Review: Last Man Standing

Tim Allen is back on the small screen with a new sitcom that has some similarities to the 1990 TV show “Home Improvement”, but there are differences. Differences that could make “Last Man Standing” last well past syndication. Tim Allen has been in entertainment since 1988 as a comic, actor, and producer, and has been in “Galaxy Quest”, “Toy Story”, “Toy Story 2” and many other TV shows and movies.

Mike Baxter, (Tim Allen), is a marketing executive at a large sporting goods store called Outdoor Man. At work Mike rules with a “King-of-the-Hill” kind of attitude and really enjoys his sales trips and promoting the goods the company offers, however, at home there are four women, and he is always the “odd man out.” Mike’s, “That’s what’s wrong with the word today”, rants always earn eye rolls from the ladies in his family, but seem to make sense to most everyone in his company.

In the first episode, Mike’s boss and company owner, Ed Alzate, (Hector Elizondo), tells him that he is shutting down the catalog department, and Mike has to change to the cyber world to stay with the company. He gets the Idea of a vlog from his daughter, and begins showing the “item of the week” on line that morphs into a rant of how men of today are losing their manliness.

Because of the changing of the department, Mike stays home more now and his wife goes to work. This creates quite a challenge for him at home of dealing with his teenage daughters.

 Nancy Travis is Venessa Baxter, Mike’s wife. Also starring in the show is Alexandra Krosney, Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever who play the daughters. The Baxters has three children living at home and the oldest has a small child of her own.

Mike struggles with trying to teach his three daughters old fashion family values while trying to keep his masculinity intact, run a business, and keep up in a modern world.

His daughters, who are 14, 17, and 22, make it difficult for him to understand. Not just understanding females, but understanding young females in a modern hi-tech world. The 22 year old daughter has a young son, which sometimes provides much need “male bonding” for Mike.

Fans of Tim Allen shouldn’t be disappointed with this sitcom. I was kind of surprised. However, that ABC aired this show. Mike Baxter shows his opinion of several of today’s issues, including child proofing a house, child care with alternative ideas, vegans, fantasy football, soccer, Obamacare, and others.

The character seems a bit on the conservative side for what network broadcasting is today. Not unlike other shows of the past, like “All in the Family”, “That 70’s Show”, “Sh!T My Dad Says”, and even “According to Jim”.

So far “Last Man Standing” isn’t gaining too much support in the entertainment world. Daniel Fienberg, who writes for hitfix.com, calls the show a “Dreadful new Tim Allen sitcom”, and asks the reader to “Ignore "Last Man Standing."

 According to hollywoodreporter.com, the show is “A predictable sitcom with a stupid premise and bad acting.”

Despite the bad reviews from the “Hollywood Elite”, “Last Man Standing” definitely fills the niche’ of manly-men who enjoy watching television without the onslaught of left-leaning TV shows that attempt to push alternative ideas that flood the primetime air waves of America.

If you like “Home Improvement”, you’ll love “Last Man Standing”

At a Glance:

“Last Man Standing”

Genre: Male oriented situation-comedy TV show

On most ABC affiliated stations, abc.go.com/shows/last-man-standing

Length: 30 minutes, (with commercials)

Stars: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, Alexandra Krosney, Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever, and Hector Elizondo.

What the show is about: A married father of three tries to keep his manliness in a world surrounded by females, via imdb.com