Last Man Standing: A Review
In the fall of 2011, Tim Allen returned to ABC in the sitcom Last Man Standing. In this show, Allen portrays Mike Baxter, a marketing director/manager of a fictional outdoor sporting goods store in Denver known as “Outdoor Man”. Like Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor (Allen’s character from Home Improvement), Mike Baxter is a man’s man. However, unlike the scenario in Home Improvement (a wife and three sons), Tim Allen’s character finds himself in a woman’s world (a wife and three daughters — one of whom is a single mother). Needless to say, Tim Allen struggles to maintain his manliness. Fortunately, his youngest daughter Eve (portrayed by Kaitlin Dever) takes after her father, e.g. showing interesting in guns, camping, sports, and conservative values.
Mike Baxter often clashes with the women in his family over a variety of issues, ranging from baby proofing the house (Mike believes doing so will prevent his grandson from learning to survive in the real world), to cross-dressing (over a boy dressed as a fairy at his grandson’s daycare center), to a lesbian couple living in the neighborhood. Later, when his grandson’s father Ryan (portrayed by Jordan Masterson in the second season) becomes more involved with the family, both him and Mike have a series of arguments due to their political beliefs (Ryan is a liberal). Such arguments include the Presidential Election, patriotism (Ryan does not care much for the Pledge of Allegiance while viewing the American flag as a sign of warmongering), and political correctness.
Needless to say, Last Man Standing confronts the political atmosphere of today’s society. In the episode “Tree of Strife”, a city tree crashes through a window of the Baxter home during a windstorm. A city official later tells Mike that the city is not responsible for city trees damaging private property. To make matters worse, the official determines that a tree on the Baxter property needs to be cut down, prompting a confrontation between the Baxters and city hall. Unfortunately, city hall prevailed (hence you can’t fight it).
Although the show seems to be fair and balanced, the liberals appear to come out on top at times. One example would be ABC forcing the show to leave out Mike Baxter referring to Obama as a commie in the election episode. Another example would be an episode where Eve is suspended for calling a fellow student “gay” and having to undergo a type of sensitivity training. If that wasn’t bad enough, Kaitlin Dever and the actresses who portray the other daughters did an announcement at the end of the episode on preventing bullying towards gays and lesbians.
In addition, they also promoted awareness for GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network). GLSEN is not just into gay rights, they in fact promote the homosexual agenda. They especially promote sexualizing young people, particularly “fisting” (sticking one’s hand up the vagina or rectum) and oral sex. Curiously, this announcement was not shown when a re-run of the episode was aired (maybe ABC thought they went too far).
Despite these scenarios, Last Man Standing continues to have its conservative side. In fact, the third season premiere (airing this Friday) will have some of the Duck Dynasty cast making guest appearances. So tune in and see how things turn out.
Meanwhile, check out these video clips of Mike Baxter’s thoughts and rants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQN4uoMB5pY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq4iJcP27f0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFmkyZd1rZ0
Image: Intertitle for series Last Man Standing; source: Self-made screencap; copyright 2011 20th Century Fox Television; fair use