Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Roseanne and Dan cant afford vital health care.
Roseanne drives an Uber because she needs the money.
Their daughter tries to become a surrogate, entirely because itd help her get out of debt.
Both seem like post-Roseannereboot catnip.
Theyre set in middle America (Home Improvementis in Michigan,Last Man Standingin Colorado).
In truth,Home ImprovementandLast Man Standingare shows about wealthy families, media personalities, and massive privilege.
They are very, very far from working-class America.
He has catchphrases, which include More power!
(in reference to power tools), and a guttural arrooo?
sound that, okay, is less catchphrase than it is musical motif.
The Taylors are probably not billionaires, but they live in a very large, very comfortable suburban home.
They are a far cry from working class.
The financial picture is even less ambiguous over onLast Man Standing, where Allen plays Mike Baxter*.
He loves guns and work boots and the American flag.
Hes also very proud of how much hes accomplished.
His house is enormous and gorgeously furnished.
When another daughter has a chance at a college scholarship, he cheers.
If she gets it, he can buy a boat!
(How much moneydoesan owner of a sporting-goods chain make?
It probably doesnt matter; his wife is a Ph.D. geologist for an energy company).
He is an immensely wealthy patriarch of a privileged white family who sees himself as a beleaguered victim.
[waves at camera] Hello!).
Mikes daughters often disagree with him.
But Allens character sets the agenda on these shows.
There may be some political disagreement, but the topics for debate are always Trumpian bugbears.
Allens privileged white male characters are, without question, the default self.
Networks may well reboot one of these shows economic diversity was always a thin euphemism for Trumpism.
But any reading of these shows that argues theyre speaking to a real, silenced America is false.
They are representations of wealthy white privilege, every bit as elitist as the politics they supposedly rail against.
*An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that Tim Allen plays characters named Tim on both shows.
In fact, he plays a character named Mike Baxter onLast Man Standing.
