I have never denied the magnitude of my dorkosity...and now is no different. I do not watch sitcoms. Well, in first run anyway. I seem to have gotten into a few that are now in syndication (because they're on all the damn time) and Home Improvement is one of them. Not that I had really any prior knowledge of what the show was about, but I started watching it, not turning the channel when it came on, because I think Tim Allen is so great looking. Yeah, I said it--he's handsome. (Look at him!!)
However, I have come to realise that his show is so very middle American that it kind of makes me insane. The show seems to explore gender roles a lot, and what has kept my attention is that his wife on the show doesn't let him get away with anything, which is cool by the feminist standard. However, she is a stereotypical wife, in which she is very naggy, hard headed and talks considerably....and fast, with almost a high-pitched squeak. And the rest of the family are all men--three boys and Tim--and they have the typical woman cracks about her that are just too much. They make fun of her cooking, they make fun of her telling stories to the boys about being a little girl (instead of a boy), they make fun of her not being able to handle a dead rat, they make fun of her lack of fix-it skills (although I don't know of any woman that has three boys that can't fix a thing--puhleeeze!!). And yet also, she is working, going to school and still has time to get home, have dinner on the table (also cooking breakfast in the morning and sending the boys off to school), do the laundry and cleaning and take care of the boys and Tim. Wow. I have no kids nor a man in the house and I can barely have time for my little dog just because of one nine to fiver!! Either that woman was like Hermione and had some kind of time travel device or this show was just flagrant fantasy. I opt for the latter.
But yet also there was the next door neighbor Wilson, who for some strange reason you could never see his face. And he was the sort of hippie of the fray. He was world traveled, very educated, spiritual, philosophical and wise. Why couldn't we ever see his face? I could get into some kind of analysis about that, but I don't think the writers were ever really that deep. I think the blatantly wanted to kind of have this hippie-ish man as a peripheral personality. He acted as counsel to Tim in times of strife or confusion. And he always had an answer for Tim for his problems. Now it seems that Tim's character was always in need of something from Wilson, but I almost went nuts when they would make fun of Wilson for doing things like rain dances or writing poetry or having an African mucous cup. They went to a "beat" performance that Wilson did one time in which there was a lot of experimental art and poetry, music and performance and the family was there (again, how Jill the wife has all this time goes beyond the realm of believability) making faces and cracking on the performers. It was really kind of annoying.
That's when it hit me that this show was totally geared toward middle America. It was like they were on the cusp of breaking through the closed-mindedness of many middle Americans when it comes to different people or even art for *bleeps* sakes, but they never crossed over. And it's weird because they are so close to crossing over that I still keep watching the show!! And I happen to have seen some of Tim Allen's stand up from when he was young and I don't get the sense he was like that. He was a lot edgier. But of course, getting your own sitcom really is like selling your soul. And for what? To make fat housewives laugh?
To be honest, I may watch the show some more, but now that I realise what it is for what it is, the realisation has kind of spoiled the lighthearted care by which I let the show stay on the tube. But then that is why I really don't watch sitcoms at all. They are so ridiculous and all have the same stupid storylines and everyone fights then makes up with these Disney-like conclusions about why they were fighting and preaching to the viewer. UGH!! My skin is crawling just thinking about it now. The only sitcom that I find is outside of this realm, which also I didn't watch in first run is Seinfeld. Oh how so very not middle American!!
However, I have come to realise that his show is so very middle American that it kind of makes me insane. The show seems to explore gender roles a lot, and what has kept my attention is that his wife on the show doesn't let him get away with anything, which is cool by the feminist standard. However, she is a stereotypical wife, in which she is very naggy, hard headed and talks considerably....and fast, with almost a high-pitched squeak. And the rest of the family are all men--three boys and Tim--and they have the typical woman cracks about her that are just too much. They make fun of her cooking, they make fun of her telling stories to the boys about being a little girl (instead of a boy), they make fun of her not being able to handle a dead rat, they make fun of her lack of fix-it skills (although I don't know of any woman that has three boys that can't fix a thing--puhleeeze!!). And yet also, she is working, going to school and still has time to get home, have dinner on the table (also cooking breakfast in the morning and sending the boys off to school), do the laundry and cleaning and take care of the boys and Tim. Wow. I have no kids nor a man in the house and I can barely have time for my little dog just because of one nine to fiver!! Either that woman was like Hermione and had some kind of time travel device or this show was just flagrant fantasy. I opt for the latter.
But yet also there was the next door neighbor Wilson, who for some strange reason you could never see his face. And he was the sort of hippie of the fray. He was world traveled, very educated, spiritual, philosophical and wise. Why couldn't we ever see his face? I could get into some kind of analysis about that, but I don't think the writers were ever really that deep. I think the blatantly wanted to kind of have this hippie-ish man as a peripheral personality. He acted as counsel to Tim in times of strife or confusion. And he always had an answer for Tim for his problems. Now it seems that Tim's character was always in need of something from Wilson, but I almost went nuts when they would make fun of Wilson for doing things like rain dances or writing poetry or having an African mucous cup. They went to a "beat" performance that Wilson did one time in which there was a lot of experimental art and poetry, music and performance and the family was there (again, how Jill the wife has all this time goes beyond the realm of believability) making faces and cracking on the performers. It was really kind of annoying.
That's when it hit me that this show was totally geared toward middle America. It was like they were on the cusp of breaking through the closed-mindedness of many middle Americans when it comes to different people or even art for *bleeps* sakes, but they never crossed over. And it's weird because they are so close to crossing over that I still keep watching the show!! And I happen to have seen some of Tim Allen's stand up from when he was young and I don't get the sense he was like that. He was a lot edgier. But of course, getting your own sitcom really is like selling your soul. And for what? To make fat housewives laugh?
To be honest, I may watch the show some more, but now that I realise what it is for what it is, the realisation has kind of spoiled the lighthearted care by which I let the show stay on the tube. But then that is why I really don't watch sitcoms at all. They are so ridiculous and all have the same stupid storylines and everyone fights then makes up with these Disney-like conclusions about why they were fighting and preaching to the viewer. UGH!! My skin is crawling just thinking about it now. The only sitcom that I find is outside of this realm, which also I didn't watch in first run is Seinfeld. Oh how so very not middle American!!
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