As CW prepares its post-strike future, many of its popular shows (and I’m stretching “popular” quite a bit here) are returning with new episodes this spring, including Smallville, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, and Reaper, while others including Gossip Girl and Everybody Hates Chris will return with new episodes in the fall.
But two shows won’t return at all: The ultra low-rated Life Is Wild, which has officially been canceled, as well as the long-running Girlfriends, which won’t return to production but may air a series finale whose contents have not been yet determined.
Girlfriends is the second old UPN program dropped in the last week, following the lead of WWE Smackdown, which was canceled on Friday. The move leaves CW with just two former UPN shows: Chris and America’s Next Top Model.
Girlfriends began in 2000 on UPN, and went into off-network broadcast syndication and BET in September 2004. However, the series’ three-year contract in broadcast syndication wasn’t renewed (because of low ratings), and the program’s reruns are only run on BET sporadically.
And while the series will end this year, the controversy over how the show was promoted – or wasn’t promoted will most certainly not.
Dissed in syndication by CBS, by the media, by BET, by UPN and CW – and yet the creators, producers, and cast of the show put on a brave face. Obviously, they are far classier than the companies and press they had to deal with.