‘Last Man Standing’ May Be Down To Its Last Chance, But One Network Is Still Trying To Save It

Last week was a black spot for many networks and even more TV shows as there were numerous series canceled and taken off the air, but will one get a reprieve in a new home? While some shows were not surprising losses, others were head-scratchers but could still be justified. There is one, though, that no one understands, and it is ABC’s cancellation of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing. However, it may end up finding a landing spot with another network.

Shows with low ratings and those that have run their course are due to end up being canceled and taken off television. The family-friendly Last Man Standing had completed a full six seasons and still had really good ratings, but it was taken off of the air much to the surprise of fans and even those who had never seen the show.

In its final season on ABC, Last Man Standing had a 1.7 rating amount 18-49-year-old adults while pulling in an average of 8.3 million viewers per week. There is no way to deny that those numbers are fantastic, especially for a series that was on Friday nights, which is usually seen as the “death march” for sitcoms.

Obviously, that didn’t seem to matter.

As reported by Fox News, Tim Allen was absolutely floored by the news of his series being canceled, and he was not hiding his feelings on Twitter.

Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years. #lastmanstanding

— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) May 16, 2017

Allen wouldn’t publicly comment about the show’s cancellation, and neither would co-star Hector Elizondo. A number of other cast members, such as Nancy Travis and Christoph Sanders, wouldn’t even return Fox News’ requests for comments regarding the show being cut by ABC.

A petition has been started on Change.org in an attempt by the fans to get Last Man Standing saved and back on the air. As of Thursday afternoon, it had already surpassed 337,000 signatures in just about a week of being in place.

As reported by the Hill, ABC said that the cancellation of Last Man Standing had nothing to do with Tim Allen’s political views. Entertainment president Channing Dungey said that getting rid of the show pretty much just had to do with “the decision to not continue with comedies on Friday.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if ABC has any real interest in bringing the show back, but could Tim Allen and company land somewhere else?

Deadline reported that FOX was giving serious consideration to picking up Last Man Standing and bringing it to their network. Upon attempting to find a spot for it on the schedule, there were no openings and nowhere that it could fit and actually make sense for possible good ratings.

That is not to say that they won’t still look at bringing it back to life, but time appears to be running out for Last Man Standing. Writers for the series are already getting ready to or have already moved onto other jobs with different TV shows, and that won’t help at all.

When NBC canceled and then uncanceled Timeless over the weekend, that was a very rare occurrence. Timeless didn’t even have great ratings, but the fan backlash played a big part in getting the series a second season.

Tim Allen’s show had much better ratings, but all the cards seem to be against it actually getting back on the air.

When the announcement was first made that Last Man Standing was canceled by ABC, no one could believe it, and they honestly thought it was a mistake. Tim Allen felt as if he was slapped in the face, and the conservative TV series is one that was doing well and expected to have a long lifespan. The ratings proved that it should have stayed around and even that a new network like FOX should have picked it up, but it may all be for naught now.

[Featured Image by ABC Television Network]