How This Cancelled Conservative TV Show May Make a Comeback

Cable network CMT is reportedly exploring a revival of Tim Allen-starring sitcom Last Man Standing one month after the highly-rated show was cancelled by ABC.

The network is in preliminary discussions with 20th Century Fox TV, the studio behind Last Man Standing, for a possible seventh season, though insiders told the Hollywood Reporter that a deal could be difficult to reach due to the veteran show’s hefty price tag.

ABC cancelled Last Man Standing in May despite the show drawing an average of more than eight million viewers across its sixth season, good enough to make it the network’s second-highest-rated comedy and an impressive feat for a long-running sitcom airing on usually weak Friday nights. The network moved its fantasy series Once Upon a Time and its new Marvel series Inhumans to Friday night this fall instead.

ABC entertainment chief Channing Dungey said last month that the network cancelled the show for business and scheduling reasons, and added that it wanted to turn Friday nights into a destination for sc-fi and fantasy. But fans were quick to accuse the Disney-owned network of cancelling the series for political reasons; the show — which starred Allen as sporting-goods store marketing director Mike Baxter and followed his career and family life with his wife and three daughters — was one of the few conservative-leaning series on television, and Allen is himself politically conservative.