It may seem odd to ask “what the hell happened” about a guy who is currently starring on a network sitcom. Tim Allen definitely didn’t disappear. He’s still a decent-sized TV star. But once upon a time, Allen was more than that. At the peak of his career, Allen had the number one book, movie and TV show in the United States. Since that time, his track record at the box office has been spotty. He hasn’t starred in a mainstream movie in nearly a decade!
What the hell happened?
Timothy Alan Dick was born June 13, 1953 in Denver, Colorado. His father died in a car accident when he was young, and soon after, his mother moved him and his siblings to a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. Allen remains closely intertwined with the state of Michigan including doing voice overs for the state’s tourism department.
Allen graduated from high school with a love for the arts (specifically classical piano), and went on the graduate from Western Michigan University. His career in show business began on a comedy club dare from friends. His first stand-up gig proved successful so he pursued comedy and gained enough local recognition to make the move to LA.
Before that, however, a wrench was thrown into Allen’s plans. He was arrested at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport for cocaine possession, 1.43 pounds of it. Meaning he was dealing. With a possible life sentence looming, Allen pleaded guilty, and ratted on some fellow dealers in exchange for a mere three-year sentence. It makes for one of the more surreal celebrity footnotes.
Newly released from Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution, Allen became a standup staple in the Los Angeles area, and steam was gathered for a television pilot. It was in vogue at the time for a network to commission an entire show based solely on a comedian’s standup material, to simply take what was there, and broadcast it.
Allen’s act was mostly based upon the male/female dichotomy. It was intentionally regressive. He portrayed himself as a macho man, a “male pig” and proud of it, and supported the associated positions for comedic effect.
This was the basis for his ABC pilot, Home Improvement. His “male pig” character is given the additional dimension of being a caring family man, simply stuck in a 50s-era mindset. Allen played the host of a do-it-yourself handyman show. At home, he’s a goofy dad raising three young boys.
Home Improvement was a runaway success. Debuting in 1991, its first season was a ratings juggernaut. The show peaked commercially in the fifth season and trailed off until season eight which was its last. While Seinfeld appealed to the adult demographic, Allen’s show was aimed at family viewers.
While Home Improvement was never a critical darling, both the show and its star did receive some recognition. Allen was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993. He lost to Ted Danson who was nominated for Cheers. He fared better at the Golden Globes where he was nominated five consecutive years from 1992-1996. during that time he lost to John Goodman, Jerry Seinfeld, Kelsey Grammar and John Lithgow. But in 1994, he took home the statue.
Ashley Judd auditioned for the role of the Tool Time girl. Series creator Matt Williams was so impressed with Judd’s audition that he refused to cast her in such a small role. Instead, Pamela Anderson was cast as the jiggly Tool Time girl. Williams went back to Judd’s agent and offered to create a bigger role specifically for her. If she had accepted, Judd would have played Allen’s sister. Ultimately, Judd passed in favor of a smaller role on the dramatic series, Sisters.
Home Improvement ended its run in 1999. By then, Allen had already diversified into movie stardom. He was earning $1.5 million per episode making him one of the highest paid actors in TV history. Reportedly, Allen was offered $50 million dollars to return for a ninth season.
Allen’s movie debut was playing a baggage handler in the 1988 crime drama, Tropical Snow. Six years later, Allen returned to the big screen with a starring role in the Disney holiday comedy The Santa Clause.
Allen played a divorced dad who accidentally kills Santa Claus. Yes, this is a Disney holiday movie in which Santa falls off a rooftop to his death. Allen’s character ends up taking Santa’s place and transforming to look more like St. Nick including weight gain and a full beard. The experience brings Allen closer to his son because this is a Disney holiday movie – dead Kris Kringle not withstanding.
Allen wasn’t the producers first choice. The script was written with Bill Murray in mind. It was later offered to Chevy Chase who had schedule conflicts. Disney had to make an exception to one of their company policies in order to hire Allen. The company has a policy against hiring ex-cons. Allen had a previous drug conviction which meant he was ineligible to work for Disney. Of course, Allen has worked for Disney extensively ever since.
