ABC Family's 'Grace' State Is Terminal
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) -- ABC Family has decided against a third season of its half-hour comedy-drama "State of Grace," which got its start on the cable network back when it was called Fox Family Channel. The last original episode of the low-rated series will air Monday. Repeats will begin airing Monday-Friday at 4 p.m. on ABC Family this fall. Set in 1960s North Carolina, the show follows the friendship of two girls from very dif-ferent economic and religious backgrounds. It stars Mae Whitman, Alia Shawkat, Dinah Manoff, Michael Man-tell, Faye Grant, Erica Yohn and Jason Blicker. Frances McDormand narrates. The cable channel based the decision on the show's difficulty finding ratings traction. "For the past two seasons, we've been pleased to pre-sent the critically acclaimed series 'State of Grace,"' said Angela Shapiro, president of the Disney-owned net-work, in a statement. "Despite a run of 39 original episodes, the show was not able to establish a strong enough audience to justify producing a third season." "State of Grace's" debut season premiered on Fox Fam-ily Channel in June 2001. Series aired Mondays at 9 p.m., averaging more than 1.4 million viewers. Season two debuted on ABC Family on a new night, Fridays at 8, in March. It was moved to Mondays at 8 on June 3. So far the second season has averaged 874,000 viewers.
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) -- ABC Family has decided against a third season of its half-hour comedy-drama "State of Grace," which got its start on the cable network back when it was called Fox Family Channel. The last original episode of the low-rated series will air Monday. Repeats will begin airing Monday-Friday at 4 p.m. on ABC Family this fall. Set in 1960s North Carolina, the show follows the friendship of two girls from very dif-ferent economic and religious backgrounds. It stars Mae Whitman, Alia Shawkat, Dinah Manoff, Michael Man-tell, Faye Grant, Erica Yohn and Jason Blicker. Frances McDormand narrates. The cable channel based the decision on the show's difficulty finding ratings traction. "For the past two seasons, we've been pleased to pre-sent the critically acclaimed series 'State of Grace,"' said Angela Shapiro, president of the Disney-owned net-work, in a statement. "Despite a run of 39 original episodes, the show was not able to establish a strong enough audience to justify producing a third season." "State of Grace's" debut season premiered on Fox Fam-ily Channel in June 2001. Series aired Mondays at 9 p.m., averaging more than 1.4 million viewers. Season two debuted on ABC Family on a new night, Fridays at 8, in March. It was moved to Mondays at 8 on June 3. So far the second season has averaged 874,000 viewers.
