Last Man Standing Season 1 Review

A father decides he needs to spend more time with his family which just so happens to be a house full of women and he has to juggle his priorities with all the family drama that ensues. This sounds like a typical run of the mill sitcom, doesn’t it? Think again because the sitcom Last Man Standing headlined by Tim Allen provides some genuine entertainment and in it's first season it delivers a solid foundation for the show. Tim Allen plays Mike Baxter head of marketing of an outdoor sports retail line called Outdoor Man who has decided to reign back his traveling trips to spend more quality time with his wife and daughters one of which is a high school dropout with a son. The first season introduces us to other quirky characters in Mike's life such as Christoph Sanders as the goofy Kyle who dates his daughter with a son Kristen and Ed played by Ector Helizondo, Mike's boss who may be old but is very young in spirit. His wife Vanessa is a headstrong lady played by Nancy Travis who has a genuine chemistry with Tim Allen. His other two daughters consist of Eve played by Kaitlyn Dever basically a 13-year-old version of Tim Allen’s character, and Mandy, played by Molly Ephraim, the likable chief drama queen of the Baxter household. The first season effectively brings the characters to life and plays the characters well off against each other.

   The performers all effectively create a unique chemistry among the cast. Whether this is exemplified through Mike bagging on Kyle’s lack of manliness, or Mike being driven up a wall by Mandy’s teenage drama, or the quirky conversations Mike and Ed get into at work doesn’t matter since the writers bring smart material to the table and the cast brings that to life. The first season deals with Mike acclimating to a life of being around a house full of women more often while still holding on to his manliness which Tim Allen portrays so well by being the strong force of that concept in order to make it work from the page to the screen. The supporting cast around Tim Allen brings out the best in their performances by reacting to Allen’s performance and bringing their own energy to the screen. The character of Kristen does seem to be lacking in dimensionality as she just seems to be neutral to events around her and unopinionated though.

    The episodes are solid in the content of humor and are usually based on Mike’s weekly problems and sources of anxiety when linked to his family. The show does have a conservative slant and Mike really reels into that, however the first season doesn’t make politics in government such a big deal as later seasons but it still is very much political when related to the workings of Mike’s mind and his disagreement with the man and fed up nature with the pettiness of the pathetic individuals that cause him so much trouble. Story lines such as Kristen’s relationship with Kyle or Eve’s obsession with Victor Blake blend nicely into the narrative and never dominate the story which prevents an annoyance which easily could have resulted with drama dominating the show. Like many TV shows, Last Man Standing takes advantage of the audience spending time with the characters week after week and rather than let the characters remain static or stay the same the writers allow the characters to become better known to the audience and to grow and develop in a number of different ways.


     The show falters when it reduces itself to blatant humor or cheap shots but the likeability of the characters and the strong acting anchor on the show Tim Allen help to bring a sense of vitality and fun to the show to overcome any weaknesses plot or otherwise in the show. The first season of Last Man Standing is great and allows audiences to view the everyday lives of a quirky household led by Tim Allen to great effect. I am assigning the first season of Last Man Standing a score of a B+.

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