ABC cancelled conservative Hollywood actor Tim Allen’s successful sitcom Last Man Standing last week. The show brought in around 6 million viewers every Friday night in its latest season.
Since ABC cancelled the show, conservatives have called for a boycott of the Disney-owned network. That petition has already reached nearly 115,000 signatures. In order to provide some sort of damage control, ABC sent out their entertainment president Channing Dungey to defend her decision to ax the show.
Dungey spoke to reporters on a conference call on Tuesday where she opined, “A large part of these jobs are managing failure and we’ve made the tough calls and canceled shows that we’d otherwise love to stay on the air.”
She continued, “That’s the job. I canceled Last Man Standing for the same business and scheduling reasons that I canceled Dr. Ken, The Real O’Neals, The Catch and American Crime. And Last Man Standing was a challenging one for me because it was a steady performer in the ratings, but once we made the decision not to continue with comedies on Fridays, that was where we landed.”
Many conservatives are not buying what Dungey is selling. The petition notes, “Last Man Standing is one of the only shows on broadcast television, and the only sitcom, that is not constantly shoving liberal ideals down the throats of the viewers. And sadly, that is likely the real reason the show has been cancelled.”
Despite Dungey’s comments, the petition’s claim is more than likely closer to the truth. Last Man Standing got exceptional ratings on Friday night and even beat out a number of other ABC’s comedies that air on Wednesdays. In fact, Last Man Standing brought in 6.06 million viewers for its season finale. Modern Family only brought in 5.71 million for its penultimate episode. Another ABC Wednesday comedy, The Goldbergs only brought in 5.22 million for its penultimate episode.
Dungey’s claim about axing comedies on Fridays being the main reason for cancelling Last Man Standing just doesn’t hold water given how it outperforms ABC’s Wednesday comedy lineup.
It’s more than likely that Dungey saw Last Man Standing as a “failure” because it actually promotes conservative values and does not shove liberal ideals down the throats of viewers.
Her explanation does not pass the smell test. It’s a big load of B.S.
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Source: Entertainment Weekly
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