Last Man Standing season 8 being held to midseason; why?

There were a number of major schedule changes this morning when it comes to Fox and the network’s future, but perhaps the most surprising came via Last Man Standing. Despite being the network’s #1 comedy and performing very well for them on Fridays, the network had decided to shelve Tim Allen and the rest of the Baxter family for the fall. It will be back at midseason, but in a timeslot that remains firmly to be determined. (Fridays are being handed over to the WWE, a move that may or may not work depending on how the popularity of wrestling ebbs and flows over time.)

For some more news on Last Man Standing and season 8 in video form, check out our renewal conversation at the bottom of this article! Meanwhile, subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for some more news and check out our playlist.

When Last Man Standing does end up returning, it will be in a timeslot that currently remains to be determined. We do foresee there being a number of possible outcomes for what they could decide to do. Take, for example, they could put it on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. once the NFL season is over — since The Big Bang Theory will be done over at CBS, they don’t have to worry about any substantial competition over there. They could actually try to build a new night for it there with it, another comedy, and then potentially the third season of The Orville — we certainly wouldn’t mind if it boosted the ratings for The Orville, arguably one of television’s most underrated shows.

As for whether or not this move is bad news for the future of Last Man Standing, we don’t necessarily look at it that way. This may ultimately be a case of the network waiting to ensure that it has a perfect timeslot partner, or just thinking that they can give you a full season with fewer interruptions this way — we know that there were a lot of people who were unhappy with the huge breaks that took place in the middle of season 7. We haven’t heard anything about a reduced episode order for season 8, so we’re assuming that it will still be 22 (for now) — a show in The Blacklist on NBC was in a similar situation this past season, and it had some double-episodes to make up for the fact that it was starting in midseason.

Odds are, we probably won’t hear too much more about the future of Last Man Standing until fall, but for now, don’t sound any warning alarms. As long as viewers still remember to watch (and they may watch more with it likely moving off Friday nights), it doesn’t really matter when the show actually premieres. Instead, it’s more about how long Fox wants it and how long Allen and the cast wanted to be a part of it.

For some other news on Last Man Standing…

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What do you think about Last Man Standing season 8 being held to midseason? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: Fox.)