Fox revives 'Last Man Standing' for 2018-19

May 11 (UPI) -- Fox said Friday it has revived Tim Allen's sitcom Last Man Standing for the 2018-19 television season.

ABC canceled the show last year after six seasons, despite high ratings and a devoted fan-base, because the network was getting rid of its entire Friday night comedy block.

Returning with Allen for the new episodes on Fox are Nancy Travis, Jonathan Adams, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders and Jordan Masterson. The series is about a church-going Colorado man who is married with three adult daughters and runs marketing for a chain of outdoor, sporting-goods outlets.

It is unclear whether LMS co-stars Hector Elizondo, Molly Ephraim and Kaitlyn Dever will be back for the seventh season, however.

"Excited?" Allen said in a statement 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."

Allen credited the support from the series' fans for its revival.

"I could not be more grateful for the fans who wrote petitions and kept up the passion and incredible support for the show," Allen said. "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," Gary Newman and Dana Walden, chairmen and chief executive officers of Fox Television Group, said in a joint statement. "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."

Fox made the announcement the day after canceling its sitcoms Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth and The Mick.