Man Up!

[GeneChing]

Wiegand's review is cleverly about both Man Up! and Last Man Standing, which both premiere tonight. I kept the Man Up portion; If you want the rest, follow the link.

"So what?" you say. Several months back I signed a release allowing Man Up! to show an issue of our magazine in one of the episodes, akin to what we did with The Girl Who Played with Fire. If that scene makes the cut, it is scheduled to be televised on 10/25. Stay tuned.

ABC's 'Man' sitcoms have much room for improvement
David Wiegand
Tuesday, October 11, 2011

...

Man Up: Sitcom. 8:30 p.m. Tues, premiering next Tues., on ABC.

...

And speaking of manning up, ABC will fill the second half of its man hour, after tonight's double-wide premiere of "Last Man Standing," with a show called "Man Up."

It's immediately obvious that Tim Allen's show is an old-fashioned sitcom because it replicates one old-fashioned sitcom in particular. But what's "Man Up's" excuse?

The setup is that we have three guys who are best friends. Will (Mather Zickel) is married to Theresa (Teri Polo), whose brother, Kenny (Dan Fogler), is one of Will's best friends and is still smarting over his divorce from Brenda (Amanda Detmer), who is dating a very hunky guy named Grant (Henry Simmons). Meanwhile, the third musketeer is Craig (Christopher Moynihan), a sensitive type who pines for his ex-girlfriend.

The three guys conclude they've lost touch with their masculinity and decide it is high time they man up. They don't quite make it.

End of story.

More to the point, end of very humor-starved story.

ABC has created an arc of sitcoms dealing with a similar subject on Wednesdays, with its family-focused "The Middle," "Suburgatory" and "Modern Family." The strategy is unlikely to be as successful on Tuesdays, simply because the shows themselves are nowhere near as good. Allen's show may be a clone of "Home Improvement," but it's somewhat watchable. "Man Up" just isn't. Over the weekend, CBS confirmed it had stopped production on "How to Be a Gentleman." ABC should be prepping a similar announcement on "Man Up." Now that "Free Agents" is gone, it holds the title in my book as the worst new sitcom of the season. I watched the first episode twice. If you're smart, you won't even watch it once.

Because nothing gets you back in touch with your masculinity like Kung Fu Tai Chi.

[GeneChing]

I'm told our cameo is about 7-8 mins into the episode. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to watch it tonight but I'll take a look at the webcast later.

Here's the official website where you can watch the pilot.

[GeneChing]

If not, you can watch it now on ABC.com: Finessing the Bromance

[GeneChing]

Best thing about that show was our mag cameo

'Work It' review: Humor as phony as drag premise
David Wiegand, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 2, 2012

Ben Koldyke plays a man who dresses as a woman to get a job at a pharmaceutical firm.

SNOOZING VIEWER Work It: Sitcom. 8:30 p.m. Tues. on ABC.

Pretty much the best thing you can say about ABC's "Work It," a new sitcom that will follow (probably briefly) Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" on Tuesday night, is that it isn't as bad as the previous time slot occupant, "Man Up."

....