By Rachel Flanagan
Amanda Fuller, Hector Elizondo, Nancy Travis, and Tim Allen attend The Paley Center for Media's 12th Annual PaleyFest Fall TV Previews celebrating FOX's Last Man Standing at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills on September 13, 2018
© Emily Kneeter for the Paley Center
Last Man Standing
Despite being the second-most-watched ABC sitcom during the 2016-2017 season, ABC cancelled Last Man Standing in May 2017. Fans did not sit quietly and thanks to the uproar, Fox picked up the show in May 2018 and the new season will begin this fall on Fox.
Last Man Standing is a show about Mike Baxter, played by Tim Allen, who is a happily married man with three daughters. Mike escapes the female drama of home to the manly embrace of his friends and his job at the Outdoor Man store, a sporting goods emporium. While the store may be selling mountain bikes or fishing gear and tents, Mike spends his time on the Outdoor Man vlog spouting off his feelings on politics, health care, sports, the environment and anything else on his mind at the time. Though Mike Baxter might be a "typical man" who sides on one side of the political spectrum,
Last Man Standing is a family show that reminds you that no matter what side you are on, you are family and you should stand together.
Last Man Standing stars Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sander, and Hector Elizondo, among others, who make up the regular players in Mike Baxters life, bringing many different perspectives on gender, race, political stance, and age. The very first episode of the season starts out strong, poking fun at the cancellation and renewal by another network and then goes in deep with a subject that many families and friends have found themselves in today. Just because you feel strongly about the President, one way or another, there is always something to learn from someone else's point of view and no matter how much you may disagree, you are family and that's what is important. The new season of
Last Man Standing may be on a new network, but it picks up right where they left off and never tries to hide its true feelings, allowing you to laugh a little, even if you don't agree.
Last Man Standing premieres on Fox on Friday, September 28th. Make sure you tune in to the right channel!
Leslie Jordan, Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence, David Alan Grier, and EP Patrick Walsh at The Paley Center for Media's 12th Annual PaleyFest Fall TV Previews celebrating FOX's The Cool Kids.
© Emily Kneeter for the Paley Center
The Cool Kids
Even in a retirement home, the seat you choose and the friends you surround yourself with matter. The Cool Kids is a new comedy series premiering this fall on Fox about a motley crew of elderly friends living in a retirement community just looking to have some fun no matter what it costs, because at their age, there isn't much they have to lose. The show was created by Charlie Day who just thought old people were funny and created a cast of comedic characters, doing exactly what anyone else would do in a dorm room setting but doing it all just a little bit slower because elderly people may be old, but they aren't done living yet.
EP Charlie Day attends The Paley Center for Media's 12th Annual
PaleyFest Fall TV Previews celebrating FOX's The Cool Kids
at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills on September 13, 2018.
© Brian To for the Paley Center
There is Hank, played by comedic veteran David Alan Grier, who is a grumpy, opinionated African-American man. He was the leader of the group until they meet up with Margaret (Vicki Lawrence), a confident, albeit a little brazen woman who forces her way into the group and refuses to leave because she's not willing to take any crap from anyone. Rounding out the clan is Charlie (Martin Mull), a storyteller who can't quite tell the difference between exaggeration and real life, and Leslie Jordan as Sid, a proud pill-popping hypochondriac homosexual who doesn't want to join the fun but also is afraid to miss out on it. Each comedian brings a spunk to their character and if you're an older person or have ever known an elderly person, you can't help but laugh a little. It reminds me of the days of
Mama's Family,
The Golden Girls, and
All in the Family, a time when there were more older people making comedy shows on TV. Charlie Day thought that this was an viewpoint we were currently missing and wanted to bring that to the forefront again.
The Cool Kids premieres on Fox Friday, September 28th at 8:30pm.