History Series / LastManStanding

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/last_man_standing_edit_5314.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"[[RealitySubtext It is GREAT to be back home!]]" [[note]]L-R:Kristin, Mandy, Boyd, Vanessa, Eve, Mike, Ed, Kyle[[/note]]]]

->'''Kristin:''' I know this is hard for you to believe because you are so old school, but I do not need a man.\\
'''Mike:''' You have a baby; that says you needed a man ''once.''

'''''Last Man Standing''''' was an American sitcom starring Creator/TimAllen and Nancy Travis that premiered on Creator/{{ABC}} on October 11, 2011. It's often referred to as an DistaffCounterpart of Allen's first series ''Series/HomeImprovement.''

Allen plays Mike Baxter, director of marketing at Outdoor Man, an outdoor sporting goods store in Denver, Colorado. He is proudly a man and is frustrated about how the world is trying to make his gender more sensitive. At home his world is dominated by women -- his wife Vanessa and three daughters: adult single mom Kristin, high school-aged girly girl Mandy and middle school-aged tomboy Eve. The only other male in his house is Kristin's young son Boyd.

He originally was often away from home taking up sponsors for the store catalog, but as things become more Internet-based he turns to promoting products on the website in videos while ranting about various topics surrounding masculinity, making him a mild celebrity and keeping him at home. He is good friends with his boss and owner of the store, Ed, while also striking a friendship with a younger employee, Kyle, who becomes friendly with the family.

One hook from the show is that it approaches a lot of political, social and interpersonal topics with an upfront, frank attitude that is uncommon in most shows. Mike uses the Outdoor Man web videos as his own personal soapbox on a topic related to the overall episode, which typically skew towards his own conservative views and are balanced out by quite a few liberal family members, neighbors and others, ensuring that the more controversial subjects get a fair depiction. Even though it is a family-friendly show, they do not shy away from topics like sexuality, sexual orientation, drinking, drug use, bullying and even racial tension, many even at the teenage level.

Considered a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/HomeImprovement'' due to being an Allen vehicle where he plays similar characters as a father obsessed with preserving and passing down manhood and has a public forum as part of their jobs to share their views on the episode's subject matter. While this show has never been a hit with critics like its predecessor, it has done well enough in the ratings to warrant six seasons and over 100 episodes and is one of the most notable [[AvertedTrope aversions]] of the FridayNightDeathSlot in this age of television...[[ScrewedByTheNetwork until 2017 when ABC cancelled it after six seasons]].

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!!''Last Man Standing'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Eve has one in the form of Andrew, a desperate and rather creepy nerd who has math class with Eve. There are several examples of his one-sided desperate obsession to win Eve's heart:
** In one episode when Eve is thinking about transferring out of her current math class because of her difficult teacher, he tells the teacher and Eve's mom that she can't do that because he purposefully failed the AP Calculus entrance exam so he could be in the same class as her.
** Before the previous conversation, Andrew told Vanessa to tell Eve that he said "hi" and that he's still in love with and he hasn't moved on, Vanessa says she will do him a favor and not tell Eve that last part.
** He asked her to prom while she was in a relationship with Justin, who was standing ''in the next room''.
* AbortedArc: Kristin attending college at UC Denver. It was an ongoing plot line in Season 1, reduced to a few token mentions in Season 2, and was then completely dropped in Season 3.
** Early in season three, Ryan's beer truck driver union went on strike, which lasted for a few episodes and resulted in him getting a janitor job at Outdoor Man. Later on, he is back at the beer company and we never find out how the strike was resolved.
* AccidentalProposal: In "The Ring" Mike catches Kyle with an engagement ring and thinks he's going to propose to Mandy. It's actually Ed who's going to propose to Wendi and he gave Kyle the ring to get resized. The Baxters think Kyle is going to do it when he and Mandy go to dinner that night so Mike tells him to take her to a fancy restaurant. During dinner, Mandy tells Kyle she knows about the ring and Kyle mistakenly thinks she knows about Ed proposing and goes to show it to her. Kyle drops the ring and gives it to Mandy, who cries and accepts while the restaurant applauds. Then Mandy gets a call from Vanessa explaining the mix up, devastating her [[spoiler: until Kyle actually proposes to her at the end of the episode]].
* AdultFear: Vanessa does not approve of Eve's military ambitions as she's afraid of the latter getting injured or killed if she were on duty.
** In "Free Range Parents" discusses the ongoing trend of parents not allowing their kids to ride the bus or walk to school, but be driven both ways by them, due to increased media attention on child abduction. Ryan is terrified for Boyd's safety, but his efforts to still feel in control when Boyd is allowed to walk home from school backfire.
* AdviceBackfire: In "School Merger", Kristin tells Mandy that it is important for the latter to enforce the rules while she's working at the election polls. This bites her in the ass when Mandy refuses to allow her to vote since she no longer lives in the district.
** Played straight, then subverted in the first episode. Mike advises Eve to play aggressively during her soccer game against the boys' team to impress her crush. This results in Eve accidentally giving her crush a sprained ankle during the game and she stops speaking to Mike. However, by the end of the episode, the boy asks her out on a date because he liked the way she played, proving Mike was right all along.
* AesopAmnesia: Season two's "Attractive Architect" had Mandy learning that she doesn't need makeup to look good and people seeing her without it isn't a big deal. Then in season five's "Educating Boyd" she freaks out because Eve took pictures of her sewing without makeup on for a class project and doesn't want people to see them.
* AnalogyBackfire: Kyle tells Boyd that mutton busting is just like riding a bike. Boyd points out that the entire reason he's doing it is because he doesn't know how to ride a bike.
* AdvertisedExtra: Richard Karn's guest spot was heavily hyped in the promos. He barely has a few minutes of screen time. In fact the promo has about almost half of his total screen-time. Jonathan Taylor Thomas suffered this same fate (at least until the third season when he became a recurring role).
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Even though he's actually her nephew, Boyd is this to Eve.
* AppealToObscurity: Mike uses this on Vanessa to show what will happen to Eve if they don't push her to succeed at soccer.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Eve's JROTC uniform is just... all sorts of wrong. When she's in [=ACUs=], she wears the collar up and velcroed shut (it should be worn down like a regular shirt/jacket collar), has her sleeves rolled up, is missing her American Flag shoulder patch, and for some reason wears what appears to be a completely random belt (it's not the canvas belt that's part of the ACU, and doesn't look like a pistol belt) around the outside of her jacket, instead of, you know, through the belt loops on the pants.
* ArtisticLicenseUniversityAdmissions: The show treats West Point as Eve's only option to get a college education and become an officer in the military. There are several other military colleges in the US (Virginia Military Institute, Citadel, etc.) and many civilian colleges have ROTC programs that students can participate in and become officers after graduation.
** [[spoiler: Also, the fact that she got rejected from the school makes little sense since she is a straight A student (except art), a three season athlete, an award winning JROTC participant, had a recommendation from a congressman and the ''Vice President of the United States'', and at the time the episode aired, West Point had launched an initiative to increase the number of female cadets.]]
* AscendedExtra: Chuck Larabee first appeared in a season two episode as a new neighbor, where a lot of the joke is that Vanessa is trying to be friends with a black family so that they don't seem racist. By the end, Mike and Chuck bond over the racial humor behind that and Mike mentions offhand that Chuck is the only neighbor he could see himself hanging out with. Chuck slowly started appearing in more episodes, to the point he is in every other season four episode.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: The topic of one episode. The school psychiatrist diagnoses Boyd with ADHD after he becomes too disruptive in class and prescribes medicine. Mike goes on a tirade about the situation, feeling that the school just uses ADHD as an excuse to drug kids for being too energetic and Boyd doesn't really have the disorder. He's proven right when Boyd calms down in school after he begins playing ice hockey to burn off energy. However, it's later revealed that Mandy took some of Boyd's medication while studying for her exams and did better than usual, suggesting she actually has ADHD and explaining a lot of her seemingly absent-minded personality.
* AuthorTract: InUniverse, whenever Mike does an Internet ad for the store he usually rants about whatever's been annoying him in the given episode.
** In something of an inversion Tim Allen, an admitted conservative, has said that most of the writers and crew are liberal (as is most of Hollywood), and thus the conservative slant and constant potshots at liberals is them having fun with SelfDeprecation.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Eve and Mandy in a few episodes. In a very minor use of the trope, Mike has come to admit that Ryan has earned some measure of respect even though they argue on almost every topic, and Ryan has come to appreciate Mike's help and advice in difficult situations (helping him salvage his relationship with Kristin, and once even calling out his actual dad for the way he treated Ryan). This is similar with Mike and Kyle, as Mike can tell Kyle is a good kid and a hard worker and sometimes his dad instincts kick in.
* BaitAndSwitch: In "Mike's Pole", when Mike wants Chuck to settle his and Ryan's debate regarding pledging the American flag. Chuck tells Mike and Ryan that as a Marine he fought for all the rights Americans have, including the right not to respect the flag. Ryan is pleased by this, but then Chuck tells him that while he has the ''right'' to not respect the flag, ''doing it'' is insulting to all the men who risked their lives in battle for those rights.
-->'''Chuck:''' Until you sit in the back of a Bradley and brace for an incoming RPG, you respect that flag.
** In "Here's the Kicker", Eve comes home walking with crutches and says she injured her knee at practice. Vanessa freaks out and tells Mike she will not play football anymore. Then Eve's friend Cammy comes in and reveals she accidentally injured Eve at ''soccer'' practice.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Ryan is a firm believer in this and is shocked that Vanessa, a scientist, believes in heaven.
