid you're serious.

[tritsofme]

47. Would you consider a character similarly riffing a Republican president an "abuse"

of public airways? Writing to the FCC is ridiculous, do you think the government should censor such "jokes"?

Sounds like a dumb show, it probably has crappy ratings and will be canned in short order. Problem solved.

[FloribbeanSoul]

53. Tim Allen Show Becoming too Issue-Based instead of a sitcom of a husband living with 4 Females

I endured the Tim Allen show the week before last; note: I said "endured, not "enjoyed." I was a few minutes into this past show and within Tim managed to blast democrats or anti-democrat remarks.
I watch sitcoms to escape politics, especially within a week of elections. I fast forward through the political ads because I'm sick of all the candidate bashing. I immediately deleted the show and have no plans to keep recording and watching it.

I read the comments regarding Archie Bunker on "All in the Family." A comparison can not be made between the two shows, because Archie was an ignorant blue collar worker over 4 decades ago. The United States "has come along way, baby," as the Virginia Slim's package used to say.

I plan to copy and paste this comment and send it to the network and emphasize to them that the political crap needs to stop and the focus needs to get back on the only male in a five member family. We want comedy and escapism, not more politics.