Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ Revived by Fox One Year After ABC Cancellation
Multi-camera sitcom will return for its seventh season
Reid Nakamura | May 11, 2018 @ 12:45 PM
Last Updated: May 11, 2018 @ 12:49 PM
ABC
Just a year after being canceled by ABC, “Last Man Standing” has officially been revived at Fox.
The network announced on Friday that the Tim Allen comedy would return as part of its fall line-up for the 2018-19 season, with cast members Nancy Travis, Jonathan Adams, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders and Jordan Masterson also set to return.
The decision comes after ABC caused an uproar with the show’s fans by announcing that it had been canceled despite its steady ratings (it averaged about 8.3 million weekly viewers on Friday nights when factoring in seven days of delayed viewing).
ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey was forced to issue a denial after Allen, outspoken in his disappointment about the cancellation, suggested that his conservative politics may have been a factor.
The network’s decision largely came down to the fact that “Last Man Standing” was produced at an outside studio, 20th Century Fox, making the bar for renewal much higher. Its new home at Fox aligns the show’s network and studio, an increasingly common trend in broadcast where a vertically integrated ownership structure has become key to a show’s financial viability.
CMT also briefly flirted with saving the show last year, a deal which ultimately did not go through.
“Excited?” Allen said in a statement on Friday. “Team LMS was in the sixth inning, ahead by four runs, stands were packed and then for no reason, they call off the game. It leaves you sitting in the dugout, holding a bat and puzzled. Now we get the news from FOX that it’s time to get back out on that diamond – hell yes, I’m excited!
“When I heard the offer to create more episodes of ‘Last Man Standing,’ I did a fist pump so hard I threw my back out. It’s the fans! I could not be more grateful for the fans who wrote petitions and kept up the passion and incredible support for the show,” he continued. “And a fist pump, ouch, for Dana Walden and Gary Newman at FOX for not only listening to the fans, but for making the bold move to bring ‘Last Man Standing’ back. I’m sure audiences will be curious to see what we look like after all these years. Oh, has it only been one year? Well, just goes to show you – a lot can happen in a year.”
“‘Last Man Standing’ ended too soon and the outcry from the fans has been deafening,” said Gary Newman and Dana Walden, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group. “We’ve wanted to put the show back together since its final taping a year ago, and Tim never gave up hope either. Thanks to its millions of devoted viewers and the irrepressible Tim Allen, we haven’t seen the last of ‘Last Man Standing.'”
Allen may owe a debt to Roseanne Barr. Both are ’90s sitcom vets (her with “Roseanne” and him with “Home Improvement”) who are also among the relatively few open conservatives in Hollywood. The recent success of the “Roseanne” revival has proved that there is a huge market for sitcoms about blue-collar families, especially those with familiar stars. “Last Man Standing” fits the bill.
19 TV Reboots That Should Have Been Booted (Photos)
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
"Charlie's Angels"
"Charlie's Angels" perfectly captured the goofiness of the '70s, but it felt painfully out of date in 2011. Critics and audiences agreed: It was canceled after three episodes.
"Ironside"
Blair Underwood has done some memorable TV work, starting with his career-making role on "L.A. Law." But his 2013 take on the Raymond Burr crime drama was yanked from NBC's air even faster than you can say "LAX" or "The Event."
"The Bionic Woman"
A 2007 take on the "Six Million Dollar Man" spinoff, this NBC show's original sin was casting "Battlestar Galactica" ass-kicker Katee Sackhoff as the recurring villain rather than the lead.
"Knight Rider"
Like so much '80s television, the original "Knight Rider" is over-celebrated. But NBC's 2008 version lacked even the original's dumb charms — and David Hasselhoff.
"The Returned"
SundanceTV had an international hit on its hands with the French-language moody zombie thriller. An English adaptation was of course inevitable, but Damon Lindelof's A&E remake never quite found its audience, despite gaining the support of critics. Luckily, the original French series is still ongoing.
"Melrose Place"
The classic nighttime soap got a CW makeover in 2009, but the brand wasn't enough to keep an audience interested, especially on a network that was doing rich young people drama better on shows like "Gossip Girl" and even "90210."
"Prime Suspect"
Helen Mirren broke out big time as a rare female detective fighting crime and the sexism of her fellow cops in a hit series first introduced in 1991. But NBC's 2011 version, starring Maria Bello, struggled to find its voice and lasted just 13 episodes.
"Gracepoint"
"Broadchurch" captivated U.K. audiences with its tense murder mystery format, but when the U.S. tried to replicate its magic - with original star David Tennant in tow - it just never quite managed. Needless to say, "Broadchurch" is producing a third season, and "Gracepoint" was canceled after just one.
"Mockingbird Lane"
Bryan Fuller tried to put his stamp on a reboot of "The Munsters," and it's still a bit of a cult classic among his fervent fans, but NBC never ordered the show to series. At least we will always have the pilot, which aired in 2012, which is more than you can say for most pilots that don't get picked up to series.
"The IT Crowd"
This hilarious British series that helped launch Chris O'Dowd's career ran for four seasons. It's American counterpart -- not so much. The across-the-pond adaptation with Joel McHale was ordered to pilot but failed to get picked up at NBC.
"Dragnet"
Jack Webb and Ben Alexander starred in the original 1950's police procedural that became a major hit. Unfortunately, the Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry reboot in 2003 failed to find similar success. It was cancelled after two seasons.
"Kojak"
Another police procedural bound to be rebooted, Telly Savalas starred as the chrome-domed detective in the 1970's series. Ving Rhames took the reins in 2005, but only made it to nine episodes.
"The Muppets"
ABC's reboot of "The Muppets" was one of the most highly anticipated new shows of the 2015-16 TV season, but the inside look at the adult lives of Kermit and company failed to resonate with fans.
"Heroes Reborn"
Beyond "Chuck" star Zachary Levi, NBC's bland "event series" reboot of 2006's "Heroes" brought nothing new or interesting to the table.
"24: Legacy"
Corey Hawkins starred in this Kiefer Sutherland-less "24" reboot that maintained the show's real-time structure and some of the original show's flaws, but also managed to be cancelled in real time. "24: Legacy" had a big debut following the Super Bowl in 2017 but dropped off sharply afterward and was done after just one season. At the time of the cancellation Fox was still considering continuing the "24" franchise.
Fox
"MacGyver"
Like the hero that shares the show's name, the reboot of "MacGyver," with Lucas Till in the Richard Dean Anderson role, cobbled together a bunch of unusual parts to make yet another procedural that's somehow still kicking, despite constant lampooning from "The Simpsons" and "SNL's" "MacGruber" sketches.
CBS
"Fuller House"
Netflix's rebooted take on "Full House" is doing just fine for the streaming service, having been renewed for a fourth season, but it got off to a truly rocky start with critics who complained that the nostalgia factor of seeing a grown up DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy Gibler wore off quickly.
Netflix
"The Odd Couple"
Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon were no Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, or Tony Randall and Jack Klugman for that matter. The reboot lasted three seasons, but the canned, laugh track sitcom felt very old fashioned and led to some miserable ratings. Matthew Perry even tweeted out one month ahead of schedule that the show was cancelled when he saw his face painted over on his stage door.
CBS
"Dynasty"
The CW rebooted the classic '80s primetime soap in 2017, but despite the buzz for Peruvian-born Nathalie Kelley as Cristal, the show drew critical pans and weak ratings -- still scoring a second season thanks to a lucrative Netflix deal.
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With reboots of “Charmed” and “Magnum PI” on the way, TheWrap looks at TV revivals that never should’ve happened
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