* BenevolentBoss: Ed
* BerserkButton: Ryan presses Vanessa's when he reveals he plans to use the wedding money Mike and Vanessa gave him and Kristin to pay off his student loans. You know, the ones he used when he went off to college while Kristin had to give up college, her career dreams, and basically her entire future to raise Boyd alone.
** When Bill McKendree takes out his anger and frustration at Mike by pouring a beer on Boyd's head at a baseball game, Ryan instinctively punches him.
* BetterAsFriends: Kyle and Kristin.
* BigAppleSauce: Mandy spends the summer at a fashion internship in New York before Season 5 and annoys Eve by constantly talking about it.
* BigBreastPride:
** Mandy.
** Invoked by Mike when Vanessa is distressed that she "doesn't have it anymore" when she can't get out of a speeding ticket by flipping her hair.
--->'''Mike:''' Aw, honey...with your knockers, you go for the hair flip?
* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Deconstructed in "Mike and the Mechanics". Kristin gets upset because Mandy doesn't want to hang out with her like they did when they were kids. Mandy tells her it's because after Kristin became a mother, she began bossing her around and telling her what to do. Kristin says she was just trying to keep Mandy on the right track and prevent the same thing from happening to her, but Mandy claims it just made Kristin seem more like another parent than a sister.
** Eve tries to invoke this trope with Kyle, who was tortured by his older brothers as a kid, after Mandy keeps kicking her out of the basement in "Home Sweet Loan."
** In "Mandy's Party" Eve tries throwing a party with her friends and Mandy takes the blame when Mike and Vanessa come home early. Eve is certain that Mandy has some ulterior motive, being that Eve regularly rats out Mandy and Kristin, but Mandy explains that the older sister has a responsibility to protect the younger sister. In a separate conversation, Mike says he took the blame for his younger brother Jimmy for a joy ride, as Jimmy was 15 and would get punished worse.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Mandy and Kyle have the exact same sense of humor, which makes them just about perfect for each other despite very different interests.
* BlackBestFriend: Chuck to Mike, [[VitriolicBestBuds even though neither will admit it.]] A lot of their banter comes down to racial humor, as Mike likes to tease Chuck as coming from the hood but he has actually always been in the same middle class as Mike.
-->'''Chuck:''' (to Mike) ''"Wait a minute. You got one daughter with a baby daddy, another shacking up with her boyfriend and a third on the football team. Your family is blacker than mine!"''
* BlackSheep: Mandy is the only member of the family that does not do well academically. A season 3 episode reveals she might have ADHD, explaining why.
* BoomerangBigot: Mild example. Chuck doesn't want inner city students to be sent to the local high school even though he himself comes from the area.
--> '''Chuck:''' We moved out of the hood. I'm not sure I like the idea of the hood following me here.
* BrainyBrunette: Kristin (In Season 1, non-applicable after her actress changes to a blonde)
* BrandX: Outdoor Man for Bass Pro Shops. The stores both sell outdoor, hunting and camping gear and the exterior shots of Outdoor Man are clearly Photoshopped Bass Pro Shops.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Subverted with Mandy. She's not bratty, but clearly has her moments of being this way.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: During the stinger of "Tattoo" (directed by Tim Allen), after Mike finishes his vlog, we see Allen run off the set to the director's booth and yell cut.
* {{Bridezilla}}: Mandy becomes one during her wedding ''shower''. Then when her actual wedding arrives, she gets even worse, at one point ordering the preacher to ''change the pews in the church''.
* BrilliantButLazy: Mandy's [[TheDitz ditzy personality]] and obsession with popularity and social media causes her to blow off school work and get poor grades. But she reinvents herself when she starts going to college in the third season, proving she has a real talent for fashion design and is more willing to put in hard work for something she is passionate about. One episode all but states that she has untreated ADHD
* BrokenAesop: "Eve's Breakup" has Eve, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin break up with her boyfriend]] and is pretty blasé about it. Everyone keeps telling her that she should she be feeling devastated and crying over it which causes her to start thinking she's a cold person. Mike tells her that everyone reacts to break ups differently and there's nothing wrong with her not crying about it. Eve is content with this and Mike tells Vanesssa to stop pressuring her to be emotional. However, everything is undone when Eve does start to cry about it after she finds out Vanessa returned her boyfriend's headphones to his mom and [[ItsAllAboutMe Vanessa is ecstatic that she got her wish of getting to comfort her sobbing daughter.]]
* BrutalHonesty: Mike favors this approach, unlike the more tactful Vanessa.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Kristin regards being spanked by Vanessa as a child as one of the most traumatic experiences of her life and the cause of her spanking Boyd. Vanessa doesn't think it was a big deal since she only did it twice.
* BumblingDad: Generally averted with Mike. He's a very caring and loving father, but there is no question that he is more rational and mature than his kids. In one episode Mike and Vanessa discuss how exhausting it is to go to all of the kids' activities, and Eve is offended when she learns they were pleased to have a free weekend after she lost a soccer game. He later missed Mandy's play (where she bombed) because of trying to do two things at once, and realistically apologized to her as a one-time mistake.
* ButtMonkey: Ryan is a frequent target for Mike's ire, especially when Mike brings up Ryan's leaving Kristin, something Ryan's tried to make amends for repeatedly.
** Kyle is often treated as this as well, especially in the earlier episodes. He's often relegated to doing non-job related tasks for Ed, and subject to a lot of playful insults. But he handles everything with such joy for job and love for Ed and Mike he's eventually promoted to be a showroom manager, basically getting paid more to do these odd tasks because he works well with the entire crew. Though Mike points out in the second episode that [[DeconstructedTrope putting a radar collar on Kyle and have him run around the store is inappropriate workplace behavior]].
* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old Woman Out]]: Kristin wants her, Mandy, and Eve to do this to Vanessa in regards to spanking them as children. Unfortunately for her, Mandy and Eve reveal that they were never spanked.
-->'''Kristin:''' What about all those times that she would drag you into your room with a hairbrush?
-->'''Mandy:''' She was brushing my hair.
-->'''Kristin:''' You were screaming and crying.
-->'''Mandy:''' Yeah, 'cause there were tangles.
* CampStraight: Kyle likes feminine stuff like baking and watching ChickFlick RomanticComedy movies. However, he's clearly not gay since he dates Kristin in the first season and Mandy in the second and third.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Played with. The three daughters often do things that frustrate Mike but not bad enough to ground them over. But in one episode Eve dents Mandy's car after Mandy made her drive it, and in the process of pulling out the dent the paint gets ripped off. They cover it up with a "Say no to Drugs" sticker and Mike sees through the entire story immediately. He doesn't care much, figuring Mandy driving the car with that sticker on it would be enough punishment.
** In a later episode Mandy was planning on moving into a new apartment, but deliberately didn't tell Mike that Kyle was going to move in with her. While other people were just learning about it, Mike had already deduced that was her plan without anyone telling him just because it made logical sense (she was moving just far enough away where Mike and Vanessa wouldn't be seeing her everyday and Kyle was going to be over there all the time anyway). Funny enough, the situation deteriorated long before that information got back around to him.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Boyd
* CelebrityStar:
** Creator/KimKardashian guest starred in one episode in Season 1.
** Along with Music/NickJonas, who also guest starred as Kristin's baby daddy and ex-boyfriend in the ChristmasEpisode during the same season.
** Jay Leno turns up as the former owner of Mike's 1967 Impala in the fifth season.
** Music/RebaMcEntire guest stars in "Outdoor Woman" as Mike's college girlfriend Billie Cassidy.
* CerebusSyndrome: "Polar Run" is a light-hearted episode until [[spoiler: Eve finds out she was rejected from West Point.]]
* ChristmasCreep: Used in a throwaway line in "The Gratitude List":
-->'''Mike:''' Thanksgiving night, already five neighbors have their Christmas lights up.
* ChristmasEpisode: Just like ''Series/HomeImprovement'', there's been one every season:
** Season 1 "Last Christmas Standing". Ryan returns to town and wants to reconnect with Boyd, while Mandy demands better working conditions for her fellow elves at Outdoor Man.
** Season 2 "Putting a Hit on Christmas". Mike and Vanessa decide they want to spend Christmas by themselves and attempt to have the girls go on different trips for the holidays.
** Season 3 "Elfie". Mike and Vanessa want Boyd to celebrate Christmas the traditional way (with Jesus and Santa Claus), while Ryan wants him to celebrate with other cultures' customs and [[FantasyForbiddingFather without the fantasy aspects]]. Meanwhile, Mandy, after asking only for cash for Christmas, has a change of heart when she meets Blanca's niece, whose father is stationed in Afghanistan.
** Season 4 "Wedding Planning." Mike and Vanessa offer Kristin and Ryan a large sum of money for their wedding as a Christmas gift, only to refuse to give it to them when the two reveal how they're actually going to spend it. Meanwhile, Ed tries to teach Kyle how to play poker.
** Season 5 "Gift of the Wise". Mike asks the rest of the family to take care of some of the Christmas preparations to ease the strain on Vanessa, only for them to screw them up.
** Season 6 "My Name is Rob". Mike and Vanessa meet Eve's boyfriend Rob and find out he's a recovering alcoholic while Mandy puts up Kristin to dropping hints to Kyle about what to get her for Christmas.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: All of the Baxters' neighbors in season one.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Kyle definitely has his moments.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mandy, Kyle, and Ed do this on a regular basis.
* CommanderContrarian: Kristin. Ryan, of all people, eventually calls her out on it.
