Allen’s Last Man anchors Fox lineup for fall
Mark your calendars, Tim Allen fans: Last Man Standing will return Sept. 28, anchoring the Friday lineup on Fox.
The network announced in May that it was picking up the cancelled ABC comedy, which stars Allen as the owner of a sportinggoods chain and the only man in his house. The decision was met with delight by Allen fans, many of whom suggested its 2017 cancellation by ABC was punishment for its star’s conservative views.
Last Man Standing will be followed on Sept. 28 by Cool Kids, a new retirement-home comedy starring Martin Mull, Leslie Jordan, David Alan Grier and Vicki Lawrence, and reality show Hell’s Kitchen.
Fox also said that Lethal Weapon will return Tuesday, Sept. 25, following the Season 2 première of The Gifted. The network’s adaptation of the 1987 Mel Gibson movie almost didn’t live to see a third season after Warner Bros. announced the firing of star Clayne Crawford for behavioural reasons days before the network was due to present its fall slate. At the last moment, American Pie star Sean William Scott was cast as a new character and the show was renewed.
9-1-1, the network’s most successful new drama from last season, will return Sept. 23 with a two-night première. This season marks the debut of new cast member Jennifer Love Hewitt, who replaces Connie Britton as the dispatcher.
The first part premières after a Sunday NFL game, with the second hour running in the show’s regular Monday 9 p.m. time slot after the Season 2 première of the medical drama The Resident.
Freshman comedy Rel, starring Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) as a newly single dad in the wake of his wife’s affair, will get an early preview on Sept. 9 following an NFL game before taking its regular spot as the only new member of the Sunday primetime lineup on Sept. 30.
Empire returns for its fifth season Sept. 26, followed by the Season 3 première of Star.
Fox’s cable cousins FX and FXX announced fall première dates of their own, beginning with the debut of Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans M.C., on Sept. 4.
American Horror Story will return for its eighth season, a crossover of Season 1’s Murder House and Season 3’s Coven, on FX on Sept. 12.
FX will also première a new half-hour drama, Mr. Inbetween, on a date to be determined in September.
The series will feature creator Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a criminal trying to juggle his roles as a dad, ex-husband, boyfriend and best friend.
Finally, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will return for Season 13 on FXX on Sept. 5.