We didn’t say it — he did!
If Tim Allen’s upcoming ABC sitcom Last Man Standing seems like the bizarro version of his ’90s hit Home Improvement, well, it’s because it is.
“It’s not rocket science what I’m doing here,” Allen deadpanned to a room full of reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour Monday morning. “What I really wanted to do with Last Man was flip-flop Home Improvement in order to investigate what it’d be like to be a man operating around four women who are intelligent, fun-loving, and strong.”
Last Man Standing — which premieres Tuesday, Oct. 11 — finds Allen playing Mike Baxter, a happily married father of three who heads up a once-successful sporting goods chain. “Instead of tools, it’s [now] sporting goods, guns, ATVs and boats — and I come home to four women,” he explained. “I just love to be able to be in that world, and I thought it would be fun.”
While the Home Improvement comparisons are certainly there and fun to point out, showrunner Jack Burditt noted, “At the heart of it all, this show is just a family comedy. That’s what we’re embracing.”
Are you looking forward to Home Improvement 2.0 Last Man Standing? Will lightning strike twice for the Alphabet Net and the Tool Man?