-->'''Ryan:''' You're just disagreeing with your dad just to disagree with him. He says, "up," and you say, "down." You go against him just to drive him crazy even when he's right.
* ConflictBall: Eve's boyfriend Justin demanding that she wear a dress instead of her formal JROTC uniform to the prom seems pretty out of character based on his other appearances (especially in the season four opener where he's perfectly fine with her joining the football team).
* ContinuitySnarl: In "Found Money", Kristin and Kyle mutually decided to break up when they realized they had little in common and moved on immediately. Three seasons later in "Eve's Breakup", Kristin claims that she dumped Kyle and he spent the next six months trying to win her back.
** The season one episode "High Spirits" established Mike's birthday as being in the winter while season five's "The Road Less Driven" has it take place in the fall.
* CoolCar:
** Mike drives a 1956 Ford F100 (from Tim Allen's personal collection) most of the time.
** In "The Road Less Driven" he's given a 1967 Impala by Vanessa as a project car by Vanessa for his birthday.
* CoolOldGuy: Ed
* CrazyHomelessPeople: Zigzagged in "Kyle's Friend." Kyle's homeless friend Dave and his associates play this trope straight. Later on, Morgan, a homeless woman Mandy gives a makeover to, subverts this. She is a completely sane person who became homeless due to tragic circumstances.
* CringeComedy: Every time Vanessa talks to the Larabees and tries to avoid being MistakenForRacist. Chuck will often {{Troll}} her just to make it more uncomfortable for her.
* CreatorBreakdown: InUniverse this is what made the Outdoor Man internet ads so popular, as Mike skewed into a long rant that he probably didn't intend to be shown. But his attitude was so fired up and his comments so funny that it became an InstantWebHit.
* CuttingTheKnot: Jokingly suggested in "Dad Hat" when Mike teaches Eve and Boyd how to set up a fishing line. Eve suggests they use guns or hand grenades to kill the fish instead. Mike obviously tells her no.
* DaddysGirl: Eve.
* DamnedByAFoolsPraise[=/=]StrawmanNewsMedia: In one episode, Ryan mentions that he's highly active on the Huffington Post comments section.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Although very similar in tone and style to [[SpiritualSuccessor Home Improvement]], having Tim Allen take on the more Archie Bunker-esque role of Mike here oppossed to the more huggable accident-prone man child of Tim Taylor (along with the show's much more more overt and contentious political topicality) make it a mild version of this trope.
* DatingDoSiDo: Kyle originally dated Kristin during the first season, and because of working with Mike and being friends with the family in general, eventually started dating Mandy. Unusual for the trope, it's acknowledged that a guy dating sisters at different times can be tricky, and Mandy ends up getting Kristin's blessing before pursuing him and making it official. Ed is suitably impressed.
-->'''Ed:''' Kyle pulled off sisters?! He's going to be bragging about that in bars for years!
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Played with. Mike actually likes Kyle and introduced him to Kristin, considering him a good kid and with a surrogate parent/son relationship between them that keeps Kyle around even after he and Kristin broke up. Mike does think Kyle has some way to go before becoming a husband or father, which is what annoyed him when Kyle and Mandy started dating. Played straight with Ryan in multiple ways, the core of it that Ryan ran out on Kristin for several years and exacerbated by Ryan being every liberal stereotype you can imagine. However, by season four, Mike has come to accept that he does sincerely regret what he did and truly cares about Kristin and Boyd, earning him his respect.
** Eve's boyfriend Justin [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this because he's seemingly everything Mike would want in one of his daughter's boyfriends (a football player, JROTC member, very religious), but he still doesn't like him.
** Subverted with Eve's new boyfriend Rob. After initially playing the overprotective dad role, Mike starts to warm up to the guy ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous aside from the fact he's an Oakland Raiders fan]]). Then when he finds out he's a recovering alcoholic at 20 years old, he's understandably worried about how this will affect Eve. After Eve reveals she knows about it, Mike tells her he respects the fact that Rob was upfront and honest about it and is intent on staying sober.
** After Ryan calls Kristin out on being a CommanderContrarian, he leaves the room, only to come back and ask her whether she is only dating him to invoke this trope.
* DeadpanSnarker: Pretty much every character aside from Mandy and Kyle has their moments but Mike, Kristin, and (particularly) Eve all fit this trope to a T.
* DeconstructedTrope: "Rediscover America" is one of the JackieRobinsonStory[=/=]YouGoGirl tropes. Everyone keeps praising Eve for her performance as her high school football team's kicker and how inspirational it is for women everywhere. On the other hand, Eve hates being singled out by the press and would rather have people not make a big deal of it and treat her just like the other players. Eventually the pressure of representing women gets to her and her performance suffers as a result.
* ADegreeInUseless: In one episode, Vanessa tells Eve that with her major in Geology, the only career paths available to her are working in energy companies and teaching.
** Ryan is implied to have one of these since he spent his years away from Kristin and Boyd at college, but can only find employment as a beer truck driver. Season six reveals that it's a B.A. in History.
** Mike subverts this since he majored in Marketing which, as demonstrated by the Baxters' standard of living, paid off quite well.
* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Boyd.
* DemotedToExtra /OutOfFocus: Boyd appeared in less than half of Season Four's episodes and only plays a major role in three of them.
* DisappearedDad: Ryan was this to Boyd until he reappeared in the first season ChristmasEpisode and became a RecurringCharacter in the second season to take responsibility and rekindle his relationship with Kristin.
* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Happens frequently with the Larabees.
** In "High Expectations", Mike tells Vanessa he doesn't want to befriend the Larabees because they're ''neighbors''.
** In "Big Brother," Mike calls Chuck about a cat roaming the neighborhood. In the course of the conversation, he refers to Chuck as "people like you." Cat-lovers.
** In "Gift of the Wise," Kyle complains that Chuck doesn't have the right look to play Santa. He's too tall.
-->'''Ed:''' [[LampshadeHanging Phew, lawsuit averted.]]
* TheDitz: Mandy and Kyle to a T.
* DotingParent: Kristin
* DoWrongRight: When Mandy gets caught sneaking in past her curfew, Vanessa goes to talk to her and tells her to get better at sneaking back into the house without Mike noticing.
* DoubleStandard: According to Kristin, Eve should only be described as "female placekicker" in newspaper articles about her football team when they win.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Ryan of all people turns out to be one after he takes over coaching Boyd's hockey team.
* DumbIsGood: Kyle doesn't have a mean bone in his body, and is so innocent PuppyDogEyes is basically his default expression. When Vanessa hinted to Mandy that she should move on to college guys instead of blue-collar Kyle, Kyle finds out and is actually angry with her. Mike was astonished, saying it was like getting a goldfish to hate you.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the early episodes, Mike had some BumblingDad tendencies that were eventually phased out. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because he was adjusting to being at home more often and taking a bigger role in raising his daughters so he was prone to making mistakes.
* EasilyForgiven: Zigzagged with each Baxter family member in regards to Ryan. While Kristin allowed him back into Boyd's life, it's implied it took a while for her to do so. Vanessa immediately welcomes him when he does come back into town and does whatever she can to help him. Mandy and Eve were neutral about it, but they don't like Ryan on a personal basis. Mike, however, was not happy about it at all and refuses to forgive him or let him forget what he did.
* EasterEgg: In one episode Ryan returns Mike's tools and his toolbox is a [[Series/HomeImprovement Binford]] brand.
* EccentricMentor: Ed to Mike. Though Mike's well past being mentored, he considers Ed to be a second father and learned a lot from him as they brought up Outdoor Man together. These days Ed focuses more on the "eccentric" part.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: To prove how cool she is to her daughters, Vanessa decides to get a rose tattoo on her ankle. However, she chickens out in the middle of the session and runs out, leaving just the stem.
* EmptyNest: Vanessa goes through this when Mike goes on a business trip, Mandy goes to NYC for an internship, and Eve goes to JROTC camp, leaving her in the house by herself.
* EscalatingWar: "Halloween" features a prank war with Mike and Chuck competing against Vanessa and Carol, who pulled the first one as a punishment for the two skipping Halloween to watch football.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Mike setting up Kristin with Kyle. He may be hard on her and sometimes rude, but he does what he can to help.
* {{Expy}}: With ''Series/HomeImprovement,'' the three Baxter girls match up in personality with the three Taylor boys: Kristin is the snarky intellectual that Randy was, Mandy is innocent and gullible like Mark and Eve is the sports fanatic who bonds most with dad like Brad. Vanessa is also similar to Jill in being a career-focused woman with a strong personality. Mike subverts this however. Compared to Tim Taylor, he is more intelligent, politically astute, mature, and rational, completely avoiding the BumblingDad role.
* ExtremeDoorMat: Vanessa
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Not only does Ryan try to raise Boyd without religion, he also tries to keep him from believing in anything fantasy related. When Eve tricked Boyd into believing that a Christmas elf doll was really magical, Ryan immediately told Boyd the truth, resulting in Boyd becoming depressed and earning Ryan a WhatTheHellHero from Mike.
* TheFashionista: Mandy
* FawltyTowersPlot: A minor one in the pilot episode. Mike invited Kyle over to take Mandy on a date, when he arrives he mistook ''Kristin'' for Mandy and invites her to see a movie, which she accepts. When Mike sees the error (and how Kristin has warmed up to him) he tries to roll with it by telling Kyle that "Mandy" prefers to be called Kristin. When they leave Vanessa tells him that is not going to last long and he agrees. The last joke is Kristin storming in the front door, looking at him and exclaiming "Mandy!?"
