Why was MacGyver canceled at CBS? Is season 6 still possible?

Why was MacGyver canceled after five seasons? The news came out a little bit earlier and admittedly, we’re still shocked about it.

Mostly, we’re shocking about the timing of it. Given that this is a long-running show at this point, we’d hoped that there was more of a buildup leading to the final episodes. That’s not happening now, with the series finale set for a few weeks.

In trying to analyze why the show is coming to a close, the main thing to look at is the ratings. Overall, the show was averaging a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just under 4.8 million live viewers. While these aren’t amazing numbers by any means, they aren’t necessarily abysmal for scripted television in 2021. Also add to this the fact that the show is airing in a really tough timeslot Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern — we’re not sure how CBS can be confident that another show will slide in there and do better. They may think that there is a cheaper alternative, but it’s hard to comment on budget issues without numbers in front of us.

Is there still a way for a MacGyver season 6 to happen? In theory sure, but it’s hard to know what the right home for it would be. It already had CBS Studios involved, so from a profit standpoint, it benefited the network to keep it around. It probably has too many procedural elements for a streaming service like Netflix, and to us, the best option other than CBS reversing course would be the Paramount+ streaming service. They do need more viewers, which is why a Criminal Minds revival-of-sorts is happening there and a number of other properties are coming over.

For now, we’d say that we’re far from optimistic that more MacGyver will end up on the air beyond this season. With that said, we’ve also learned to never quite say never when it comes to shows coming back from the brink.

Related – Be sure to read more about the cancellation of MacGyver now

Do you want to see a MacGyver season 6 coming at some point in the future?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do that, stick around — there are more updates coming that you don’t want to miss. (Photo: CBS.)