Fox adds 3 new sitcoms to fall lineup, including 'Last Man Standing' reboot
Actor Tim Allen in a scene from "Last Man Standing."
Fox will add a trio of sitcoms this fall, including a reboot of “Last Man Standing,” the network announced Monday morning.
In addition, the network said it will mount a live production of “Rent” in January, while “Cosmos” – the much-praised Seth MacFarlane reboot of the Carl Sagan classic – will return with a new edition entitled “Cosmos: Possible Worlds.”
And this, for “Gotham” fans: Fox announced a new, and final, 13-episode season. It will be the 5th. Meanwhile, “Lethal Weapon” – which sat squarlely on the bubble after co-lead Clayne Crawford’s firing – got a pick-up too. Seann William Scott will be joining the cast as a new character.
As widely reported over the weekend – a particularly lively weekend for cancellations, with about 19 network series axed between Thursday and Sunday – Fox dropped “The Exorcist,” “The Last Man on Earth,” “Lucifer,” “The Mick,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” “Brooklyn” was subsequently picked up by NBC for a 13-episode sixth season.
The new comedies are:
“Rel:” “Inspired” by the life of Lil Rel Howery, who was a breakout on NBC’s “The Carmichael Show” and was the security guard, and hero, of “Get Out.” Sinbad also stars and to immediately answer the question everyone will have whenever the name “Sinbad” appears, his last starring series was a quarter-century ago, on Fox. Here’s the throughline: Howery’s a husband and father who gets a divorce after he discovers his wife’s infidelities. The single life follows.
“The Cool Kids:” Stars David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence and Leslie Jordan, this is about a group of pals who live in a retirement community. The unusual name here is Leslie Jordan – you may know him best from “Will & Grace” – who’s a veteran playwright (“Sordid Lives,” also a cult film) and Emmy winner, who’s appeared on dozens of shows over the years. This one’s produced by Charlie Day of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
“Last Man Standing:” With Tim Allen, as a beset father of three. Per Fox notes, this reboot – starring Nancy Travis, Jonathan Adams, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders and Jordan Masterson – looks like it will pick up where the ABC series left off, but with changes. (There was no word on whether Hector Elizondo will return, for example.)
Meanwhile, Fox also picked up a pair of mid-season dramas: “The Passage,” based on the Justin Cronin triolgy, about “a secret medical facility where scientists are experimenting with a dangerous virus that could lead to the cure for all disease, but also carries the potential to wipe out the human race;” Mark-Paul Gosselaar stars; and “Proven Innocent,” about “an underdog criminal defense firm led by a fierce and uncompromising lawyer,” with Rachelle Lefevre, Vincent Kartheiser, Russell Hornsby, Brian d’Arcy James and Nikki M. James.
Here’s the lineup:
MONDAY
8-9 p.m. “The Resident”
9-10 p.m. “9-1-1”
TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. “The Gifted”
9-10 p.m. “Lethal Weapon”
WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. “Empire”
9-10 p.m. “Star”
THURSDAY
7:30-8 p.m. “Thursday Night Football Pregame Show”
8 p.m. “NFL Football”
FRIDAY
8-8:30 p.m. “Last Man Standing” (all-new episodes)
8:30-9 p.m. “The Cool Kids” (new series)
9-10 p.m. “Hell’s Kitchen”
SATURDAY
7-10:30 p.m. “Fox Sports Saturday: Fox College Football”
SUNDAY
7-7:30 p.m. “NFL on Fox”
7:30-8 p.m. “The OT / Fox Encores”
8-8:30 p.m. “The Simpsons”
8:30-9 p.m. “Bob’s Burgers”
9-9:30 p.m. “Family Guy”
9:30-10 p.m. “Rel” (new series)