In the original cut of the movie, Allen’s character made a joke referencing “1-800-SPANK-ME”. It turns out, this was a legitimate phone line. As you can imagine, it was actually a phone sex line. In 1997, Disney started getting complaints from parents of children who had called the line and racked up enormous phone bills. Disney ended up buying the phone number and disconnecting the service. The line has been omitted from future home video releases.
On a budget of $22 million, Allen delivered a major success. The Santa Clause received a rapturous reception from audiences, with the movie nearly passing $200 million. Critics responded well, calling it “a lovable family comedy harkening back to old-fashioned Christmas movies”. The film is now a staple of Yuletide programming, and is considered a Christmas classic.
In 1994, Allen was unavoidable. On the debut weekend of The Santa Clause, Allen led the week’s highest-grossing film, highest-rated TV show, and wrote the highest-selling book, Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man.
In 1995, Allen provided the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story.
Tom Hanks played Woody, a toy cowboy and de facto leader of the toys in a little boy’s bedroom. When humans aren’t around, the toys come to life. Allen played a new space ranger toy who doesn’t understand that he is not the real deal.
Toy Story‘s arduous road to the screen is well-documented. Based on the strength of the Pixar short, Tin Toy, Disney commissioned a feature-length computer animated film. After numerous story treatments were shot down the Toy Story concept was agreed upon. However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Disney’s studio chief, didn’t like the first test reel and production on Toy Story was halted.
Pixar retooled the story significantly and Disney agreed to resume production. After a grueling development process, voices were matched to the characters on-screen. Woody, originally a villain, was deemed to be the main foil of audience empathy, and so Tom Hanks and his “every-man” voice were tapped. For Buzz Lightyear, the self-absorbed, haughty yet capable and, eventually, compassionate Space Ranger, Allen was approached.
Once again, Allen was not the first choice. According to Allen, Pixar originally wanted to cast Paul Newman as Woody and Jim Carrey as Buzz. The thinking was that Newman would represent “old Hollywood” and Carrey would represent “new Hollywood”. But the idea was discarded when it proved too expensive.
Billy Crystal turned down the role of Buzz and later regretted it. So when John Lasseter called Crystal to discuss a role in Monsters Inc, Crystal said “yes” before Lasseter could tell him anything about the movie. Chevy Chase also passed on the part. Allen has said that Chase was huge comic influence for him so he was interested in snapping up Chase’s discarded roles.
Toy Story met with critical praise and was highly profitable. It was the highest-grossing movie of the year and the first animated film in Oscar history to be nominated for Best Screenplay. It was arguably one of the more disruptive films ever. Its warm reception started a shift in animation from the drawing table to the desktop. Had it failed, the advent of computer-animated films would have at least been delayed. The film spawned two sequels (with a fourth film announced). Allen returned for each one so we’ll be talking about Toy Story more as we go.
In 1997, Allen appeared as himself in the Rodney Dangerfield vehicle Meet Wally Sparks. Dangerfield, who had been a mentor to Allen during his early stand-up career, played a tabloid TV reporter trying to boost his ratings. The cameo was Allen’s way of paying back Dangerfield for the early career boost. But critics didn’t like the movie and audiences chose not to meet Wally Sparks.
Allen’s second live-action starring vehicle began a long series of poorly received family comedies with gradually diminishing box office returns. The inaugural entry of this series was titled Jungle 2 Jungle.
Allen starred as puffed-up NYC commodities broker who discovers he fathered a child with a woman who subsequently joined a remote, unrefined Amazon tribe. He takes the kid back to New York and fish-out-of-water gags ensue. Fish-out-of-water is basically the sole source of laughs with Allen in the jungle and the tribal boy in the concrete jungle. Oh, I see now. I guess it is a slightly clever title 
Jungle 2 Jungle was a remake of a French farce named Little Indian, Big City. Lolita Davidovich played Allen’s fiancée and JoBeth Williams played his ex-wife. Martin Short played a supporting role as Allen’s business partner and Leelee Sobieski played his daughter who begins a relationship with Allen’s son.
