Tim Allen's ‘Last Man Standing' gets off to strong start

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Viewers welcomed Tim Allen back to prime-time by tuning in in large numbers to his new sitcom, "Last Man Standing." The show draws the biggest an audience for an 8 p.m. sitcom in seven years.

The hour-long episode marking "Home Improvement" star Tim Allen's return to television averaged 13.19 million viewers, finishing 11th among the prime-time broadcast and cable programs airing Oct. 10-16, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by The Nielsen Co.

Ratings for premieres are often unrepresentative of how the series will fare because of the heavy promotion they receive and viewers who tune in who are interested in the concept, but do not return for future episodes.

One example of that is "Joey," which starred Matt LeBlanc, reprising his Joey Tribbiani character. After receiving generally negative reviews, viewership for "Joey" dropped 17 percent from the 18.6 million for its premiere to 15.4 million for its second episode. The series was canceled after two seasons.

CBS was the most-watched network for the fourth time in the season's four weeks, averaging 10.62 million viewers. CBS had 16 of the week's 25 most-watched programs, topped by "NCIS," which finished first, averaging 18.98 million viewers.

Fox finished second, averaging 9.03 million after finishing fourth a week earlier and third each of the season's first two weeks. Fox was bolstered by its devoting three full nights and a portion of a fourth to its coverage of the American League Championship Series.

ABC was third, averaging 8.62 million viewers, despite a 5 percent increase from the previous week when it finished second for the third consecutive time.



More - Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ gets off to strong start | million, viewers, cbs - Entertainment - The Orange County Register


Storyline

Mike Baxter is the marketing director for an iconic outdoor sporting goods store. He loves to have adventures while he's traveling for work and, of course, he drives a pick-up truck. While Mike is king of the hill at work, he's the odd man out in a home that is dominated by women -- namely his wife, Vanessa, and their three daughters, 22- year-old Kristin, 17-year-old Mandy and 14-year-old Eve. After being a stay-at-home mom for years, Vanessa recently returned to the workplace and was quickly promoted (much to the dismay of her primarily male co-workers). As a result of Vanessa's increased work load, Mike is pulled into more hands-on parenting than ever before.

Episode list for Season 1

Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot
Original Air Date—11 October 2011


In the first part of the premiere, Mike plays Cupid for Mandy by setting her up on a blind-date with Kyle, one of his employees who he thinks would be the perfect guy for her. But Mike's set-up gets off track when Kyle accidentally meets Kristin. Meanwhile at work, Mike's long-time boss and friend, Ed, announces that he's grounding Mike from their catalogue's international photo shoots and putting him in charge of the company's webpage.

Season 1, Episode 2: Last Baby Proof Standing
Original Air Date—11 October 2011


Mike is outnumbered by his wife and daughters when they all agree that baby proofing the house is a good idea. But soon Vanessa has second thoughts when she finds herself home by herself babysitting Boyd and can't release the toilet seat's complicated childproof latch. Meanwhile, Mike thinks it's time for Mandy to earn her own money and gets her a job delivering pizzas -- without first consulting Vanessa.

Season 1, Episode 3: Grandparents Day
Original Air Date—18 October 2011


When Vanessa forces a reluctant Mike to attend Grandparents Day at their grandson Boyd's preschool, Mike manages to insult the daycare teacher and Boyd gets kicked out of school. Boyd's mom, Kristin, tells Mike that he now has to look after him, so Mike takes the two-year-old to work with him. Meanwhile, after an elderly looking grandmother at the Grandparents Day event thinks she and Vanessa are the same age, Vanessa goes out of her way to look more youthful -- hoping no one sees her buying clothes from a boutique where her 17-year-old daughter, Mandy, shops.
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