Girlfriends is getting the Smackdown treatment.
A week after giving the heave-ho to its highly rated WWE franchise, the CW is continuing to clean house, pulling the plug on Girlfriends. Now in its eighth season, Girlfriends has quietly made a mark as the longest-running live-action comedy currently on network TV.
"Although it's always difficult to say goodbye, I choose to focus my energy on the history that Girlfriends has made, the human stories that we told, the beautifully complex images that we projected and the blessings 172 episodes bestowed on us, both personally and professionally," Girlfriends' creator and executive producer, Mara Brock Akil, said in a statement Thursday.
Formerly part of UPN's lineup before the netlet merged with the WB two years ago to form the CW, Girlfriends follows the ups and downs of four beautiful women and their adventures in love, careers, marriage and children. It launched in 2000, as something of an African-American version of HBO's Sex and the City, and went on to become the second-longest tenured show on UPN following Smackdown.
"I am immensely thankful to the amazingly talented cast, writers, directors, staff and crew for their endless dedication and hard work for eight seasons, to the network that always wanted us and the studio that always supported us," said Akil.
"But mostly to the audience, especially African-American women, who took the time to tune into us every Monday night at nine to have a dialogue with us and who have been our partner in this journey."
During its run, Girlfriends won a handful of NAACP Image Awards, including Best Actress for star Tracee Ellis Ross, several BET Comedy Awards and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. This season the show has been averaging a paltry 2.1 million viewers—a small, if devoted audience, but not exactly the kind that brings in boffo advertising dollars.
Akil is talking with the CW about doing a special Girlfriends retrospective episode paying tribute to the show's history.