Jungle 2 Jungle was, uh, savaged by critics. Roger Ebert, who had high hopes based on his affinity for Allen and Short, called it “far too mediocre to be terrible”. Siskle disagreed. He named Jungle 2 Jungle as one of the worst of the year.
Audiences were lukewarm. The movie opened in second place and grossed just shy of $60 million dollars. That’s not a bad haul, but it was disappointing following The Santa Clause.
Next up for Allen was an alliterative pairing with Kirstie Alley, for the fish-out-of-water comedy For Richer or Poorer.
Allen and Alley starred as NYC socialites disillusioned with their marriage. When they are separated from their wealth, they flee to Amish Country to avoid the long arm of the IRS. Deprived of their prosperity and of modern conveniences, hilarity ensues. In theory anyway.
Though the professionalism of the two leads was acknowledged by critics, For Richer or Poorer was saddled with negative reviews. Commercially, the film failed to recoup its budget. Alley was drifting post-Cheers, and For Richer or Poorer represented a wave that pushed her further from dry land. Allen, however, was still white-hot due to Home Improvement.
In 1999, the year of Improvement‘s final season, Allen returned to the silver screen. First, he voiced Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear for a second time in Toy Story 2.
In the sequel, Woody is stolen by a nefarious toy collector who plans to sell him in Japan where he is a prized collectible. It’s up to Buzz and the rest of the toys to find their friend and bring him home.
Initially, Toy Story 2 was intended to be a cheap direct-to-video sequel. When John Lasseter caught wind of the plans, he offered to have Pixar produce a the movie instead. Pixar and Disney were currently operating under a five-picture contract and Lasseter assumed that Toy Story 2 would count as the fourth movie under the deal. But the contract stipulated that Pixar had to produce five “original” movies meaning that sequels didn’t count.
Disney CEO Michael Eisner refused to budge over the contract and demanded two more original Pixar productions. This was the beginning of a rift between Lasseter and Eisner that would continue to grow. Eisner was jubilant after a poor test screening of Finding Nemo and it is believed that he intentionally tanked the home video release of The Incredibles as a means to keep Lasseter in line. We’ll see how that played out a little later on.
Toy Story 2 is considered to be one of the few sequels that matched or even surpassed the original. Delving deeper into the characters and forging new storylines rather than extending old ones, the film garnered an exceedingly rare “100%” rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the series second). It is also one of only three animated films to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture. At the time, it was the second-highest grossing animated film of all time.
1999 also brought the partly metafictional sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest.
Allen played a pompous actor who starred in a defunct science fiction TV show. For extra money, he makes appearances at sci-fi conventions along with his former co-stars. The rest of the cast, played by Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub, resent Allen for his prima donna behavior.
Allen’s character is essentially a stand-in for William Shatner. Pompous and self-absorbed (a recurring Allen character trait), he is a faded actor who is mistaken by aliens as an actual space hero, as opposed to having played one on TV. The aliens enlist Allen and his “crew” to command their vessel.
Harold Ramis was originally hired to direct. Ramis wanted to Alec Baldwin for the lead role, but Baldwin turned the movie down. Ramis also approached Steve Martin and Kevin Kline. When they were unavailable, Allen was cast. Ramis disagreed with the casting decision and walked away from the movie. After seeing the finished film, Ramis later said he was impressed with Allen’s performance.
Galaxy Quest is praised as Allen’s best live-action project with the possible exception of The Santa Clause. Savor it, as the reviews slump from here on out. Unfortunately, those reviews did not translate into box office success. The movie opened in a dismal 7th place behind Man on the Moon. Thanks to positive word of mouth, it actually improved its performance in subsequent weeks peaking in 5th place. Ultimately, it grossed just over $70 million dollars on a $45 million dollar production budget.
Over the years, Galaxy Quest has developed a cult following on video. Rumors have been swirling about a possible sequel. Allen, Weaver and Rockwell have all expressed a willingness to reprise their roles.
