I’m sure I wasn’t alone in wondering what would happen to Tim Allen when faced with a TV family full of girls. That’s right, Tim Taylor traded in Brad, Randy, and Mark for Kristin (Alexandra Krosney) — and her toddler son — Mandy (Molly Ephraim), and Eve (Kaitlyn Dever). And instead of making Patricia Richardson roll her eyes he suddenly had to learn to annoy Nancy Travis (wife Vanessa). Could he do it?
Well, if you were going by the pilot I’d mostly have to say no. That is, until about midway through, when somehow things started to click, and the laughter in my living room didn’t just belong to the canned voices emanating from my TV.
Of course a show has to find its legs, and Last Man Standing certainly has a fair amount of weapons in its arsenal to help it succeed. Allen can be extremely funny — did anyone catch Buzz Lightyear’s “To infinity” in there? — and I believe he can find his groove as more family man, less handyman.
The rest of his family is new to me … Vanessa could go either way, while daughters Eve and Kristin definitely have a lot of potential. I like that Eve was daddy’s girl while not being completely unfeminine, and while Kristin at times seemed like a teenager trying to be a bitter old woman, I like that she’s been written as a teenage mom living at home and trying to make a life for her son. Mini reality star Mandy was really annoying … maybe she could run away and move in with the unseen Travis. That way they could still talk about her without her being around.
Then there are the guys at work. Hector Elizondo is interesting casting for a comedy, at least for me, and he didn’t seem quite at home the entire time. But he did make his share of the funny … I think he’s better butting heads/commiserating with Allen’s Mike than he is doing things like putting GPS collars on employees for kicks.
Speaking of, I liked Kyle (Christoph Sanders). Sure he seemed almost too dumb at first, and I’ve never been a big fan of completely incongruous pairings like the one he and Mike make, but at the same time I think he might make a good addition to the cast. Maybe more boyfriend and less work-buddy, but again the right balance will come.
As for Allen, I felt a lot of rusty Tim Taylor throughout much of the first episode (and the next one as well). What’s annoying about that is that Allen’s done great work before, during, and since Home Improvement, and there’s no reason to think that he can only play one kind of sitcom dad. The macho garbage was too much — I did love his crazy videos — and you could almost hear him begging to emit his trademark sound. So unnecessary!
Unfortunately the second episode, which aired immediately following the first, did not live up to the pilot’s last ten or fifteen minutes. Still, Allen’s filmography earns him some extra looks on my part … but good will only stretches so far. I think if he settles into the new role, without trying to fit the old role into a different shaped hole, he should be fine. We’ll see.
What did you think?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 18, 2011 @ 16:21 EST5EDT
I didn’t want to like this show just from the concept, but I’ve seen four episodes now, and it seems to have settled into place as a fairly solid traditional comedy. I like all of the actors and what they bring to the show. I didn’t watch much of Home Improvement, so can’t really compare. Despite a fairly lackluster critical response, the show has the ratings to chug along for years to come.
*POST AUTHOR*
No! You don’t really mean that, do you? I watched through Grandparents Day … come on, Ryan! :)