Talks to revive “Last Man Standing” at CMT are not moving forward, TheWrap has learned.
The cable network was in very early negotiations with producers 20th Century Fox Television to revive the Tim Allen comedy last week, but has since decided not to move forward with a possible seventh season. CMT declined to comment.
When TheWrap previously reported that CMT was mulling the prospect of reviving the series, an individual close to the matter warned that a deal would be a longshot. Had CMT picked up the show, it would have been the network’s second ABC revival after “Nashville” moved to the network last year.
“Last Man Standing” was canceled by ABC last month despite its steady performance in the ratings and a dedicated fanbase.
When news of the cancellation first broke, Allen took to Twitter to say that he was “stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years.” Fans who were similarly surprised by the move launched a petition to boycott ABC, hailing the show’s “conservative values.”
In a conference call with reporters last month, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey denied that politics had anything to do with the decision. “Once we made the decision not to continue with comedy on Friday, it was just kind of that’s where we landed,” she said, attributing the decision to end the show to “business and scheduling reasons.”
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.