As Home Improvement was coming to an end, The Walt Disney Company bestowed upon Allen one of its highest honors. Allen was named a “Disney Legend”. This tradition started with the company in 1987 and awards are given to individuals who have contributed to the Disney legacy. Honorees include animators, engineers, musicians, actors and executives.
There are relatively few actors awarded the title. To date, Allen’s Toy Story co-star Tom Hanks has not received the honor. Neither has former Disney CEO Michael Eisner (pictured above with Allen). Robin Williams and Kurt Russell are the only other recipients in the WTHH series.
2000 brought only a voice-over role for Allen. He reprised his role as Buzz Lightyear in the DTV sequel, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins. Allen did not lend his voice to the resultant TV series, Patrick Warburton replaced him. Allen would later go on to reprise Lightyear again.
2001 gifted us with Joe Somebody. Allen starred as an oppressed worker at a Big Pharma company. Oppressed not by his employer, but by the office bully, played by Patrick Warburton. Joe goes to learn martial arts and beef up in order to duel the bully and reclaim his dignity. It’s like The Karate Kid for middle-aged men if Mr,. Miyagi was played by Jim Belushi and Johnny Lawrence was Puddy from Seinfeld.
Once again, Allen was taking other comedian’s cast-off roles. Jim Carrey was offered Joe Somebody but passed to star in The Majestic. Allen was attracted to the role because it offered him a chance to show his dramatic side.
No telling on the outcome of that fight, but lets just say a few more people paid for the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight. Joe Somebody stumbled out of the gate. It opened in 10th place behind Monsters Inc which had been in theaters for 8 weeks already. It was two spots down from The Majestic. The critics weren’t impressed either.
Another year, more roles for Allen. First off, an adaptation of a Dave Barry novel. That really is a match of consonant humors. You would think they would have collaborated more often. Perhaps they might have, if not for Big Trouble.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and costarring Rene Russo, Ben Foster, Jason Lee, and, once more, Patrick Warburton, Allen is in the lead as a divorced journalist seeking to regain his family’s favor amidst interlacing storylines set against Miami’s skyline.
Big Trouble was one of many films disrupted by 9/11. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2001. But the studio felt that scenes in which a nuclear weapon is smuggled on to a plane would be insensitive. So the film was delayed until 2002. When it was released, there was little to no marketing. It was basically abandoned by the studio.
Despite middling reviews (frankly excellent by Allen standards), the movie bombed, grossing less than a fourth of its $40 million budget. It opened in 9th place behind a re-release of E.T. which had already spent three weeks on the charts.
Later that year, Allen appeared in the Paramount Classics release Who Is Cletis Tout?
Christian Slater starred as a criminal who assumes the identity of a photojournalist who is wanted by the mafia. Allen played a hit man who is obsessed with film noir. Allen is sent to kill the man Slater is pretending to be. Richard Dreyfus, Portia de Rossi and RuPaul co-starred.
Cletis Tout actually opened in Spain in late 2001. In July 2002, it received a limited release in the US on 18 theaters. The few critics who saw the movie didn’t like it. It ended up grossing around a quarter of a million dollars. But it afforded Allen a chance to show his range.
Given the success of The Santa Clause, a sequel was inevitable.
Allen took time to commit to a second round as Santa. This time around, Scott/Santa had to contend with an artificial Santa who attempts a coup over the naughty/nice list. The single St. Nick was also busy searching for a woman who befits the title of Mrs. Claus.
The second entry in Disney’s Clause series performed moderately well with critics, garnering reviews less positive than the original, but far more favorable than for what was to come. SC2 reaped a sizable gross at the box office, performing well enough to merit another sequel.
Following a one year hiatus, Allen returned to the screen in 2004 with the holiday family comedy Christmas with the Kranks.
Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play that Chicago couple, Luther and Nora Krank. The Kranks decide to skip Christmas one year because their daughter has gone away. Dan Aykroyd played the Kranks’ overbearing neighbor who refuses to accept their refusal to observe the yuletide season. M. Emmet Walsh plays their crotchety old neighbor.
The movie is adapted from a John Grisham work, but tonally differs from earlier Grisham adaptations just as the kitchen does from the bathroom. They serve entirely different purposes.
