First Impressions: Man Up!

Here’s the plot of Man Up! in a nutshell: man talks about doing something manly, then does something not so masculine. Man stands around with two friends talking about being men, in come some women who bash them and tell them what to do. Three men pout, do some dumb shit, and at the end they go back to normal, sitting in front of the TV, playing video games online and talking to each other through headsets. Need I say more?

There really isn’t much to say about Man Up! except the title doesn’t fit the show at all, spending most of its time trying to prove the male cast can do anything but man up. Although honestly, I wouldn’t want to watch a show about men manning up the entire time – as you can tell in the one scene something ‘manly’ happens, and it’s really just a psychotic, aggressive man (African-American, OF COURSE) tossing around a bunch of dressed up white guys. Yes, the show is so blatantly racial, it’s scary.

All racial problems aside, I’m not really interested in a show whose entire premise is built around genderizing activities and attitudes, and making fun of said behaviors, with no apparent reason for existence, except to make money off stupid jokes. Let’s face it, ABC caters to a large female audience, and I don’t see many of them jumping on board with the stereotypical “I’m a smart bitch who rubs things in men’s faces to show power” portrayal of women. And without a single funny joke in the entire pilot (what is supposed to be the launching point for your series), Man Up is only going to offend any man or women who wastes their time watching it. SKIP IT!