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Kristin started off as an [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Mom]] who felt Boyd was too young to be exposed to the Halloween "pagan death imagery," and was mostly about her ICouldaBeenAContender regrets about being a young mom and putting her career dreams on hold. Starting with the recasting and the second season, she became a lot more of a liberal GranolaGirl who was trying to [[MyBelovedSmother keep Boyd away from anything negative whatsoever]], dodgeball being just the start of that, and her attempts at going back to college were dropped. Could be justified in that Ryan exacerbates that side of her. Then in season three she undergoes CharacterDevelopment that brings her closer to her previous characterization and by season six she's completely de-flanderized.
** Kyle was originally a very eager and sincere guy who, while not well educated, was intelligent, observant and sometimes even eloquent, but not quick witted or able to pick up on hints. Over the seasons he became a lot more SarcasmBlind and LiteralMinded, misunderstanding basic figures of speech and other terms. DependingOnTheWriter he fluctuates back into being observant and eloquent.
** Happens in-universe when Mike decides the theme for a Halloween party and has everyone in the family swap roles. They all proceed to act like cartoon versions of each other.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: The Baxters' garage is filled with boxes containing items from various hobbies Ryan pursued (ukulele playing, cheese making, leather working) before quitting. It becomes [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when Ryan reveals he had to give most of them up because they conflicted with him caring for Boyd (i.e. Boyd was allergic to cheese).
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Kristin and Mandy are the foolish, Eve is the responsible.
* ForbiddenFruit: In "The Gratitude List", Mandy admits that she doesn't like wine as much as she did when she was under 21 and not legally allowed to drink it.
* FourLinesAllWaiting: "Thanksgiving" has the following plot lines:
** Mike and his father disagree over the latter's decision to open a marijuana dealership.
** Boyd tries to do a video report about what each family member is thankful for.
** Eve tries to avoid having to sit at the kid's table with Boyd.
** Mandy is upset that Kyle can't come to dinner and tries to convince Vanessa to let her drink wine.
** Ryan places a bet on the Detroit Lions game despite knowing nothing about football or how sports gambling works.
* FriendsRentControl: Averted by virtue of being set in Denver (lower cost of living), with both Mike and Vanessa working fairly lucrative jobs (Outdoor Man is the main hub of a national chain of stores). Their neighborhood is shown to also be rather nice, making this one of the few sitcoms to really focus on upper-middle class people.
** Also averted with Kristin and Ryan's apartment. Because they do not earn that much, they live in an inner city neighborhood with a school system so bad that they use Mike and Vanessa's address so Boyd can go to their neighborhood's school instead.
* GeniusDitz: When Mandy goes to college for a fashion degree, she immediately starts doing well because she is studying something she is interested in. She later reveals she made the ''Dean's List'' and in her ensuring conversation with Mike, she continues to make a lot of [[{{Malaproper}} Malaprops]] and LiteralMinded mistakes, which Mike lampshades.
* GenreSavvy: When Mandy suddenly begins to help out Denver's homeless population, Eve immediately realizes she's only doing it so their parents will think she's a selfless person and reward her with an Escalade for her birthday.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Ed:''' Mike, come here, you're gonna love this!\\
(''shows Mike an anatomically correct female deer'')\\
'''Mike:''' I don't wanna love that.
** From "Sinkhole," after Eve says there's enough food in the bomb shelter to keep Boyd alive until he reaches middle school:
--> '''Mandy:''' Great, he's gonna hit puberty and [[ADateWithRosiePalms I have mannequins in there]].
** Quite a few episodes (eg. "Mike Advises Mandy", "Changing Light Bulbs") have made references to PrisonRape.
** In "Buffalo Bill Day" Kyle was wearing a costume based on an Old West stage play. Mandy asked him if he thought her costume was too tight and [[SomethingElseAlsoRises his spring loaded arrow prop popped up]]. Then, topping it off, Mandy slowly resets the arrow herself.
** The reason Eve called a boy in her class gay? He called her a "name that rhymes with 'bike'".
** In "Restaurant Opening" when deciding whether to go with "pyramid" or "Bishop's hat" folded napkins, Mike quips that "[[PedophilePriest no one wants a Bishop's hat in their lap.]]"
** A number of references have been made about TeacherStudentRomance at the junior high and high school level. Mandy has even said outright that she had a crush on a few teachers and Eve said that one of them was put in "teacher time out" for a few months.
** Mike gets away with calling Boyd a bastard in a few episodes. Of course, since Kristin and Ryan weren't married when he was born, he actually is one.
* GlamorousSingleMother: Subverted with Kristin. It's established that the only reason she was able to do it was because her parents and sisters helped her.
* GlorifiedSpermDonor: How Mike views Ryan, despite Kristin and Vanessa's efforts to get him to see otherwise.
* GoodParents: Mike and Vanessa clearly love their daughters, know the right amount of discipline to give them when they do something wrong, and make sure they don't spoil them.
* GoneHorriblyRight: In the fifth season finale, Mandy suggests that she and Kyle stay at the Baxter home after they get married. Neither Mike or Vanessa are happy about the idea, but taking a chance on Kyle's hesitation (he's lived on his own terms since he was 16) they suggest a trial period to see how well everyone likes the scenario, expecting it to implode. To their surprise, Kyle's friendly demeanor and eagerness to be part of the family was infectious, as such they loved having him around. The downside was Mandy got annoyed at having to share him.
* GranolaGirl: Or Granola Guy in this case: Ryan.
* HalloweenEpisode:
** "Last Halloween Standing." Against Kristin's wishes, Mike takes Boyd out trick-or-treating and winds up mixing him up with another kid in a similar costume.
** "Haunted House" in Season 3. Vanessa takes over the PTA haunted house responsibility from Kristin for Boyd's school Halloween party and winds up scaring him with her design.
** "Halloween" in Season 5. Mike and Chuck get into a prank war with Vanessa and Carol after the former decide they'd rather watch college football than hand out candy to trick or treaters.
** "Trick or Treat" in season 6. The Baxters dress up as each other for a Halloween party and hurt each others' feelings with their impressions.
* HappilyMarried: Mike and Vanessa. They have their disputes but they always come back to loving each other dearly. A young sponsor visiting their home even commented on how quickly they resolved an argument.
* HiddenDepths: Mike initially comes off a lot like his predecessor Tim Taylor, maybe even a bit more of a staunch conservative and sometimes even a deliberate jerkass. But he really is a loving father and husband, and his rants about the disintegrating male image doesn't mean he is male chauvinistic. When Outdoor Man was forced to make their softball team co-ed, Mike was one who was supportive of it.
** While Eve mocks the other women for being too feminine and claims she doesn't care about being a tomboy, a few episodes show that she is self-conscious about the fact that boys aren't throwing themselves at her like they did for Kristin and Mandy.
** Kyle can be pretty dense and is certainly not book smart, but he is a thoughtful individual and highly teachable. Most of the mistakes he makes are not (solely) from being stupid, but from just being a NiceGuy who naturally trusts and supports people. When called upon for his opinion, he more often than not provides an intelligent observation that everyone else was too bullheaded to realize. On a couple of occasions he is able to see through Mike's frustration and provide a solution while showing a backbone, such as in "Adrenaline" where Mike was missing his world traveling adventures and he dares him to drive a race car.
** Ryan is every liberal stereotype rolled into one, and backs it up with being very socially active and willing to take a hit to prove his point. But he is not unreasonable when presented with good logistics that go against his first instincts. He advocated how good it would be for Boyd to go to a culturally diverse school (that was also overcrowded and understaffed), but when Mike suggests a perfectly legal and free way Boyd could go to a school that would offer a better education overall he had to admit he felt better about that scenario, putting him in conflict with [[CommanderContrarian Kristin]] over the idea.
*** Another example is in "Big Shots". While he initially supported Kristin's decision not to get Boyd vaccinated, he then decided to actually do some research on the subject and came to agree with Mike and Vanessa. He even went so far as to use Boyd's appointment for vaccinations to have himself given an adult chicken pox vaccine since his research showed that his never having it or been vaccinated meant he could die from contracting it.
** Mandy is airheaded by default and appears [[ItsAllAboutMe very self-centered]], but she is actually one of the most altruistic members of the family. Her obsession with celebrities means she is also caught up in celebrity causes, and her passion for fashion comes from enjoying making people look and feel better about themselves. She is also still a Baxter at heart, being familiar with camping and gun use.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: Ryan and Kristin were this back in high school before she got pregnant. He ran off on her right before Boyd was born.
* HollywoodAtheist: Ryan.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Mike tends to be more more rational and level-headed with the day-to-day operations of Outdoor Man, keeping Ed from being both staunchly old-fashioned ''and'' too ready to try bizarre strategies.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The manager of Boyd's daycare promotes being open minded about ideas to the kids, then tells Boyd that Mike's ideas are wrong. Kristin calls him out on this.
** In "Bullying," Mandy keeps bragging that she's a better daughter than Eve because she never got suspended from school. At the end of the episode, it turns out she has been suspended. ''Twice.''
** Ryan has tendency to be rather hypocritical about his beliefs.
-->'''Ryan:''' (regarding the Pledge of Allegiance) It's indoctrination… I don't like the school forcing him to say something.
-->'''Mike:''' But you're forcing him not to say something. Isn't that indoctrination, ''man''?
** Vanessa constantly chastises Mike for neglecting the other two daughters so he can spend more time with Eve even though she does the same thing in reverse.
* HypocriticalHumor: Mike's response after seeing the slutty farm girl outfit Mandy had to wear for her sorority party:
-->'''Mike:''' It's group-think, and I refuse to support any organization that makes its members wear certain clothes. (walks past Eve wearing her JROTC uniform) Looking sharp, Eve.
