Tim Allen standing tall
It’s not exactly a man’s world anymore, but Tim Allen is still living in it. And at the moment, he’s standing tall. Allen’s latest sitcom, Last Man Standing, continues its rule as the highest rated Friday night sitcom, wrangling in on average more than six million U.S. viewers a week. Granted, its only true competitor is fellow ABC show Malibu Country, starring Reba McEntire and the always hilarious Lily Tomlin — but clearly Tim still has a few tricks up his white-collared shirt sleeve.
For those just tuning in, Last Man Standing only dreams of being the testosterone-fuelled sitcom Allen’s ’90s ABC hit, Home Improvement, was. Allen kinda rules the roost as macho patriarch Mike, whose old-fashioned values are stuck in the 1950s — while he’s stuck in a house full of modernday females.
Along with his sarcastic wife (Nancy Travis), Mike is outnumbered by his daughters: single mom Kristin (Amanda Fuller), ditzy reality TV star wannabe Mandy (Molly Ephraim) and tomboy Eve (Kaitlyn Dever). Mike’s only hope lies in Kristin’s five-year-old son, Boyd, though it doesn’t help that Boyd’s dad Ryan is a scruffy, vegan Obama supporter. (ABC, Citytv — 9 p.m.)
Wings star Steven Weber makes yet another sitcom cameo on Malibu Country as Pete, a recovering alcoholic whom Reba taps for dirt on Bobby’s past life. (ABC, Citytv — 9:30 p.m.)
The time-jumping drama continues in the second and final part of Labyrinth. The four-hour miniseries follows present-day France’s Alice Tanner (Vanessa Kirby) and 13th century Carcassonne’s Alais Pelletier du Mas (Jessica Brown Findlay) on their rocky journey to find the Holy Grail. (Showcase — 8 p.m.)
Getting thrown into the Shark Tank this week: a Dallas family with a jewelry line and two men from Chicago who claim to have reinvented tea. (ABC, CTV2 — 10 p.m.)