A show that seemed to be the victim of strong pilots ordered by CBS could find its way back to the network. However, it may end up a summer series -- which is better than nothing.

Although CBS won't confirm it, Deadline.com says that the network is strongly considering bringing back "Unforgettable," which was one of the surprising cancellations of this past season. Why? It was the second highest-rated new show on television this past season, and finished just outside television's top 10.

In fact, "Unforgettable" finished the season with a 7.2 rating/12 share, according to Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co., tying it with "CSI" on CBS and "Castle" on ABC for the No. 11 show behind NBC's "The Voice." While it was a full ratings point behind "Person of Interest," which finished as the top new show of the season, it still earned the No. 8 spot on CBS' schedule.

Even more interesting is that if the show got the same ratings on any other network, it would be No. 2 on NBC behind "The Voice," tied for No. 2 on ABC with "Castle" and behind "Dancing With the Stars," and No. 2 on Fox behind only "American Idol."

Yet, CBS is the top-rated network of the season, once again, and has a much higher ratings standard than other networks. For CBS, the show was actually below its 7.3/12 average it finished with, and it needed room to place its new pilots, and "Unforgettable" was a likely candidate for elimination.

The producers did shop the series around to other cable channels with little luck, especially since the kind of audience that showed up for network television would be quite different from what ends up on cable.

CBS won't comment, but the show could end up in the 2013 summer schedule. If it does well, and CBS falters with some of its new offerings, the show could even be considered for a mid-season replacement in 2014. It would be unlikely that the show could come back for this mid-season, only because production likely wouldn't even start until the beginning of 2013 if CBS were to revive the show.

"Unforgettable" starred Poppy Montgomery as a detective who remembers everything she sees. It also starred "Nip/Tuck's" Dylan Walsh as her former partner and boyfriend, in a crime procedural that has helped boost the profile of CBS in recent years.