STANDING OUT: Tim Allen, star of “Last Man Standing,” says that his character will be edgier for the second season of the series. (ABC)
Tim Allen could become too controversial for ABC.
Censors at the Disney-owned network are already pushing back on the comic’s attempt to turn “Last Man Standing” into a modern-day “All In The Family” — and Allen’s Mike Baxter into Archie Bunker.
The revamped sitcom, Allen says, will tackle more hot-button topics like immigration, racism and homosexuality when it returns for a second season tomorrow.
“When didn’t you talk about what Archie Bunker said?” Allen says. “Maybe you didn’t agree with him. But you couldn’t help but like his passion — or his ignorance.
“We think we can reboot that.”
Allen and new showrunner Tim Doyle are hoping edgier, more topical humor will help save the struggling comedy, which drew comparisons to “Home Improvement” but failed to generate much buzz in its first season after getting off to a strong ratings start.
Allen plays Baxter, a father of three girls and a manly-man executive for a Denver sporting goods store, who struggles to accept the changing role of men in society.
“What [ABC] felt last year was that Mike’s point of view wasn’t strong enough,” Doyle says. “They weren’t sure from week to week what the show was about. So I said, ‘I will give this guy a point of view. Let’s go for it.’ ”
In one upcoming episode, Allen’s TV daughter, Eve [Kaitlyn Dever], calls a classmate gay.
“Then she comes home and says, ‘They called me something that rhymes with bike,’ ” Allen shares. “And I go, ‘We’re not Jewish. . .’ ”
The line was quickly cut.
In another episode, Allen’s character has mixed emotions when the first African-American family moves onto their block. “There are several jokes in there that were red flagged as being ‘too far,’ ” he says.
Networks standards are, by nature, both subjective and arbitrary, Doyle contends.
“Sometimes they are imagining things to be dirty when I had no intention of them being dirty in the first place,” he says.
“They are a suspicious lot. They see smut everywhere. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Andy Kubitz, the network’s VP of scheduling, has already admitted that “Last Man Standing” faces an uphill battle with its move to Friday nights.
“People aren’t staying around to watch TV on Fridays,” he told TV Guide. “No lie, it’s going to be very difficult [for them].”
That was no surprise to Doyle, a former producer of “Roseanne” and “Ellen.”
“Our chances of survival are poor,” he admits. “That is part of what I have been talking to the network about: They have got to let us be interesting. Give us a shot at being a little bit water-cooler or we may go by unnoticed.
“I think in their minds they are still thinking of this as a ‘TGIF’-style show,” he says, alluding to ABC’s old family-friendly Friday-night sitcom lineup.