** From "Here's the Kicker"
-->'''Mike:''' There's 16 seconds left, you're down by 2! Put in the field goal kicker!
-->'''Chuck:''' Give it a rest, Baxter. Let the coach call the plays. Give it to my boy again!
* IAmNotMyFather: Ryan is reluctant to take over coaching Boyd's hockey team because he doesn't want to act like his dad did when he coached Ryan.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The first season started off with "Last X Standing" and something appropriate to the episode story. Quickly dropped.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Kristin, who was voted most likely to succeed by her high school class, often wonders what she could have done with her life if she didn't get pregnant before graduating.
* TheILoveYouStigma: "The Fixer" has Eve caught off-guard when Rob tells her he loves her. Mandy and Kristin tell her that if she's not sure how she feels, she has to dump him. When Eve goes to do so, Rob reveals the only reason he said it was because his older brother told him girls like it when guys do that. They agree to just pretend it never happened and ignore any advice their siblings give them in the future.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: After Kyle successfully turns a laser pointer into a car through a string of bartering, Ed expresses disbelief that someone traded a Prius for a lunchbox. Chuck points out that Kyle never actually said what model car he got and asks Ed how he knew. [[spoiler:It turns out Ed actually bought the Prius from the car dealer who got Kyle's lunch box.]]
* IdiotSavant: In "Vanessa Fixes Kyle," Kyle ends up making some personnel changes that would improve productivity at the store. When pressed on why those suggestions, and Kyle gave reasons that only his perspective interacting with everyone as a floating employee could provide. While he might not be very intelligent or quick-witted, he is still observant and wanting to make everyone happy means figuring out how to accomplish that.
* ILetYouWin: Subverted in "Big Shots". After Eve beats Kyle in a shooting gallery game, Mandy guesses that Kyle let Eve win because he's a nice guy which he confirms. When Mandy tells Eve, who then demands a rematch, Kyle reveals that he ''didn't'' let her win and just went along with Mandy's guess because he liked that she thought he was such a nice guy.
* IncompatibleOrientation: Eve's female friend Cammy has a crush on her, which Eve does not reciprocate due to the fact she's attracted to guys.
* IncrediblyLameFun: The activities Kristin and Ryan plan for Boyd (such as seeing a puppet version of Hamlet).
-->'''Boyd:''' Let's go see the sad play that I won't understand.
* InstantExpert: Subverted eventually when Mike recruits Kristin to help design, build and run the Outdoor Man Grill. It was said that she did an amazing job, but Mike later reveals that she dropped the ball on a lot of things and he had to cover for her. [[ThePeterPrinciple Her prior experience was in day-to-day operation of a restaurant and that's what she excelled at, but didn't properly hit deadlines and deal with inspectors.]]
* InterserviceRivalry: Eve claims that the reason [[spoiler:she was accepted into the Air Force Academy]] was because she bashed [[spoiler:West Point]] in her application essay.
* InvisiblePresident: "Election" averts this by name-checking both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
* {{Irony}}: In "Mike Hires Chuck," Vanessa berates Mike after Ed hires Chuck for Outdoor Man's overnight security, claiming that any work issues would negatively affect their relationship. However, even after Chuck's team fails to prevent a group of vandals, Mike and Chuck are still able to remain on their usual terms. Instead, it is Vanessa and Carol who begin to argue after Carol criticizes Vanessa's teaching performance at the inner city school they are working at.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: In "Ping Pong," while reviving their old tradition of playing ping pong together, Mandy keeps talking trash about how bad she always beat Mike and how good she is at ping pong. After goading him too much, Mike switches to his right hand and proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] her.
* ItAmusedMe: The reason Eve didn't rent a hunting dog when she and Mandy went pheasant hunting was because she enjoyed watching Mandy retrieve the killed game herself.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Ryan. His self-centered nature caused his relationship with Kristin and Boyd to be strained.
** Mandy is another example.
-->'''Mandy:''' I should be playing Juliet. I am so much prettier than Chloe Foster.
-->'''Kristin:''' Okay well, maybe Chloe Foster is a better actress.
-->'''Mandy:''' Okay, now you just sound like the director.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Multiple actors from ''Series/HomeImprovement'' show up, always with a healthy dose of self-awareness:
** Richard Karn as Bill [=MacKensie=] in "Attractive Architect," who thought Mike had three sons.
** Jonathan Taylor Thomas has a recurring role John Baker, who Mike really likes and even notes that affectionately calling him "son" feels right.
** Patricia Richardson plays a neighbor who recently lost her husband "Tom", and is the mother of a son named "Randy", causing problems by working with loud power tools early in the morning.
** Blake Clark appeared as the owner of the music club where Eve performed during an open mic night. Unlike the others, there weren't any jokes regarding his previous role of Harry Turner, the hardware store owner.
** Aside from the ''Home Improvement'' examples, Creator/TyeSheridan began showing up as Justin after he and Creator/KaitlynDever (Eve) worked on an independent film together.
* JerkAssBall: All three Baxter daughters have held this over the course of the series.
* JerkassRealization: "In Back to School," Mike offers to let Kristin and Ryan use his address so Boyd can attend their local elementary school instead of his current inner-city school. Even though Mike raises several good points about why it would be better for him, Kristin refuses to listen and calls him a toxic influence. After Mike leaves, Ryan points out that it really is better for Boyd to switch schools and that the only reason Kristin doesn't agree is that the idea came from her dad. Kristin then realizes that she's been a jerk to her dad and apologizes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ryan. Although he can be shallow, self-centered and extremely rude and pushy about his beliefs, he does care for Kristin and tries to have a good relationship with his son.
** Mike. He comes off as too conservative and opinionated, but he clearly loves his family and friends and is willing to do anything to help them (as evidenced by helping Kristin raise Boyd).
* KindHeartedSimpleton: Kyle
* TheLadette: Eve is much more interested in male activities and often complains about the girly stuff her mom and sisters want her to do.
-->'''Mike:''' That's my boy.\\
'''Eve:''' Still a girl Dad.\\
'''Mike:''' Just let me have this.
* LampshadeHanging: In "Thanksgiving," when Bud Baxter greets Kristin, he tells her she's [[TheOtherDarrin "like an entirely different person"]] [[note]] This was the first time Bud appeared on the show since the casting change [[/note]]
* TheLastTitle: The title of the series.
* TheLastStraw: After Kristin does a great job decorating the Baxters' Christmas tree for Vanessa, she shows the family a final ornament she made and puts it on the tree. The tree proceeds to fall over.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "Rediscover America" Mike says that Friday night is the only good night on TV.
** Helen Potts (Patricia Richardson) says that Mike reminds her of her ex-husband but not as clever (aka how most critics feel about this show compared to ''Series/HomeImprovement'').
** "Take Me to Church" has Mike's vlog about the importance of community intercut with scenes of the Baxter family getting involved with the church community during Mass. As the vlog ends, it pulls out to reveal Mike was actually watching the vlog on his phone while they were at the mass. Vanessa asks why he was watching it and Mike says that it [[LampshadeHanging "lined up pretty good with what was going on here"]].
** This exchange between Mike and Joe (Jay Leno) in "Mike and the Mechanics":
-->'''Mike:''' Hey, wait, wait. You actually wanted to be a comedian? Then what's the job you get after that? Like, [[Series/TheTonightShow a talk show host]]?
-->'''Joe:''' Sure. Why not? You get to talk to beautiful women, you sit behind a desk, and you work, what, an hour a day?
-->'''Mike:''' You're right. That's some kind of job. You'd have to be an idiot to walk away from that kind of job.
-->'''Joe:''' Still better than being stuck on some [[TakeThatUs stupid sitcom]].
* LikeASonToMe: Mike treats Boyd like the son he never had more than his grandson. It's implied that part of the reason for his hostility towards Ryan is due to the fact that Mike was essentially Boyd's father for the first five years of his life and doesn't want Ryan to take the role from him.
* LineageComesFromTheFather: Subverted. Most of Boyd's interests and personality come from Kristin's side of the family (Mike), much to Ryan's frustration.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Happens to Kyle every time Mandy plans on doing something with him that her parents would not approve of and lies about it.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Outdoor Man is a reasonably sized retail chain, at least 12 superstores and a number of smaller mall outlets, with the Denver location being the flagship and headquarters. Generally speaking, though, Mike and Ed seem to be the only upper management of the entire company. Ed still personally meets with salesmen trying to sell new products and shows up every day to handle the minutia of running the story, although it could be explained as Ed taking a hands on approach than actually being needed. Mike, however, is explicitly the marketing director, but outside of the VLOG's (and advertising various sales) handles a lot more than that job would entail. Mike even mentioned he should have been made a partner and own half the company. Outside of that there are a number of employees further down the chain, such as Kyle, Chuck for security, Joe for vehicle maintenance, J.J. the dock foreman, etc.
* {{Malaproper}}: Mandy most often. One time she listed her "career" path as a celebrity that includes reaching fame in a reality show and then having to go to rehab for an ''addition'' problem. Mike and Vanessa found [[BookDumb the mistake to be appropriate regardless]].
* MandatoryLine: Many of Kristin's scenes in Season Four feel this way considering she appears in the Baxter's house despite not living there anymore.
** Eve only appears in the first scene of "The Ring" to say she's going on a field trip.
* MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: Considering the premise, this isn't to be unexpected.
