Stars on Screen
Still ‘Standing’: “Last Man Standing” may have been saved from an early demise, but two of its stars have decided not to stick with it. The ABC sitcom was canceled back in May 2017 after six seasons despite its steady ratings, but it didn’t take long for the fan outcry to convince Fox to snap up the series and add it to its comedy slate.
Series star Tim Allen, who starred in the huge 1990s comedy hit “Home Improvement,” will be back headlining the cast when “Last Man Standing” premieres in its new home on Fox this fall, but a few of his colleagues have decided not to make the move. Both Molly Ephraim (“Paranormal Activity 2,” 2010) and Flynn Morrison (“Pretty Little Liars”) have bowed out in the year since the series’ cancellations, and their roles are being recast. Ephraim played Mike Baxter’s (Allen) middle daughter, Mandy, and Morrison his grandson, Boyd.
The rest of the core cast is on board with the revival. “Last Man Standing” focuses on the life of Mike, a conservative outdoorsman and the senior executive of a sporting goods store with a wife and three daughters. Nancy Travis
(“So I Married an Axe Murderer,” 1993) stars as
Mike’s wife, Nancy, and Amanda Fuller (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Kaitlyn Dever (“Detroit,” 2017) star as his other two daughters, Kristin and Eve, respectively. Christoph Sanders (“Ghost Whisperer”), Hector Elizondo (“Pretty Woman,” 1990) and Jordan Masterson (“Greek”) also star.
Although rumors persist that “Last Man Standing” was canceled due to Allen’s more conservative political views, ABC has maintained that it was simply due to scheduling changes and a reworking of the network’s Friday night lineup. Whatever the reason, it seems the show must go on for Mike Baxter and his family. “Last Man Standing” premieres on its new home this fall.
Funny family: CBS is beefing up its comedy lineup. The network already has two of TV’s biggest comedy hits with “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon,” but it isn’t resting on its laurels, with a slate of new comedies ordered for the upcoming TV season, including a “Murphy Brown” revival and new series “The Neighborhood,” headlined by Cedric the Entertainer (“Barbershop,” 2002).
“Fam” is another sitcom recently given a full-series order and scheduled to premiere this fall. It focuses on a young woman who gets engaged to a wonderful man with an
upstanding family and who begins building a perfect, upstanding life with him — that is, until her train wreck younger sister comes to live with her to get away from their equally off-the-rails father.
Nina Dobrev (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” 2012) headlines a standout cast that also includes Tone Bell (“Whitney”), Odessa Adlon (“Nashville”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit,” 1993) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (“Mr. Robot”).
CBS’s comedy lineup will have a number of new offerings this fall, including new sitcom “Fam.” Watch for it once the new TV season gets underway in September.