‘Last Man Standing’ Lambastes ABC Cancellation in Opening Scene

Last Man Standing made its triumphant return to television on Friday night, and the writers were not shy about working in references to the show’s ABC cancellation.

Spoilers ahead for Last Man Standing’s season 7’s season premiere.

The sitcom, which now airs on Fox after being canceled by ABC in 2017, kicked off the season 7 premiere with a flurry of references and gags to the show’s rise from the dead. In particular the show made sure to point out how absurd ABC was for canceling a show with high ratings.

This was done through an opening scene with Baxter family son-in-law Kyle Anderson (Christoph Sanders) watching TV. As he surfs channels, he grows frustrated. His mother-in-law, Vanessa Baxter (Nancy Travis), intervenes to figure out what is going on.

“I’m trying to DVR my favorite show, but its not on,” Kyle said.

Vanessa replied, “Well maybe it got cancelled. The TV business can be a heartless bastard.”

“Cancelled? Why would they cancel a popular show that everybody loves?” Kyle replies, obviously referencing the show’s off-screen drama.

The voice for family matriarch Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) then chimed in from off-screen, dissing ABC execs in the process.

“Maybe they’re a bunch of idiots,” Mike said.

Mike then suggested that the show in question was possibly moved to another channel, but Vanessa pointed out that scenario is rarely the case.

“Mike, they don’t just take a show off one network and put it on a different network,” she said.

Kyle then found the show, which coincidentally has the same theme song as Last Man Standing. As the studio audience cheered, Mike and Vanessa striked a pose, breaking the fourth wall for a second.

“Am I wrong, or is it way better on this network?” Mike said.

Last Man Standing‘s fans then received a shoutout from Allen’s character, who compliments the loyal fans of the series in question.

“It’s pretty rare, but the show must have a bunch of loyal, kick-ass fans,” he said.

From there, the rest of the Baxter family comes back into picture, and even pokes fun at the recasting of Mandy Baxter (Molly McCook), who was previously played by Molly Ephraim. Then Mike pulled out one more reference before the scene was over.

The youngest Baxter daughter, Eve (Kaitlin Denver), had just finished a stint at the United States Air Force Academy and returned home to greet her family.

“Dad, Dad, Dad; you haven’t changed a bit,” Eve said.

Mike replied, “Well, that’s the good thing about me. No matter how long you haven’t seen me, I’m still the same old guy.”

As Allen delivered this line, he looked right at the camera and raised his eyebrows, letting fans know that the Baxter clan had not changed one bit.

Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

Photo Credit: Fox