Tim Allen is returning home to ABC where he formerly starred in the popular long-running sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1999). Once among television's highest paid actors for playing Tim "The Tool-Man" Taylor, Tim Allen is venturing back into the world of network television situation comedies.

Allen has been tapped to star in a presently-untitled, multi-camera comedy series, first known as Man Up and later renamed with the tentative working title The Last Day of Man.

Allen had previously been rumored as a possible cast member but only now is The Hollywood Reporter confirming his involvement. According to what little is known about the forthcoming production, the program focuses on a man "fighting for his manhood in a world that is being increasingly dominated by women." Original plans called for the male lead to be named Tim. Those plans, ironically, have now been scrapped in the wake of Allen's commitment to the series. Evidently, Tim Allen is not going the Tony Danza route (the latter man seems incapable of answering to any name other than his own).

Tim Allen will executive produce the series along with veteran sitcom writer-producer Jack Burditt (30 Rock), who penned the pilot. The show comes to ABC from 21 Laps and Adelstein Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television. If picked up, The Last Day of Man will mark Tim Allen's first major television project since Home Improvement left the small screen twelve years ago.

Tim Allen, Home Improvement

Despite Allen's respectable success in feature films since moving on from television, the 57-year-old former stand-up comedian joins a long list of iconic sitcom veterans who have returned to the medium they once dominated many years after their initial sitcom glory. Television history, however, records few equally-successful return visits, although expectations are high for Allen's new sitcom, a genre that has always appeared well-suited to the former Home Improvement star.

Tim Allen last made headlines following January's Golden Globes telecast, when controversial host Ricky Gervais verbally roasted Allen when introducing the comedian and co-presenter Tom Hanks to the viewing audience. Gervais rattled off an expansive list of Hanks' film credits and other major accolades before fumbling through his notecards to find any notable achievements by Allen worth mentioning.

Tim Allen recently voiced Buzz Lightyear in his third Toy Story production. No stranger to trilogies, the comedian also starred in three largely successful Santa Clause films.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter