It looks like Tim Allen show Last Man Standing may be coming back to TV.
Multiple outlets are reporting that 20th Century Fox TV is considering a resurrection of the sitcom, which would be in its seventh season. Some sources claim that series star Allen has already signed a deal for the new season, and other cast members are in talks to return, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
Allen fueled the speculation fire by tweeting to Last Man Standing fans.
Last Man Standing was cancelled by American network ABC after six seasons. (The show aired on CMT in Canada.)
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The sitcom was doing fairly well over its first five seasons, but in its sixth, it started to see a very slight dip in ratings. All things considered, it was still doing quite well against its competitors. A specific reason for the cancellation wasn’t provided at the time, but both financial and “show substance” theories have been floated. CMT was in talks to bring the show back, but eventually, monetary costs ended those conversations.
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On the show, Allen played Mike Baxter, “a quintessential man’s man.” Living at home with his three daughters and his wife, the show centred on Baxter being the only male in an all-female household (except for his oldest daughter’s young son). Baxter is famously old-fashioned with right-leaning values, and this clashed with his female cohabitants. Of course, Baxter also worked at a sporting goods store, surrounded by men, and his day job consisted of selling guns and other outdoorsy items.
Called the “perfect sitcom for the Donald Trump era,” Last Man Standing was one of the only shows on TV featuring a right-wing/conservative point of view, and some believe that this may have been the reason for its cancellation, since its ratings were decent throughout its run.
Allen, for his part, has been very outspoken on talk shows and in public. He is not shy about his conservative views, but has claimed in the past that you have to “be careful” when expressing unpopular opinions, especially during prime time.
Last spring, he told Jimmy Kimmel that “you get beat up if don’t believe what everybody believes.”
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Things have changed on the TV landscape since then, with conservative-leaning Roseanne absolutely dominating the ratings in North America; the family sitcom shocked the TV industry when it premiered in March to a mind-blowing 18.4 million viewers in the U.S. — a number hardly seen anymore in the age of streaming. (For comparison, worldwide hit This Is Us averages nine million viewers per episode.)
Fox may have been inspired by the positive audience response to bring back Last Man Standing to get a piece of the viewership pie.
As of this writing, Fox has not publicly commented on the revival rumours.
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