• Tim Allen's Last Man Standing, canceled last year by ABC, is being resurrected by Fox next season because it's a "great comedy" and not as a conservative statement, Fox executives said Monday. Some fans may be drawn to the family sitcom because of Allen's political views, but they "aren't really a big feature of the show," Fox Television Group executive Gary Newman said. "We just think it's a really funny show" with general appeal, he said in announcing the network's 2018-19 schedule with fellow Chairman and CEO Dana Walden. The success of the rebooted Roseanne on ABC emboldened Fox to revive Last Man Standing, which is produced by its studio, but the decision was already in the works, Walden said. The network needed to find the right spot for it, she said. Fox made room for Allen's comedy and more, canceling Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth, The Mick, Lucifer and The Exorcist. NBC quickly picked up Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Fox will introduce an equal number of shows next season, including The Cool Kids, an ensemble comedy about rebellious friends in a retirement community. The stars include David Alan Grier, Martin Mull and Vicki Lawrence. The network has ground to make up in ratings: Fox is averaging 5 million viewers in prime time this season, down 17 percent from 6 million last year. Among its competitors, CBS is averaging about 9 million, down 8 percent from 9.7 million, while ABC is 6.1 million, down 1 percent from 6.2 million.
• Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's TV show has angered some Newfoundlanders after using a nickname that many find offensive. The Twitter account for CNN's Parts Unknown used the term "Newfie" in a promotional tweet for the episode on local cuisine and landscapes in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The official account of the food and travel show posted an article with Newfoundland-related books and local slang, saying "Embrace the Newfies as they are." The term has origins implying Newfoundlanders are unintelligent and lazy and is considered derogatory. One man tweeted that "a fair portion of Newfoundlanders find the term 'Newfie' offensive." The celebrity chef visited the province last fall.
A Section on 05/15/2018