* MerchandiseDriven: Mike's VLOG's are intended to be advertising sales and products at Outdoor Man. Most installments wind up becoming more of an AuthorTract, with a little bit of shilling at the beginning or end. On one he finishes his rant and at the very end halfheartedly says "buy some tents." On another, due to the plot being Eve facing bullying at school for reposting his videos on social media, he actually stuck to just talking about fishing gear. Dialogue also suggests that Mike has to walk a long way from what he is selling to reach certain points. Of course, the vlogs are a huge hit and drive up sales anyway so Ed lets Mike have free rein with them.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Mandy
* MilestoneCelebration: Downplayed, the fifth season episode "The Ring" was the 100th episode of the series. It got a few articles on the subject but wasn't treated as a monumental occasion. Still, it did have a major moment of the series as Kyle ends up proposing to Mandy.
* MisPlacedKindergartenTeacher: Mandy and Eve's high school principal uses hand puppets when dealing with students.
* MistakenForPedophile: Happens to Ryan when he hides in the bushes near Boyd's Elementary school to make sure the latter walks to the Baxters' house safely.
* MistakenForRacist: Vanessa tries to avoid this every time she is with the Larabees by telling them how much she loves African-American artists and culture. Mike gets this often because he makes racial jokes, but he isn't actually racist.
* MotiveMisidentification: After Kristin tells Mike and Vanessa Eve's boyfriend Justin will be going with her and their squad on a Junior ROTC camping weekend, they assume she wanted to have a romantic getaway with him and forbid her to go. Eve gets upset and tells Kristin that she wanted to go on the trip because she practiced for an entire year for the competitions that are being held and she ''didn't even want Justin there'' because she's afraid his lackluster skills will cost her squad victory.
** In "Here's the Kicker," Eve believes that Justin feels emasculated now that she is on the football team. When she talks to him about it, it turns out that he doesn't care that she's on the team and was just upset because Eve took his place at the Broncos' kicking contest, thus robbing him of the chance to win a Camaro.
** When Kristin sees a negative Yelp review about Outdoor Man Grill and her host performance, she assumes the person who wrote it is a {{Troll}} who's trying to get a free meal by making things up. It then turns out the reviewer was Eve and that Kristin did in fact treat her badly because she cared more about pleasing the other customers.
* MsFanservice: Mandy wears some fanservice-y outfits on occasion. For example, in "Last Halloween Standing," her parents stuck Mandy with a Comic/{{Garfield}} costume that covered practically her whole body as her Halloween costume. She tried to sneak upstairs after coming home from a Halloween party, but Vanessa caught her, and she ultimately revealed underneath her overcoat a more revealing version of said cat costume, which shows off her...curves.
* MyBelovedSmother: Kristin tends to be very overprotective of Boyd (she makes him wear water wings in the bathtub).
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: A variation in "Here's the Kicker"
-->'''Mike:''' (sitting with Eve and her boyfriend at a Broncos game) Doesn't get any better than this. You, me, the crowd, and the Broncos.
-->'''Eve:''' And Justin.
-->'''Mike:''' I said "the crowd."
* {{Nepotism}}: Many of the employees at Outdoor Man Grill believe that Kristin only became the manager because of this.
** Inverted in "Tanks for the Memories." When Eve went to eat at Outdoor Man, Kristin neglected her in favor of the customers whom she is ''not'' related to. She wound up having a terrible meal and posted a negative Yelp review in retaliation.
* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse, Mike will not let Ryan forget that he walked out on Kristin and Boyd for 5 years and the entire family won't hesitate to remind Kristin she got pregnant in high school.
* NeverMyFault: After Kristin spanks Boyd, she blames Vanessa because she spanked Kristin two times when she was younger.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: All of Ryan's attempts to calm Boyd down after the latter and Mike almost drove into a sinkhole only cause him to refuse to leave the Baxter's house.
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: Eve finds herself having to deal with this a lot.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. An early season one episode had Eve struggling with her first period and all the mood swings that entails. Being the youngest daughter, Mike is aware of the issues but it's awkward regardless, especially that Eve was the child he related to the most via sports and she became just as emotional as the others.
* NotADate: The Baxters and Larabees believe Eve and Brandon are dating because they were hanging out a lot and kept it a secret. [[spoiler: It turns out Brandon was actually giving Eve golf lessons at the driving range.]]
* NotImportantToThisEpisodeCamp: Even though they're listed as main characters, Boyd, Ryan, and Chuck do not appear in episodes where they are not an important part to the plot.
* NotSoAboveItAll: On occasion, Ryan will partake in Mike's more "manly" and dangerous activities for Boyd (hockey, mutton busting) and has been shown to be a bit misogynistic on occasion.
** GranolaGirl Kristin is a gun owner.
* NotSoDifferent: Despite being on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Mike and Ryan actually share the same opinion on some issues (government surveillance, drugging kids diagnosed with ADHD, etc.).
** In "Kyle's Friend" Mandy helps a homeless woman with a makeover to land a job hoping that doing so will convince her parents to buy her a new car. During the session, she learns that the woman got pregnant at 17, which was the same thing that happened to Kristin. In contrast to what happened with Kristin, the woman was kicked out of her parents home and she struggled with alcohol leading to losing custody of her child and being put into foster care. The situation hits home to the Baxters and they all become more sympathetic to homeless people (especially Mandy and Eve).
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Baxters must deal with an arrogant official who refuses to pay for a city tree that broke their window during a storm and then orders them to remove a tree that he claims (with no proof) is infected with a disease in "Tree of Strife".
* OddFriendship: Kyle and Ed.
* OneHourWorkWeek: Not used in general, but one episode lampshaded the trope. The family learned previous women have died in their house, sparking worries from Vanessa about dying alone. Mike spends time tracking down previous families to learn the truth and shows them a slide-show of the history of their house and those women, showing they died surrounded by family, and ending with a montage of their own family. Vanessa is grateful and Mike heads back to work late in the evening because he didn't get anything done during the work day due to making the video.
* OnceAnEpisode: Each episode features one of Mike's vlogs for Outdoor Man, which usually ties thematically into the story's conflict.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: "The Ring" ''abuses'' this trope after the Baxters mistakenly believe that Kyle is going to propose to Mandy.
* TheOneGuy: The premise of the series with Mike the only male Baxter in the cast, Boyd being too young to do the manly stuff Mike is anxious to do.
-->'''Doctor:''' I'm concerned about your blood pressure.\\
'''Mike:''' I live in a house with four women.\\
'''Doctor:''' Then you're doing great.
* OnlySaneMan: Mike and/or Vanessa, depending on the episode. Mike plays this role during the episodes where he makes decisions based on rationality and logic instead of emotions like the women and turns out to be right. Vanessa is this during the times when Mike gets carried away with his testosterone-fueled antics or conservative rants and has to reel him back in and convince him to make amends to whomever he has hurt or offended. Both of them are this in the episodes where their kids are the ones who screw up.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: PlayedForLaughs in "Changing Light Bulbs". After Eve tells Mandy that she's happy the latter isn't moving out because she loves her, Mandy believes that Eve is dying.
** Played straight in "Wedding Planning" where Vanessa, Ryan's biggest defender aside from Kristin, becomes furious at him for wanting to use Kristin's wedding fund to pay off his student debt.
* OutOfCharacterMoment: In "Restaurant Opening" Kyle is the one to express the opinion of Kristin being the manager due to nepotism and undermine her authority. Kyle is usually the first to avoid conflict, but someone had to be the voice for the rest of the restaurant crew.
* OverprotectiveDad: Zigzagged. On the one hand, while Mike is concerned about his daughters just as much as the next guy and if things seem wrong he WILL come to the rescue, but he is also aware he can't fix everything. Additionally, in the first episode he actually invites Kyle to take Kristin out on a date, feeling she needs to have some time away from work and her kid. In a later episode after being given a hard time Kyle comments, "I get the feeling you don't respect me much." and Mike responds with, "I'm letting you date my daughter. Where I come from that is the ''highest'' form of respect." On the other hand, whenever Mandy and Eve go on dates with guys he doesn't like, Mike makes sure the boy is aware that he owns a large collection of guns.
* PaintballEpisode: Used in a parody of mafia/gangster movies, Ed tracks down all the employees who voted for co-ed softball and shoots them in the leg with a paintball gun.
* PapaWolf: When Bill [=McKenzie=] (Richard Karn) spills beer on Boyd at a baseball game while being a Jerkass, ''Ryan'' punches him in the face.
** When Mike's father Bud meets Ryan for the first time, he tells him that he swore he would kill him (Ryan) for abandoning Kristin and Boyd. He still thinks about doing it during their conversation.
* ParentalFavoritism: Downplayed example. While Mike and Vanessa clearly love all three kids, it's no secret that Mike likes Eve (the tomboy who loves sports, hunting, etc. just as much as he does) the best. Vanessa also bonded more with the more girly Kristin and Mandy, giving her some empty nest syndrome when she realizes Eve was the last daughter to hang out with.
** Mike's dad favors his brother Jim over him. He's even misremembered some of Mike's achievements, such as catching a game-winning touchdown, as Jim's.
** This becomes the subject of "Three Sisters". When Mike chastises Kristin for giving Eve money to buy recording equipment after he and Vanessa said no, Kristin accuses him of favoring Mandy by allowing her to live at home and use the basement for her business rent free. Later on, Mandy accuses them of favoring Eve for allowing her to take a gap year then Kristin is accused of favoritism for getting the job at Outdoor Man Grill along with several pay raises. Mike and Vanessa eventually concede that they do treat the kids differently based on their circumstances and abilities but that it's impossible for them to make all the girls happy without sacrificing something for one of the others.