The movie was directed by Joe Roth, then known for thrillers, now known for launching Disney’s streak of live-action remakes. Roth had recently founded Revolution Studios, and was searching for a comedy project that Roth himself could direct. They found that in Grisham’s source novel, a tale about a Chicago suburbanite couple who reject Christmas and its pageantry in exchange for a sunny cruise. While the novel is leery of conformity, and celebrates individual choice, the film adaptation promotes a hive-mind mentality.
The sentimentality is piled on thick. The movie just surpassed the break-even point in theaters, but it broke many critics. RT summarizes it as being “fresh as last year’s fruit cake”, “mirthless”, “coarse”, and “garish”. One critic opined that the film “gave Ebenezer Scrooge plenty of ammo”. .
Allen once again took a yearlong hiatus, but roared back in 2006 with a voice cameo, and three starring roles.
Allen first reprised Buzz Lightyear briefly in the closing scene of Cars, playing a car styled after the Space Ranger.
The tagline for Allen’s sophisticated, sleek 2006 affair read as follows: It’s going to be a “ruff” day. Like Oscar Wilde rose from the dead to pen that one. As one can guess, canines are involved in the Disney family comedy The Shaggy Dog.
A remake of a 1959 Disney film of the same name, Allen plays a DA that, spoiler alert!, slowly transforms into a bearded collie while he is working on prosecuting a Big Pharma company that is engaged in animal experimentation. The company’s top executive was played by Robert Downey, Jr. I suppose that sort of sounds like a sci-fi plot, but it is in fact the plot of family comedy.
The movie made the Razzie rounds, with three nominations including Worst Actor for Allen. The way the Razzie’s work is that you are nominated for all of the movies you appeared in that year. Allen was nominated not just for The Shaggy Dog but for all of his 2006 output. He “lost” to Shawn and Marlon Wayans for Little Man.
Critics were negative, citing Allen’s performance and the retread physical comedy gags. The movie was a very modest commercial success. It opened in second place behind Failure to launch and ended up grossing just over $60 million dollars in the US.
Next up was another Disney family comedy, a sci-fi superhero action comedy called Zoom.
Allen played the leader of a band of superheroes, Captain Zoom. Also appearing were Courtney Cox (Arquette), Chevy Chase, Rip Torn, an early Kate Mara, and Allen’s Santa Clause franchise costar Spencer Breslin. The team must do battle with the superhero-turned-villain Concussion, who can pitch sonic waves.
Zoom‘s release was delayed by a lawsuit from Fox and Marvel, alleging the screenplay was too similar to the script for X-Men: The Last Stand. The delay was one of 4 months. When the film finally came out, it bombed, grossing a third of its budget. The film is actually Allen’s worst-ever in terms of reviews, with a 3% rating on RT.
Luckily, Allen could convalesce from the last blow with the help of his elves at the North Pole. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause was Allen’s final 2006 project, and (as yet) the final romp of the Clause series.
The third entry sees Scott Calvin facing a new challenger for control of Santa’s throne, Jack Frost, played by Martin Short. Most every previous character recurs in this film.
While I actually think this movies works as a campy family holiday comedy with heart, critics didn’t seem to. Though they praised Martin Short, they lambasted the movie as a whole. They also criticized Allen for his tired performance.
The Santa Clause 3 was nominated for 5 Golden Raspberries including the previously mentioned triple nominee for Allen as worst Actor (rolled up with Zoom and The Shaggy Dog). Allen and Short were also nominated for Worst Screen Couple which they “lost” to “Shawn Wayans and either Kerry Washington or Marlon Wayans” for Little Man.
The third Santa Clause movie opened in second place at the box office behind Borat. It ended up grossing over 80 million in the US and over $110 million worldwide. Given the movie’s relatively low budget, those numbers are pretty solid. But it still grossed less than half of the other two movies.
2007 united Allen with some other stars grappling with fading audience interest. Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy teamed-up in the biker road trip family comedy Wild Hogs.
