ABC Cancels Tim Allen Comedy "Last Man Standing"... Despite High Ratings

No politics here at ABC/Disney/Marvel/ESPN.

The cancellation came as a shock for many fans considering the show's high ratings. Deadline reports the sitcom was the network's second-highest comedy this season and averaged 8.1 million viewers, just behind "Modern Family," which averaged 8.7 million viewers this season and was recently renewed for two more seasons. It was also ABC's third highest watched scripted series behind "Grey’s Anatomy" and "Modern Family."

So why was the show killed?

Some fans speculated it was due to the show's conservative slant.

ABC denies that politics informed the decision, though they admit, this was a hard choice, given that the show was a "steady performer."

They're claiming they're just not doing comedies on Friday nights any longer -- making Friday night all about its poor-performing, in-danger-of-being-cancelled-every-year Agents of SHIELD and its new (8-12 episode) Inhumans series, and I guess they can't find any room in their schedule on other nights for their third highest watched series.

"'Last Man Standing' was a challenging one for me, because it was a steady performer,” said Channing Dungey, ABC Entertainment President. "Once we made the decision not to continue with comedy on Friday, it was just kind of that's where we landed."

...

Dungey said she used the same criteria in considering the future of "Last Man Standing" as she did in examining what to do with other canceled series, like "The Catch," "The Real O’Neals," and "American Crime."

Except those shows were not the network's third highest rated show.

She also said studio ownership, future creative direction, ratings and viewer engagement were factors she considered in making her decision.

What does that mean? "Future creative direction"? Does she mean that they're taking ABC on the same path as ESPN, where no conservatives are welcome either on TV or in front of it?

I wonder what "viewer engagement" means -- I have a feeling they mean people don't tweet about the show. Instead, they do this bizarre thing called Actually Watching the Show.

I think it would stun and blindside ABC to sell the show to a competitor network only on the condition that it be put up against Modern Family or the on-life-support Agents of WHO CARES.

Despite High Ratings&bodytext=No politics here at ABC/Disney/Marvel/ESPN. The cancellation came as a shock for many fans considering the show's high ratings. Deadline reports the sitcom was the network's second-highest comedy this season and averaged 8.1 million viewers, just behind "Modern Family," which...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 01:24 PM

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