MovieChat Forums > The Great Indoors (2016) Discussion > Cheap knockoff of Last Man Standing

Cheap knockoff of Last Man Standing

posted 8 years ago by g_alan_e
3 replies | jump to latest

Outdoor Limits VS Outdoor Man. Both shows have a gruff guy who travels the world, taking photos and writing for a print publication, one's a magazine, the other a catalog for a chain of camping/hunting equipment stores.

They both have to give up their adventuring life and adapt to what they traveled to get away from.

After one episode of The Great Indoors and 113 of Last Man Standing, it looks like CBS isn't planning to spend anywhere near as much as ABC.

LMS is definitely aimed at an all ages family audience. Anyone who sat dow to watch TGI, perhaps drawn in by the similar premise, got smacked with not one but two penis jokes.

[–] nightc1 8 years ago

I watched the first ep for Joel because I loved Community. It looked completely generic and the kind of comedy show I wouldn't normally enjoy. But I still watched because of Joel and only because of him. I ended up really enjoying the episode. It wasn't a 10/10.. but a solid 6 or 7... and garnered a few laughs and moments of thought which has me wanting to watching it again. I gave LMS the same shot. It looked horrible, but I had to give Tim a chance because it's Tim... but I didn't find it funny at all. Maybe because of how old Tim is getting I just didn't identify with him or the other characters on the show. Something just doesn't add up in that show to funny. I've tried watching it a few other times but ultimately it's not a good show to me.

So yeah LMS and TGI may have some stuff in common. Same for every Doctor, Lawyer, and Police procedural out there compare to shows in the same genre... but the cast of characters in TGI to me are actually interesting. I thought the show would be garbage like LMS... but it's remarkably decent... which gives me hope if it starts out decent maybe it can get good and even great. Where as shows like Superstore, I watched with hopes it would be great based on the premise but I had to give it up because it just was bad.

[–] vinsane 8 years ago

Outdoor Limits VS Outdoor Man

I declined to judge this comparison straight away because it's almost too easy to see similarities in formulaic sitcoms these days; however, the most recent episodes of each show (Explorers & The Explorers' Club) bore some remarkable similarities:

- The great outdoors-man is inducted into- or gets recognized by- the grand Explorers Club/association (whatever).

- The more senior man gives a false account of a past adventure then gets busted by the truth.

- Explosive diarrhea played as a minor running gag, though in different contexts.

- The white-haired guest star ultimately becomes the butt of the group's joking at some point.

I happened to watch these back to back on time shift and couldn't believe it. It seems like someone possibly sat in on storyline spit-balling sessions in both camps. Neither show is wholly original as they are both very much formula workplace sitcoms with LMS blending the family sitcom formula in to a strong degree also.

The Great Indoors is still struggling creatively to differentiate itself from so many past shows (from the Mary Tyler Moore era through WKRP then Just Shoot Me & Newsradio) and it takes more than tossing in references to "the millennials" to make itself relevant - or actually funny.

Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed.

[–] jaynekranc 8 years ago

I like this show a lot and I have never been able to watch an entire ep of Last Man Standing.