Tim Allen 'stunned and blindsided' by 'Last Man' cancellation

May 16 (UPI) -- Tim Allen is speaking out about ABC's cancellation of his family sitcom Last Man Standing.

Media reports said last week the show had not been renewed for a seventh season, but Allen did not publicly comment until Tuesday when the network announced its 2017-18 schedule and Last Man Standing wasn't on it.

"Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years. #lastmanstanding," Allen tweeted.

The series is about a conservative, church-going Colorado man who is married with three adult daughters and in charge of marketing for a chain of outdoor, sporting-goods outlets. It co-starred Nancy Travis as his wife and Hector Elizondo as the stores' owner.

"We didn't design it like this, like we are different from everybody else, but Last Man Standing, in syndication now, it can go anywhere. It can be at 6 o'clock. It's family friendly. We're not holier than thou who did it this way, but it is a very different situation when you have a show that the whole family can watch together," Allen told UPI in a phone interview last year. "And I really like that we're doing this."

A change.org petition to save the series has been signed by nearly 120,000 people.

EW.com quoted ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey as saying she canceled the show because she decided to get rid of the network's Friday night, comedy lineup.

"A large part of these jobs are managing failure and we've made the tough calls and canceled shows that we'd otherwise love to stay on the air," Dungey said. "That's the job. I canceled Last Man Standing for the same business and scheduling reasons that I canceled Dr. Ken, The Real O'Neals, The Catch and American Crime. And Last Man Standing was a challenging one for me because it was a steady performer in the ratings, but once we made the decision not to continue with comedies on Fridays, that was where we landed."

Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years. #lastmanstanding

— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) May 16, 2017