Country Music Television (CMT) may be coming to the rescue of Tim Allen’s sitcom, Last Man Standing.
The Viacom-owned network is in early talks of reviving the show, which was canceled by ABC after six seasons in May.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the scripted comedy show was highly successful for being scheduled on a Friday evening, a night where television viewership is often down.
The show boasted 8.3 million viewers and was highly popular among adults ages 18-49.
So it came as a shock when it was removed from the Friday night lineup.
ABC’s entertainment president, Channing Dungey, explained why the network made the decision to remove the show.
“A large part of these jobs are managing failure, and we have made the tough calls and canceled shows that we would otherwise love to stay on the air. That’s the job. I canceled Last Man Standing for the same business and scheduling reasons that I canceled Dr. Ken, The Real O’Neals, The Catch and American Crime,” Dungey told reporters in May.
“Last Man Standing was a challenging one for me because it was a steady performer in the ratings, but once we made the decision not to continue with comedies on Fridays, that was where we landed,” she added.
Dungey denied allegations that the show was canceled because of Allen’s conservative leaning or the show’s Christian themes.
“There are many factors that go into the decision-making process: ratings, critical acclaim … of course we look at ownership structure,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that was the deciding factor.”
It may be an opportunity to bring more viewers to CMT, as the comedy show has the potential to be a breakout hit.
Last year, the network picked up ABC’s “Nashville,” a country movie drama starring Hayden Panettiere, and it has now become CMT’s most-watched original scripted series.
Adding “Last Man Standing” to their show line-up could be a seamless transition for the network as it is already carrying reruns of the program.
The only thing that stands in its way is the financial cost of broadcasting the comedy because it is produced by 20th Century Fox TV.
“If there’s a way to bring it back, we will explore those opportunities,” 20th Century Fox executive Howard Kurtzman told The Hollywood Reporter. {eoa}
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