Last Man Standing boss was floored by big ratings, says the Fox comedy will continue to not mention Trump's name

Entertainment Weekly

Showrunner Kevin Abbott said Fox was expecting a 1.0 rating, so Friday night's return with a 1.8 very much exceeded expectations. "I don’t think anybody expected this," he told EW. "It’s a little hard to absorb. I looked at the number and I thought it was a misprint. It’s very gratifying." EW also asked Abbott if he'd like to have President Trump tout Last Man Standing's ratings. He declined to answer, and said: "Much like the show, we’re not going to say his name," adding: "Yeah. We want to appeal to everybody and that’s a polarizing thing. We want to talk about things but we don’t want to be a trigger that immediately thrills or turns off people. The news cycle changes so rapidly I don’t think we’re going to deal with anything immediately topical because by the time we air it will no longer be pertinent."