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Tim Allen ‘Stunned’ by ‘Last Man Standing’ Cancellation — Was It Political?

May 17, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Tim Allen wasn’t going quietly after ABC canceled his sitcom “Last Man Standing” — and neither were the show’s fans. The AP reports that the network’s announcement that the show won’t be back in the fall sparked an uproar — with Allen among the most vocal protesters.

Allen expressed his displeasure on his Twitter account Tuesday, writing: “Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years.”

“The show’s fate was sealed when the network decided to scrap its Friday comedies, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a teleconference Tuesday,” the AP reports. “By then the move had spurred an online petition on change.org calling for a boycott of ABC for yanking the show and praising the show’s ‘conservative values’ — values many angry fans accuse ABC of wanting to muzzle.”

The report adds: “Dungey wouldn’t specifically address a reporter’s question about whether politics played any role in the show’s axing. She did say the same factors that go into decisions about renewing any of the network’s shows — including ratings, financial considerations and the possibility for future artistic growth — were considered in this case.”

The report notes that “Last Man Standing” was averaging 5.89 million viewers, according to Nielsen. “That’s more viewers than some other ABC series that have been invited back, including ‘black-ish,’ ”Shark Tank’ and ‘The Goldbergs,’ which just scored a two-year renewal for a fifth and sixth season,” the AP notes.

17 Comments

  1. If rating are the name of the TV game.. and they have been for as long as I can remember, then the cancellation of Allen’s show makes no economic sense.

    And that makes it appear this is a political decision.

  2. Racism! It was racism! It’s always racism! And it was ageism! Yeah! Definitely ageism! And anti-feminism! And certainly homophobia! And anti-capitalism! And by god it was sexism! Yes! And ……………….

  3. The arguments about no place on the schedule also make no sense.

    ABC could have easily ordered a shortened season of thirteen to wrap up the series and then could air them after one of their new shows inevitably gets pulled off the air after two episodes in fall.

    Instead it’s clear they just wanted it gone.

  4. If no other network picks the show up, “Last Man Standing” producers could put the show in first-run syndication (like many canceled shows did back in the 1980s). One of the on-line services, like Netflix, could also gain several million additional customers with fresh episodes of LMS.

    • “…several million additional customers…”
      Now that is some good sarcasm.

      • Averaging nearly 6M viewers last season, and based on the outcry many of them were quite loyal to the show. So if even half of them followed the show somewhere else… that’s nothing to sneeze at, 3M eyeballs can make or break a show these days.
        I still don’t think it was “political” as much as it was “tonal”, meaning that ABC likes single cams with a auteur POV and that’s what they are running with.
        I think CMT should look hard at it. They’ve found some nice success with another ABC cast-away recently. A studio multi-cam like “LMS” has to be more affordable to produce than “Nashville”.

  5. All the commenters talking about how Disney/ABC are ganging up on the “conservative TV show” seem to forget that Disney/ABC is a very conservative company. Disney execs met with Trump often during the campaign and gave him financial support.

  6. Scott Gilbert, I disagree with Disney/ABC being described as a “conservative company.” That was Disney only making nice with a long-shot Presidential candidate. The simple solution from a purely network standpoint (all politics aside) was to move it to a different night where there were comedy blocks in place. From a ratings and economic perspective, the show was a success. Unless “Biff Burns” is being sarcastic (not sure if he is) this is a purely political move.

  7. Political decisions are as good as any other decision… this is in the world we are living in… in the meantime, when Allen sees his buddy residing in the people’s house… spinning out of control… a danger to many… how does he continue on his merry way with a straight face? nothing to see here?

  8. Hated the show because Tim talked politics…just wasn’t funny. Glad it’s gone…

  9. So, “Not a fan” I guess you don’t like any other shows because of the underlining “politics” in them either huh? Like “Designated Survivor” SVU, “Colbert” “Madam Secretary” the list is literally endless.

  10. I don’t see how this was a decision made based on “political views” seeing as how some characters were “right thinking” while others were “left thinking”, with the two main characters on “opposing” (if you will) sides, so there was balance on both sides. From somebody who watched this show from the beginning to the end, I found it funny, witty, comical and heartwarming, at the beginning. But as the years went on, it became less of all of that and just knd of drab, more “forced” at trying to be hip, relevant and funny and I found myself less interested in the show. During this final season it became “I’ll catch it if I catch it” and every time I did, I would come away feeling not so amused anymore, the comic relief was no longer there. It had nothing to do with the political banter but with the overall writing. I am a huge Tim Allen fan, and enjoyed the characters and premise of the show, but over the years it became lackluster for me. I don’t think it was cancelled due to it’s political agenda; it just seemed to have run it’s course and I think Tim can (and will) do better with a fresh and better written show.

  11. Tim Allen is a ultra conservative jerk. And former drug dealer. I haven’t watched his show in years.

  12. I am a conservative but I’m not a Tim Allen fan. Many shows start out real good and become disappointing after the first season. I don’t watch comedies but Six million viewers tells me that it was funny. So it had to be political.

  13. Ironic that Tim Allen is a reformed druggie and a self-made guy… yet he became an “I got mine, so screw everyone else” right-wing zealot. It’s good that ABC dumped him. The country needs much less of divisive, selfish right wingers like Allen, who don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but themselves.

  14. An offensive TV show. Glad it was cancelled. Sadly, have to suffer it now in syndication.

  15. This show was racist a racist piece of trash

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