“Last Man Standing” star Tim Allen is not shy about self-promotion.
“#TGIT Thank god it’s thursday!” Allen posted to Twitter on Thursday. “Looking forward to some popcorn and watching the most handsome man I know; me. #lastmanstanding #tonight”
Tim Allen is Enjoying the Show’s Final Season
Accompanying the tweet was a picture of Allen and former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno shaking hands. In real life, the two have a sort of friendly competition going over expensive cars. And on the show, their characters argue over money.
“Last Man Standing” is in its ninth and final season. On the show, Allen plays Mike Baxter, a sporting goods store executive who is married with three daughters. Baxter has to hold his own in a female-dominated household.
A Bumpy Few Years for ‘Last Man Standing’
The show launched on ABC, which carried it for six seasons before canceling it in 2017. ABC executives blamed its cancellation on a decision to discontinue comedies on Friday nights, which was when “Last Man Standing” had aired.
“A large part of these jobs are managing failure, and we have made the tough calls and canceled shows that we would otherwise love to stay on the air. 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,’” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said at the time, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “‘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.”
There was also the potential explanation that ABC didn’t own “Last Man Standing” – the show is produced by 20thCentury Fox Television – and ABC had been looking to reduce licensing fees in an effort to cut costs.
Fortunately for “Last Man Standing” fans, Fox picked the show up a year after ABC cancelled it and began airing new episdodes in 2019.
When the news broke that Season 9 would be the show’s last, Allen expressed his gratitude to have taken part in “Last Man Standing.”
“I so appreciate the incredible support from our fans over this near decade of work,” he said, per Variety. “As we approach the ninth season, I just admire and feel grateful for all the hard work our wonderful cast and crew have done.”
By the Season 9 finale, “Last Man Standing” will have aired a total of 194 episodes on both networks combined.