* ParentalSubstitute: Kyle looks to Mike as a father figure, as he hadn't seen his own dad in years. But as much as he likes to prank or tease Kyle, Mike likes the kid and takes the father figure role seriously.
** Ryan tells Mike in "Daddy Dearest" that the latter has been more of a father to him than his real dad. Mike notes that that is pretty sad considering all he does is make fun of Ryan.
** As time has gone on, Ed has taken some of the role from Mike. Kyle still looks up to each and especially Mike, but Ed has grown to take a more active effort in mentoring Kyle.
* PassionateSportsGirl: Eve, specifically soccer, basketball, and softball.
* PersonalitySwap: "Wedding Planning" involved Mike offering Kristin and Ryan the money from a fund he and Vanessa set aside for each kids wedding. Mike was hesitant to give them the money when they said they were going to have a remote forest ceremony instead of a church, but relented when Vanessa encouraged him to be more open to the idea. But when Kristin and Ryan confessed they would use the money on a small wedding and use it to pay off Ryan's school debt, ''Vanessa'' goes crazy and Mike had to calm her down.
* PhoneAholicTeenager: Mandy
* PlayingGertrude: Robert Forster, who play's Mike's father Bud, is only 12 years older than Tim Allen.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Jonathan Adams (Chuck Larabee) and Jordan Masterson (Ryan) in Season 4. In both cases, they're only credited in the episodes they appear. Masterson actually started as a FakeGuestStar when he joined the show in Season 2, appearing in a majority of the episodes through Season 3.
* ProudBeauty: Mandy, much to Mike and Vanessa's chagrin.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: InUniverse, Mike feels this way about some aspects of modern society along with some of Ryan and Kristin's actions regarding raising Boyd. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And that's all we're gonna say about that.]]
** "Precious Snowflakes" tackles this head on when Mandy asks Mike to give a speech at her college. Mike learns the school has to review his speech before he gives it to ensure he doesn't say any micro-aggressions that may offend people. Their list includes typical ones such as "man" (which may offend non-binary people) but then goes on to say calling America "a place where anyone can succeed" is one because not every single person succeeds. Naturally, Mike gets riled up about it and refuses to speak.
** Ryan is guilty of this in "Gift of the Wise Men," when he and Kyle are given the task of setting up a nativity scene, and Ryan guiles Kyle into an "inclusive" display that consists of a sign reading "Your God Here" and an arrow. The problem is that this is a nativity scene for a ''church,'' for which a non-religious display is inappropriate. One wonders how Ryan would respond if a nonbeliever insisted on a watered-down "inclusive" display at a synagogue, mosque, or other (non-Christian) house of worship.
* PottyEmergency: An early episode features Vanessa having one when she can't figure out how to open the baby-proofed toilet seat.
* PushoverParents: Kristin and Ryan don't believe in punishing Boyd and instead try to teach him to behave by using positive reinforcement (i.e. giving him candy after he does something good). This backfires on them when Boyd begins to refuse to do anything they say unless he gets a treat.
* {{Pride}}: Vanessa's screw ups are often because of this trope.
* PyrrhicVictory: Mike teaches Eve this lesson when she defied the football coach's instructions that ended up winning the game instead of kicking a field goal, tying it and put it into overtime. She didn't respect her coach, and if her teammates treated her the same way she would have failed royally, and she gets punished by running the stairs during practice. Mike adds that things would be much worse when she's in the military, and wants her to learn that lesson now.
* RealityEnsues: After Kyle accidentally lets a bear inside Outdoor Man, he decides to fix the problem himself by shooting it with one of the store's tranquilizer guns. However, US law prevents a store like Outdoor Man from selling animal tranquilizer, just the gun and the darts. Therefore, Mike has to stop Kyle from shooting the bear with an empty dart that will do nothing except make it angrier.
* ReallyGetsAround: Mandy, although [[InformedAttribute mostly implied versus actually seen]]. She is extremely boy crazy but also desperately wants Mike to like her boyfriends, [[OverprotectiveDad which he rarely does]]. She does admit when she starts dating Kyle that she tends to rush into the physical stuff.
* RecklessGunUsage: Generally averted in principle (although Mike did threaten Kyle with a crossbow in the pilot), but teased at in one episode. Mike was cleaning a vintage flintlock rifle in the kitchen and Vanessa was concerned that something could go wrong with Boyd right next to him. Mike went on a minute-long bit about the ludicrous idea of Boyd overpowering him, correctly doing all the steps necessary to load and arm the rifle and shooting him in the foot.
-->'''Vanessa:''' ''Just keep the safety on.''\\
'''Mike:''' ''The whole gun IS the safety!.''
* {{Retool}}: The second season [[TheOtherDarrin recasted]] both Kristin and Ryan, as well as making Ryan a common RecurringCharacter. Ryan's strong liberal leanings clash with Mike's conservative opinions, having the effect of turning the show into a SpiritualSuccessor of ''Series/AllInTheFamily''. The main difference is that Mike is opinionated but generally well educated while Ryan's opinion leans towards ignorant, spoiled idealism (that even he admits is not the best for HIS family) and he has been shown to be very hypocritical and self-serving with his beliefs.
* ReversePsychologyBackfire: In "Eve's Band", Eve's band sounds horrible so Mike and Vanessa pretend to support the band hoping they will eventually stop. The rest of the band does, but Eve decides to perform a solo act which turns out to be much better.
** Zig-zagged in "Boyd Will Be Boyd". Ryan gets Boyd a shotgun for his 10th birthday and accompanies him and Mike on a hunting trip hoping that doing so will cause him to hate hunting and give it up. When they come across a pheasant and Boyd gets ready to shoot, he lowers his gun and decides not to do it. Ryan is jubilant, thinking that Boyd has come around to his way of thinking. Then it turns out Boyd had no issues with wanting to kill the bird and wants to keep his gun, but he knew that doing so in front of Ryan would hurt his feelings.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: After Colorado passed the bill legalizing marijuana, a few episodes in season 3 focus on Mike's father opening a pot dealership.
* RomanticFalseLead: Kyle for Kristin. They've dated in the first season, but it doesn't last.
* RunningGag: Whenever Kristin tells Mandy she needs her help with something, Mandy always assumes it's to upgrade Kristin's wardrobe and proceeds to make various insults about it before Kristin tells her it's something else.
* SaveOurStudents: In season four, Vanessa decides to quit her job as a geologist and become a teacher at an inner city high school.
* SecretSecretKeeper: In "The Wolf Returns", after Mandy confesses to the family that she was kicked out of her internship program, Eve reveals that she already knew about it from Kyle. The reason Eve was acting like a jerk to Mandy throughout the episode was because not only did she know Mandy's stories were untrue, but because she was hurt that Mandy didn't confide to her.
* SelfDeprecation: Kristin jokes (especially in season one) about her getting pregnant in high school. "We all have our own talents... apparently I'm fertile."
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Kyle's the sensitive guy and Mike's the manly man.
* SequelEpisode: "Vanessa Fixes Kyle"'s A-plot is about Vanessa trying to get back into Kyle's good graces after the events of "Pledging"[[note]] Vanessa advised Mandy to dump Kyle so she could have a "full college experience". She didn't but after Kyle finds out about it, he begins treating Vanessa coldly. [[/note]].
** "Trick or Treat" is one to "Halloween". Mike, inspired by Kyle's Ed costume and Ed's reaction to it in the latter episode, decides to TakeItUpToEleven for the family's Halloween party by having everybody swap roles so they'll make fun of each other and have a terrible time.
* SeriousBusiness: Holiday traditions to Vanessa. In "Elfie", she cries when Kristin tells Boyd won't be opening presents at the Baxters' Christmas morning and is heartbroken when Eve asks if the family can skip "The Gratitude List" at Thanksgiving dinner.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Eve is usually seen in sportswear, grimed up from a recent game. That makes the few times she dresses up for an event that much more surprising when she's actually wearing a flattering dress and make-up.
* SkewedPriorities: Initially, Ryan places more importance on his causes and crusades than on providing for Kristin and Boyd. He stops doing so when Kristin gets fed up with it and kicks him out of their apartment.
* SlutShaming: Referred to by name, as Mandy being a big flirt and (supposedly) sleeping around is often a target for insults by Eve. Mandy learned the term (and psychological effects) in a college class, which gave her the upper hand to ignore the stigma.
* SoapBoxSadie: Ryan is a male version that takes this to extreme levels. To give an example, he launched a campaign to rename Boyd's school because the person it is named after (William Clark) was a slave owner. Even Carol Larabee, who is head of the PTA and, as an African-American, has more reason to dislike Clark than Ryan, felt the entire thing was trivial.
* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: Boyd turned 2 in the first season and the second season was suddenly 5. This is embraced as a complete {{retcon}}, as Kristin was also aged up appropriately to keep the fact she had Boyd when she was 17.
* SpecialEditionTitle: The opening title for "Eve's Band" feature's a rock version of the show's theme.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The children may be gender flipped but a lot of the same basic themes continue on from ''Series/HomeImprovement''. Whereas Jill was the one surrounded by testosterone, here Mike is surrounded by estrogen (the personalities of the characters are also closely matched). Mike's rants for the Outdoor Man website (and minor celebrity status) are pretty close to the filibusters Tim would engage in on [[ShowWithinAShow Tool Time]]. And thanks to the conservative vs. liberal clash, it could also be seen as one to ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' for a weird XMeetsY.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When the neighborhood cars are vandalized with eggs, most every was able to clean up in the morning except for the new black family the Larabees. Vanessa worries they may take it as racially motivated, with Mike saying "I don't think [[UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan the Klan]] does a lot of work with eggs." In an effort to not seem racist, Vanessa invites Chuck and Carol Larabee over for dinner, which is a very awkward event. Mike eventually admits the reason why Vanessa did this was over the egging incident and Chuck says "I don't think the Klan does a lot of work with eggs."