The four actors played middle-aged men who each suffer from an individual mid-life crisis, or at least the material for one. They embark on a cross-country motorcycle trip to bond and resolve/escape their problems. They encounter, and later tussle with, a real biker gang led by Ray Liotta.
Allen, Travolta and Lawrence had all hit rough patches (which is reflected by the fact all three have now been covered in WTHH). Macy, who is primarily known as a character actor is probably safe. But the clock is ticking on Liotta.
Though critics mostly agreed each cast member earned his designated laugh, they called the movie unsatisfying and prosaic. They read the riot act over the film’s repeated employment of some insulting, homophobic jokes. Despite the negative reviews, the film crushed it at the box office. It opened in first place at the box office.
One theory for the box office success of Wild Hogs is that those under 17 who wished to see 300 would buy tickets to the Disney biker comedy and then sneak into the bloody historical drama. Though that might suitably explain a small percentage of the movie’s gross, that certainly doesn’t explain the $39.6 million opening weekend. 300 didn’t even open until Wild Hogs‘ second weekend.
There have been rumors of a sequel for many years although nothing ever came of it.
Allen’s next role was a supporting one in the David Mamet’s martial arts drama, Redbelt. Allen decided he was once again willing to play against type as a waning action star, Chet Frank. Allen as Chet takes Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mike Terry under his wing and charity.
The film grossed a mere $2 million at the box office on a $7 million budget, however, critics gave the movie first-string reviews, greatly praising Ejiofor and mostly lauding Allen.
2009 gave us another starring role from Allen, though this one went straight-to-video. As of yet, Wild Hogs marks Allen’s last theatrical, live-action leading role. The Six Wives of Henry Lefay has Allen play a catchpenny salesman presumed dead while parasailing in Cabo San Lucas. His daughter (Elisha Cuthbert), fiancée, and six former wives (including Andie MacDowell and Jenna Elfman) descend on his estate to combat over his holdings.
The movie got middling to poor reviews.
In 2010, Allen made his directorial debut with the comedy Crazy on the Outside. It reunites Allen with his Galaxy Quest co-star Sigourney Weaver, his Wild Hogs co-star Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammer from Toy Story 2, and Julie Bowen from Joe Somebody.
The dysfunctional family comedy received a DTV release and poor, poor reviews from critics.
2010 also saw Allen reprise Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 3.
The sequel ended what was at the time a trilogy (the fourth film is coming in 2017) with Andy finally outgrowing his toys. The toys are accidentally dropped off at a daycare instead of the attic where Andy intended to store them while he goes away to college. Michael Keaton joined the voice cast as Barbie’s boy toy, Ken.
When it came to another Toy Story sequel, Pixar and Disney were locked in contention. Given Disney owned the rights to the characters and any continued storylines, they steamrolled Pixar and created Circle 7 to “sequelize” successful Pixar films.
This was a gambit by Disney CEO Michael Eisner to try to force John Lasseter and Pixar to renew their partnership with the Mouse House. Eisner was basically holding Buzz and Woody hostage. “Come back to the negotiating table or the toys get it!”
Instead of folding, Lasseter dug his heels in. He had been feuding with the CEO going back to Toy Story 2. He wanted nothing to do with Eisner’s Disney. The controversial CEO was facing battles on other fronts as well. But when Disney’s Board of Directors had to decide whether to back Eisner or Lasseter, they ousted their CEO and promoted Bog Iger who they hoped could smooth things over with Pixar.
Iger’s first order of business was purchasing Pixar.This meant Toy Story 3 ceased to be a negotiating tactic and became a real movie with Pixar behind it. Allen and Hanks signed on after the mostly-completed movie was shown sans sound.
Though audiences might have been initially skeptical of another Toy Story, their concerns were allayed when the reviews began streaming. For a long time, it was another 100% effort on the Tomato-meter. Though the rating now stands at 99%, critics thought the film another heartfelt, sincere story, as opposed to the money-grubbing cash-grab expected by some. Audiences worldwide propelled the movie to an over-$1 billion gross.
2011-12 witnessed Allen continue to reprise Buzz Lightyear in a string of Toy Story shorts. He rarely misses an opportunity to voice Buzz Lightyear. In addition to these shorts, Allen has played Buzz in video games and theme park attractions.
