"Last Man Standing" Renewed by Fox For 2019-20 Season
by Nellie Andreeva
April 18, 2019


Ahead of its milestone 150th episode Friday, Fox has renewed its flagship comedy "Last Man Standing" starring Tim Allen for the 2019-20 season. This will be the series’ second season on Fox and eighth overall.

(In celebration of the 150th episode, the original pilot for will stream on the series’ Twitter feed tomorrow, Friday, April 19, for 12 hours starting at 9 AM PT.)

The renewal was never in doubt given its strong ratings performance in its first season on Fox, which picked up the series a year after it was canceled by ABC. Despite airing on the lower-trafficked Friday night, "Last Man Standing" ranks as Fox’s second most watched and third highest-rated scripted series this season in Live+7.





"Last Man Standing", which comes from former Fox sister studio 20th Century Fox TV, now part of Disney, will have to leave its long-time Friday home next fall when "WWE’s SmackDown Live" takes over the night.

"Last Man Standing;s" Friday companion this season, freshman sitcom "Cool Kids", is heavily on the bubble and its future will depend on the strength of Fox’s comedy pilots. The other Fox freshman comedy series, "Rel", has been canceled.




“Hard to believe Last Man Standing hits 150 episodes this week and it gets better with another upcoming season at Fox!” said Allen.

“Great news for all of us who are creating these stories and working our pants off to make you all laugh. It’s another big high-five to the legions of loyal fans who have faithfully kept us front and center and huge on the radar. Thanks to our family at FOX who continue to make us feel so at home. Man, if we keep this up, they might have to call our show: Last Man Unable to Stand.”





"Last Man Standing" is averaging more than 11 million multi-platform viewers, ranking as the No. 1 scripted program on Friday night, with a 29% advantage over No. 2 "Blue Bloods".

The series improves upon Fox’s year-ago Friday 8:00-8:30 PM half-hour by +50% in Adults 18-49 and +112% in Total Viewers. "Last Man Standing’s" fall 2018 premiere was the most-watched Friday regular comedy telecast on any network in 15 years.




“Last Man Standing roared out of the gate on Fox, and has maintained its ratings dominance ever since,” said Michael Thorn, President, Entertainment for Fox Entertainment.

“Much of that credit goes to the incredibly funny and talented Tim Allen, not to mention Nancy, Hector and the rest of the show’s great cast. We’d like to thank Kevin, Matt and the entire crew, along with our partners at 20th Century Fox Television, for overseeing one of television’s most popular comedies. We’d also like to congratulate them all on reaching 150 episodes – a milestone that’s well-deserved.”

https://deadline.com/2019/04/last-man-standing-renewed-fox-tim-allen-1202598441/

YAY YAY

Thanks for the news! Is the show going to remain on the Friday night schedule? I remember seeing it said earlier this year that if the show got renewed, that it would then be moved to another day of the week.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

Thanks for the news! Is the show going to remain on the Friday night schedule? I remember seeing it said earlier this year that if the show got renewed, that it would then be moved to another day of the week.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

No, "WWE’s SmackDown Live" will be taking over the Friday slot in the Fall.

^^^ Thanks for writing back. To me, Last Man Standing should be moved to Tuesday night since that is when Home Improvement was on.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

^^^ Thanks for writing back. To me, Last Man Standing should be moved to Tuesday night since that is when Home Improvement was on.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

It was also the night it was on its first season.

And ABC continues to look incompetent and prejudice for canceling this show. It's so obvious ABC only cancled LMS because Channing Dungey disagreed with Tim Allen's political views.

I'm excited it's coming back, but truly wish Molly Ephraim would return. I don't like how Molly McCook plays Mandy. She might have been ditzy before, but McCool makes her dumb. Also McCool isn't pretty enough to pull off the role of the beautiful daughter. McCool is now the homliest of the sisters.

I'm thrilled... But they REALLY need to bring back Molly Ephraim. PLEASE!!! McCook does not have the beauty or comedic timing necessary for the role

Fox Brass on Benching "Last Man Standing" & No Live-Action Comedy on Fall Schedule
by Nellie Andreeva
May 13, 2019


For the first time in its seven-season history on two networks, Tim Allen’s sitcom "Last Man Standing" will not be on the fall schedule.

Despite the comedy’s strong ratings performance in its first season on Fox, it has been held for later in the season. "Last Man Standing" had to leave its long-time Friday home as "WWE’s SmackDown Live" takes over the night in the fall, and was not assigned another slot on the Fox fall schedule, which will feature no live-acting comedies for the first time in years.




“We set some comedy goals, one of which was ramping up our animation lineup; that was our No. 1 comedy target,” Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn said during Fox’s upfront call Monday morning. He noted the three new animated series ordered for next season, including "Bless the Harts", which got the post-Simpsons slot on the fall schedule.

“One of the other goals was to find a new companion to Last Man Standing,” which the network found in new family sitcom Outmatched,” Thorn said. And “lastly, it was expanding the brand with shows like What Just Happened??!”

FOX CEO Charlie Collier noted that the network is a “52-week programmer” spreading its originals throughout the year.

https://deadline.com/2019/05/last-man-standing-held-midseason-no-fall-2019-schedule-fox-executives-lo-live-action-comedies-comedy-strategy-1202613458/

According to Tim Allen's Twitter page this show will be a Thursday program when it comes back.

God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

P.S. I hope this doesn't mean that the show will be competing with my other favorite current comedy, Young Sheldon that is, because I wouldn't be surprised if the show were to be on sooner with Big Bang Theory not being on anymore.

Last Man Standing returning in January with a new Thursday timeslot (https://deadline.com/2019/05/last-man-standing-new-time-slot-2019-season-8-move-thursday-after-football-outmatched-filthy-rich-1202614064/)

The Tim Allen comedy was bumped from its Friday night home by WWE SmackDown. But Fox announced at its upfronts that after Thursday Night Football is done, Last Man Standing will return in January, paired with new Jason Biggs-Maggie Lawson comedy Outmatched in the 8 p.m. hour. Kim Cattrall's Filthy Rich is expected to air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Filthy Rich's midseason premiere date is due to creator Tate Taylor filming a movie over the summer. Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said at the upfronts that one of the network's goals was to find a new companion for Last Man Standing, and they found one in Outmatched.

So will it be 13 episodes?