‘Drop Dead Diva’ canceled by Lifetime

Credit: Lifetime

In news that might come as a surprise to those who’ve been following the solid ratings patterns for Drop Dead Diva (which, admittedly, is probably no one), Lifetime has decided not to renew the legal drama for a fifth season.

Though the series averaged roughly 2 million viewers per episode, which is pretty damn good for a basic cable drama (never mind how good a number it is for a show on Lifetime), the show will be coming to an end unless producer Sony Pictures TV can find another network willing to pick it up. Speculation has abounded that the cancellation is motivated by the network’s desire to move in a “new, edgier creative direction”, yet while season 4 ended in September, Lifetime has been slow to make a decision, opting to wait until they could evaluate the slate of new projects they’re considering.

Making matters worse, the fourth season ended on a cliffhanger, as Jane (Brooke Elliott) kissed Grayson (Jackson Hurst) on the day of her wedding to Owen (Lex Medlin), who would go on to suffer a heart attack as the episode (and possibly, now, the series) came to a close. Ending on a cliffhanger is always a risky proposition – it’s as if a show is daring a network not to renew it. Sometimes a series will close out its finale with a cliffhanger as a way of mobilizing the fanbase to get the network to renew the series, and while this might not be the case with Drop Dead Diva, I’m sure that the creative forces behind the series would probably like a do-over.

Regardless, now begins the process of finding a new home for the canceled drama. Given that AMC recently resurrected The Killing, and Netflix is airing the revived Arrested Development, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the show could live on, in some fashion (I mean, the show is pretty much premised on the notion of coming back from the dead in the first place). These kinds of rescues are becoming a bit more common than you might suspect, with Cougar Town finding a home on TBS after ABC canceled it, and Futurama getting another shot on Comedy Central after FOX was finished with it. That said, as it stands now, the show has…(ugh, forgive me)…dropped dead.

(Now excuse me while I hit the shower to try and scrub away the shame of my addiction to bad puns)

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