* StrawCharacter: Mostly played for laughs both ways.
** Mike's overt Republican beliefs set the character up as this for viewers on the left, presenting many stereotypes Democrats dislike about Republicans such as being a GunNut, money obsessed, angry, borderline bigot who sees Barack Obama and the government as a socialist nightmare here to take his guns and money. However, he also subverts this in that he has been shown to be tolerant of minorities and gay people, believes in equal opportunity, and is against government policies such as over-policing.
** Ryan is his Democratic counterpart that plays this painfully straight. He embodies the "bleeding heart liberal" to a T. He's also a vegan, pacifist, [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad overly politically correct]], borderline hippie SoapboxSadie who blames the 1% for every problem suffered by the working class and wants socialized medicine, benefits, and wages.
* StrawFeminist: Kristin has shades of this. When a newspaper reporter refers to Eve as "female placekicker Eve Baxter" in an article after a win, she is happy because the article implies girls can be just as good as boys. When the reporter uses the same terminology after the team loses, she complains that the article implies Eve lost the game because she's a girl.
** Vanessa donated money to Hilary Clinton's campaign just because she wants the next president to be a woman. She even declares she would vote for her even if she disagreed with all of her political positions. Several characters point out how ridiculous that is and Chuck tells her that he himself voted for Barack Obama because he felt he was the best candidate, not because he just wanted a black man to be president.
* SuckySchool: UC Denver, according to Mike, Kristin, and Eve.
* SuddenDownerEnding: The ending of "Polar Run", [[spoiler: Eve is rejected by West Point, her dream college and life goal for three seasons.]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Ed accidentally hurts Mandy's feelings by being upset with the promotion she did for his local hangout, filling it with young hipsters. He apologizes by offering her a bottle of wine from his vineyard. Being 16, she couldn't legally drink it, but she accepts the gift saying "I will hold on to this until I'm 21, whereupon I will have my first taste of alcohol." Mike and Vanessa quickly confiscate it.
* TakeAThirdOption: In "Three Sisters" Mike gives the daughters three options: Kristin gets a bonus at work, Mandy can keep living at home rent-free, and Eve gets new recording equipment. Only two of them can get what they want so the daughters have to pick who gets left out. [[spoiler:They decide to leave Eve out, but then Kristin and Mandy will buy her the equipment themselves so everyone gets what they want.]]
* TakeThat: Aside from the numerous shots taken at Leftists, Obama, the government, Obama, hippies, and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Obama]] we have these:
** Mike compares his father's store's lack of security to the Denver Broncos' defense in Super Bowl XLVIII [[note]] They lost 43-8 [[/note]].
** In the episode "Three Sundays", Ed mentions that he gives employees the day off for the Broncos' sixteen regular season games and Mike adds "and one playoff game[[note]] The implication is that the Broncos never make it past their first game in the playoffs. [[/note]]."
** In "Kyle's Friend", Kristin offers to pay Boyd $1000 if they don't have to watch ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' again.
** "House of Tutor": Mike uses his vlog to mock the Atlanta Falcons for blowing their 25 point lead in Super Bowl LI.
* TakeThatUs: When Helen Potts (Patricia Richardson) says that Mike reminds her of her ex-husband but not as funny, Mike replies that "he probably had better writers."
* TakingTheHeat: In "Mandy's Party", Mike and Vanessa come home from their anniversary celebration early and find out a party was being planned at their house. They assume Mandy is responsible and when they confront her she takes the blame, even though it was actually Eve's party. When they find out the truth, Vanessa is confused by it while Mike understands, having done the same thing when he was a teen after his brother Jimmy wrecked their dad's car.
* TeenPregnancy: Kristin got pregnant during her senior year in high school.
* TeensAreShort: Rather notable in that both Mike ''and'' Vanessa tower over all their kids.
* TerribleArtist: Eve's attempt at drawing a bowl of fruit for her art class looks more like a dinosaur. She hopes that her high school's budget cuts will result in the art program being cancelled so she won't get a bad grade and not get into West Point.
* TimTaylorTechnology: A rather mild example, considering the source, when Mike put a $900 scope on Eve's $99 pellet gun so she could more accurately snipe gophers with it.
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Creator/JayLeno guest stars one of these in "The Road Less Driven".
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Eve's the tomboy to Mandy's girly girl. With Kristin in a different stage of her life, the contrast between Mandy and Eve is that much bigger.
* TookALevelInDumbAss: Kyle has gotten a lot dumber as the series has gone on.
* TookALevelInJerkAss: Kristin in season 2. She went from being a level headed young woman who was mildly annoyed at Mike's beliefs and restrictions at worst to a CommanderContrarian GranolaGirl who undermines him at every opportunity and, on one occasion, calls him a "toxic" influence on Boyd.
** By late season 3, however, she's often as likely to side with her father as with Ryan when the two of them start arguing.
* TownGirls:
** Butch: Eve, who plays sports, does ROTC and has beaten up two different boys.
** Femme: Mandy, a stereotypical shopaholic, boy-crazy fashonista air head.
** Neither: Kristin.
* UnkemptBeauty: Eve once stole all of Mandy's make-up gear, forcing her to go to school without it. She felt like she had a reputation to keep up the "Mandy Baxter experience" at school. By the end she realized it was not as big a deal as she thought it would be.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Mike is a borderline case. He has a lot of strong political beliefs, which he does not hesitate to voice. He's also anti-social and will do or say things that are insulting because he doesn't care about other people's feelings. But deep down he is a very intelligent guy and attentive husband and father, and he avoids doing anything that is disproportionate or could result in real harm.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Mike and Chuck make a big show of not liking each other, but the truth is they hate many of the same things and enjoy insulting each other with no ill will involved. Vanessa cannot understand why they don't consider each other friends, but that's all part of the gender clash.
** Mike and Joe (played by Jay Leno) are a more prominent example. Joe is something of TheThingThatWouldNotLeave and Mike is genuinely annoyed by him, but he doesn't have many friends to talk about cars with and he respects Joe's talents as a mechanic. Enough to hire him on to Outdoor Man to service their vehicles.
* WhamShot: In "Mike's Pole" Mike and Eve go with Ed to the VFW hall and Eve meets a female Iraq War veteran and talks with her about her war experiences. The woman gets up from her seat to talk to someone else [[spoiler: revealing that she is a double leg amputee who was wounded in combat.]]
-->'''Eve:''' Whoa.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In "Polar Run", Vanessa suggests getting Eve a puppy after [[spoiler: the latter is rejected by West Point.]] This makes no sense since Eve was seen playing with Muffin just three episodes prior and he appears in the one after this.
* WhatTheHellHero: Mike and Kristin to Ryan after the latter blames Vanessa, with no evidence whatsoever, that the sinkhole Mike and Boyd almost drove into was her fault.
* WhiteMansBurden: Ryan is always going on crusades to get rid of "white male oppression" and "benefit" American minorities, much to the annoyance of Mike and people that actually ''belong'' to the minority groups, like the Larabees.
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Vanessa hates that Eve enjoys dangerous activities like sports and hunting and wishes she were more feminine like her sisters.
* WildTeenParty: Subverted. Mike and Vanessa actually arrived home ''before'' the party started so they were able to nip it in the bud before anything happened.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Through most of the second season there was a lot of ShipTease between Kristin and Ryan (mending fences after Ryan left when Boyd was born) and Mandy and Kyle (made complicated that Kristin and Kyle used to date). Both couples end up getting together in the same episode after Eve points out that most [[EveryoneCanSeeIt everyone can see]] what is going on.
* WiseBeyondHerYears: Played with with Kristin. Since she had to grow up earlier than most high schoolers when she got pregnant, she's very wise and mature compared to other people her age. However, she still needs guidance from her parents regarding being a mother.
* WomenAreWiser: Subverted. More often than not, Mike is the one who's proven to be right at the end of an episode and Vanessa is prone to stupid mistakes because of her pride.
* YouAreGrounded: Generally averted due to the fact that the Baxter daughters don't do anything bad enough to warrant it. On the occasions where they do, they are usually forced to undergo a punishment that is worse (i.e. after Eve was caught skipping soccer practice and drinking underage, her punishment was that she would not be allowed to quit ''and'' she had to play her game the next day with a massive hangover).
* YouGoGirl: Eve becomes the placekicker for her high school's football team in season 4. As discussed above, it's deconstructed as there was no opposition from the other players and Eve hates the pressure everyone else puts on her for representing women.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant: Inverted, Mike thought Muffin was a girl and never bothered to check. Amusingly, he only found out because Chuck came by with his ''pregnant'' [[PitbullDatesPuppy German Shepard and said Muffin was the only dog it could have been]].
----

* PapaWolf: When Bill [=McKenzie=] spills beer on Boyd at a baseball game while being a Jerkass, ''Ryan'' punches him in the face.

'''''Last Man Standing''''' is an American sitcom starring Creator/TimAllen and Nancy Travis that premiered on Creator/{{ABC}} on October 11, 2011. It is often referred to as an DistaffCounterpart of Allen's first series ''Series/HomeImprovement''.

** Mandy is airheaded by default and appears [[ItsAllAboutMe very self-centered]], but she is actually one of the most altruistic members of the family. Her obsession with celebrities means she is also caught up in celebrity causes, and her passion for fashion comes from enjoying making people look and feel better about themselves.