Lifetime’s ‘Drop Dead Diva’ Canceled
Mia Smith Lifetime has canceled Drop Dead Diva after four seasons.
From creator Josh Berman, the one-hour drama centered on an aspiring model, Deborah “Deb” Dobkins, who was killed in a car crash and is brought back to life as lawyer Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott).
Lifetime’s decision to cancel the expensive drama came after the cable network approached producer Sony Pictures Television for cost-cutting options to continue with the series. Despite the cancelation, ratings for the season four finale marked a season high, with 2.76 million viewers.
Drop Dead Diva‘s cancelation comes after a rough spell for Berman, whose critically panned and ratings-challenged freshman drama The Mob Doctor was canceled at Fox. The series ended its 13-episode run Jan. 7 and likely would have been pulled sooner had the network had a deeper bench.
Drop Dead Diva, which aired its final episode in September, also starred Margaret Cho, April Bowlby, Kate Levering, Jackson Hurst, Josh Stamberg, Lex Medlin and Carter MacIntyre. The series scored headlines aplenty last year when it cast Kim Kardashian in a recurring role.
With Drop Dead Diva no longer on the slate, Lifetime’s scripted dramas include Jennifer Love Hewitt‘s Southern-set The Client List, the long-running and recently rebooted Army Wives as well as the upcoming Marc Cherry soap Devious Maids (which it acquired from ABC), along with a big roster of unscripted fare, including Dance Moms, Project Runway and the upcoming The Houstons: On Our Own.
On the development side, the female-focused cable network’s pilots include the Renee Zellweger effort Cinnamon Girl, as well as The Secret Lives of Wives, Witches of East End and HR. Lifetime is also developing projects from Hewitt and best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, among others.
