As discussed here on Tuesday, the long-running CW sitcom, Girlfriends, is saying goodbye after eight seasons. As tough as that is for fans of the show to hear, it’s made even worse by the notion that the show won’t be going back into production to film any more episodes to give some sort of closure for the characters.
It turns out, as one might expect, that the reason is pure economics. The CW network has said that they’re only resuming production on TV series which the network is considering renewing next season. Since the ratings have been down for Girlfriends, they’re canceling the sitcom and that apparently makes it a lame duck.
Orlando Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker reports that a spokesperson for the CW said, “This was a very difficult decision for us, and was based solely on the considerable cost to license each episode in an extremely unusual business environment.”
But wait, after bringing the CW and UPN networks millions and millions of dollars in ad revenue over the past eight years, don’t the show and it’s fans deserve a proper send-off?
Girlfriends creator Mara Brock Akil is philosophical about the cancellation and said, “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.”
She went on to say, “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, 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.”
As far as the series finale, it looks like it will indeed be some sort of compilation of clips. Akil said, “I am currently in talks with the studio and network on putting together a retrospective show which will honor and celebrate this landmark series, so please stay tuned.” 
As a latino man, I have to say that this show was the closest thing on TV to showing not only latino but any other minority life coming up from and succeeding in life throught ups and downs. All other tv shows show latinos and african americans as being ghetto, inner city, undereducated people who will never better themselves. As it will have to be a long time before there is something that is targeted for latinos it is really a shame that this series was canceled. Sure it was a colored version of sex and the city like some… Read more »
Furthermore, instead of BET, well TV1 since I have given up on BET, running reruns why not pick up some of these shows and produce new material. Other networks aren’t going to do it. It is time to step the game up.
The truth is that a lot of these networks use black shows to get advertising dollars. Once they get this money and are big enough to merge such as UPN did they cut these shows dramatically. I mean just look at Fox 53 today as opposed to yesterday when Living Single and Martin were on.
Hello to all,…I’m a young African American business man,..who owns a strategic marketing/emarketing agency and it was truly a breathe of fresh air to see a sit-com like “Girlfriends” depicting African American women as successful, sexy, progressive, innovative & stylish! I realize the shows’ target audience was women,..or minority women, however men watched the show as well. This is how power the show was. It is a shame the show was cancelled. In my opinion, Girlfriends was the best tv show, targeting African American women & men. To date,…there are no African American tv sit-coms currently on tv. I realize… Read more »
This is nonsense, they could’ve sold the show to another network that would have produce the episodes that were so expensive, then why did they continue with the Game???
I beleieve that Brock Akil sold out!
I am beyond upset….it’s manifested into RAGE! I can give room for debate because the writing went down the toilet once it switched over to “the male perspective”…which was stupid since it’s about GIRLfriends. However, the writing was lacking for some time and there was plenty of time for someone to say HEY, this kinda sticks…lets get some fresh ideas in here or revert back to the old formula that works. There is no loyalty to the consumer anymore. They filled a niche’, and African American women responded. We tuned in week after week, and even sat through the re-runs… Read more »
Although I love watching the reruns on a daily basis, it upsets me that “economics” played a major role in not giving the show its proper finale. These types of things only seem to happen to African American shows. The writing becomes so poor toward the end of the series that they have to cancel them. What a shame. There were so many different directions and story lines the show could have taken if they hadn’t been so eager to give it the boot. After all these years Joan couldn’t get the wedding she deserved. How lame!!! That show was… Read more »
I guess by now Girlfriends is axed. Am watching a rerun which has been shown in the Uk over 5 times on my last count. Over on this side of the pond we (ethnic minorities) have come to accept that no-one in TV ever listens to the viewers thoughts or even consider that we may want to watch more programs/sitcoms that show us in a normal/positive light. The newest programs we see are about negative/degrading ideas of Africa/Asia/Caribbea. As long as they get their cable subs and TV license then their happy. So for us to watch movies of ethnic… Read more »
Did anyone ever consider that removing Jill Marie Jones (Tony Childs) from the show would be a bad idea? Or for that matter any of the actresses? None of the women can be replaced. It’s amazing to me how the producers and writers of Sex and the City understand this, but the same doesn’t apply for Girlfriends. The show should have been cancelled after Jones’ termination or resignation. Maybe some money could have been saved. Me and my girlfriends got together every Monday night to watch the wonderful women do their thing…..until Jones was removed. The show was the closet… Read more »
i cant believe it..i love it i really wish they would give me something to fill completed
This show was no longer funny so it’s really not a surprise tha it was cancelled.
I truly enjoyed this show ever since the very first season. I think they should have a special; one final show. I would love to see Joan and Aaron finally have their wedding and perhaps Joan and Toni reconsiling
This show as great… until Jill Marie Jones left. For some reason, the writing went downhill. It was no longer compelling. Perhaps some key writer(s) left too, but whatever the case this show was garbage after the Tony Childs character was gone. Nevertheless, overall it was a good show. Shame it had to go out like it did.
This show was awsome in everyway this show was good for all females and men too
I have followed the show from Zimbabwe to the Uk so you can imagine how behind i have been but now that i have seen quite abit of the eighth series and watching the re-runs i cant believe that they have cancelled the show i had so many ideas that i could imagine happening and Joan’s wedding,does she get married in the end?? so much id love to see and to know its over really does break my heart its like when it comes to a black sitcoms ‘things fall apart’ yet i feel there are alot of us who… Read more »