Why Tim Allen can thank ‘Roseanne’ for Fox’s ‘Last Man Standing’ revival

Fox is getting into the revival game this fall and it’s thanks, in part, to ABC, both because Fox snatched up the Disney-owned broadcaster’s canceled Tim Allen sitcom “Last Man Standing” and because of the staggering success of the “Roseanne” revival.

While Dana Walden, Chairman and CEOs of Fox Television Group said “it had nothing to do with ‘Roseanne,'” that Fox was “interested in the show in the first place,” it did give them a bit of a nudge.

“You know, obviously I think everyone took a good hard look at the performance of ‘Roseanne,'” Walden told TheWrap during a conference call ahead of their upfront presentation Monday. “It did so well, and it certainly did remind us that we have a huge iconic comedy star in our Fox family in Tim Allen.”

“And we’ve been talking to Tim throughout the year, as Gary [Newamn] said a little bit earlier,” Walden continued. “We tried to move ‘Last Man Standing’ over last year when ABC decided not to move forward. It’s a really funny show."

“We always felt like for whatever, you know, ABC didn’t really prioritize ‘Last Man Standing,’ and — not with standing that it drew 8 and half million viewers every Friday night with very little promotion — we always wondered how it would do if it was given, you know, a better opportunity and prioritized more in terms of the network’s marketing agenda.”

“So I would say we were emboldened, I would say, by the performance of ‘Roseanne.’ And that certainly made us think that this is a really good opportunity, that for broadcast viewers a beloved star in a really funny multi-cam that has, again, a little bit easier entry point than a serialized comedy was a good idea. And, you know, ‘Roseanne’ certainly confirmed that.”