CANCELLATION ALERT: Private Practice

In an unsurprising move, series creator Shonda Rhimes announced that the sixth and current season of Private Practice will be the last for the veteran medical drama. The show narrowly snagged a 13 episode renewal for this season as the ratings were declining and series star Kate Walsh announced that she would leave the show after the 13 episodes regardless of whether or not the season was extended. They made the decision to end the show after the half season which will put the grand total of episodes at 113.

A spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice premiered in Fall 2007 in a completely new Wednesday drama lineup that also included Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. The lineup was doing well but then the writer's strike hit which severely impacted the new drama lineup. All three shows aired less than 10 episodes that season and ABC made the decision to not continue the season when the long strike ended and instead start fresh in Fall 2008. The lineup returned that September but Daisies and Money did not do well and ABC bagged the night, moving Practice to Thursdays. There it flourished with its big and compatible lead-in. It always was lead-in dependent though and that showed when it finally moved to Tuesdays this past spring and saw a big drop in ratings. By announcing the end now, fans of the series will get to see a final arc and planned series finale which is always a nice thing.