With 'How to Be a Gentleman' already cancelled while female-lead comedies are coming out strong, are men in trouble this season? There were three "manly men" sitcoms in the pipes and one's down already. But 'Last Man Standing' (Tue., 8PM ET on ABC) has the star power of Tim Allen, who's fought this battle of manliness before.

Allen brings every bit of Tim Taylor to Mike Baxter, which turns out to be exactly why it works. Who would have thought that the same schtick could work again two decades after 'Home Improvement' launched, but Allen's charm manages to carry the day.

In a house of women this time around, Mike laments what's happened to men in the intervening years since his youth. In fact, at his work -- which looks like a variation of the very-manly Bass Pro Shop -- it is his ranting about men that may steer the future of the company.

With catalogs dying out, Mike was taxed with finding a way to drive traffic to their website, and he did it by turning a promotion for a crossbow into a platform to complain about modern men. Yes, it's similar to how Tim Turner used to vent his personal life frustrations through 'Tool Time,' but it's a format that works, and it's something Allen does very well.

The cast is likable, Allen seems very much at home, and the writing is that very comfortable humor that comes in this multi-camera format. In other words, if there is a place for throwback feel-good family comedies in this "year of the comedy," then 'Last Man Standing' may manage to stand for quite a while.