A year after its abrupt cancellation, Tim Allen’s comedy Last Man Standing is getting an encore at Fox, the network announced Friday.
The highly rated show ran on ABC for six seasons before it was axed last year, angering fans and sparking allegations that the show’s conservative bent played a part in the network’s decision. (ABC blamed scheduling issues.) Last Man Standing is coming back for Fox’s 2018-2019 television season.
“Excited?” Allen said in a Fox statement. “Team [‘Last Man Standing’] 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.”
Allen was a vocal critic of the Last Man Standing cancellation last year. At the time, he tweeted, “Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years.”
Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years. #lastmanstanding
— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) May 16, 2017
Allen stars in Last Man Standing as Mike Baxter, “a married father of three girls, who tries to maintain his manliness in a world increasingly dominated by women,” according to the Fox statement. The show reportedly drew an average of 8.3 million viewers during its 2016-2017 season.
The news of Last Man Standing’s pick-up comes shortly after Fox made the controversial decision to cancel its hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show found a new home at NBC the next day.