2011 was also the year that brought us Allen’s return to network TV, with a starring role in the family sitcom Last Man Standing.
The sitcom centers around Mike Baxter (Allen), a man’s man in upper management at a sporting good story chain. He loves, but often butts heads with the women of his family, and feuds with his often-epicene protegé at the store. Though the show often descends into lowest common denominator territory, I feel it offers some amusing moments. Critics seem to mostly agree, differing slightly on either side of the scale.
After he took up Last Man Standing, Allen began appearing on-screen with less prevalence. As a result, Allen began to lend his iconic voice to various projects with a greater frequency. Chevrolet, Campbell’s Soup, Michigan Tourism Board (“Pure Michigan”). In 2012, he narrated two documentaries, the first being Disneynature’s Chimpanzee.
Chimpanzee is the sixth entry in the Disneynature catalog, continuing the tradition of Earth Day releases with a percentage of gate receipts being donated to conservation efforts. The film garnered solid reviews, and met success at the box office. It is notable for containing the first documentation of primate altruism, the act of which was the adoption of the film’s main character.
The second narration of the year was of another nature documentary, this one for IMAX. Penguins 3D chronicles the life of an emperor penguin on the remote British island of South Georgia.
2013 came with it Allen’s final (insofar) feature performance in the form of the adult-skewing comedy Geezers! Along with Breckin Meyer, J.K. Simmons, and Scott Caan, Allen explores the nature and perceptions of aging in today’s world. Allen plays Tim, a convalescent home resident and former actor. The film was straight-to-video, and received cellar-dwelling reviews, with critics saying it made Betty White’s “dreadful” “Off Their Rockers” TV show “seem sophisticated”.
In 2017, ABC cancelled Last Man Standing despite respectable ratings. The network claimed the decision came down to scheduling, but fans of the show cried foul. Although the show was not overtly political, it did skew towards conservative viewpoints. As with so many things, the sitcom became politically charged.
Ultimately, Last Man Standing was revived on Fox. That makes sense for a variety of reasons not least of which is that the sitcom is produced by 20th Century Fox. Had the show remained on ABC, the Disney-owned network would have had to pick up production costs for a show produced by a rival studio. But to many, the finances of the situation didn’t matter. The situation was viewed by many as the liberal media keeping conservatives down.
Allen himself contributed to the hysteria. During an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC, the actor compared Hollywood to Nazi Germany and opined “You gotta be real careful around here, you know. You’ll get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes.”
For much of Allen’s career, his politics were largely irrelevant. If you look through the pictures in this article, you will see the smiling faces of many Hollywood liberals who were more than happy to work with the conservative comedian. Ever since Allen raised a stink about the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of Last Man Standing, he has become a more polarizing figure. If Allen wasn’t on the outs with many in Hollywood before, he is now.
Despite his lack of live-action movie appearances, Allen is still very active. He is expected to reprise his role as Buzz Lightyear in the forthcoming Toy Story 4. And Last Man Standing continues to chug along on its new netowork. He still has what can only be considered a very successful career. But in spite of his massive success in TV, his movie career came up a bit short.
So, what the hell happened?
Plucked from the comedy club stage and deposited onto national television, Allen ascended to the height of comic fame as Tim “Tool Man” Taylor. He parlayed this character into a film career, early on simply repurposing his television role with only slight derivation. As things progressed, he would diverge with more variance but even still, as Allen has publicly noted himself, he has limited range. A few successful roles rose above the rest, and gave Allen a safety net. Gradually, his film career tapered off like a nuclear reactor being cooled. White hot, slowly, steadily emitting steam.
Despite the fact that his last theatrical live-action role was a financial smash hit, Allen stepped away from the silver screen to the small one, returning to ABC for another family comedy. He lends his voice to various projects, including his most recognizable role, Buzz Lightyear. His is a “Disney legend”, still widely respected, and is by all account very content with his current position n Hollywood and in life. He marks one of the happier endings of the WTHH? series.
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