7 million people tuned in for the "series finale" of 7th Heaven. The following is taken from "The Ausiello Report" on TVGuide.com:
Ausiello: There are a lot of angry Everwood fans out there. They just don't understand why it's the only "bubble" show not returning. Ostroff: Everwood was honestly the toughest decision. It really was. We knew we wanted to make room on the schedule for at least one new drama.... And when you look at the shows that we're bringing back and what went with what, really, Everwood was the hardest show to fit into the configuration. It was really, really hard because the fans are really devoted.
Ausiello: One of the theories going around is that the moment you decided to bring 7th Heaven back, Everwood died. Ostroff: (Crickets) It was, you know... it really came down to those two shows. It was such a tough call. Look, we're launching a new network, we wanted to have the best shot we could. Not only for the new network, but also for Runaway, which is a family drama.
Ausiello: Did you ever think about keeping both 7th Heaven and Everwood? They have a pretty good thing going on Monday night. Ostroff: The thing is, Everwood couldn't really start the night. We looked at the ratings for Everwood, and leading off the night...
Ausiello: No, I'm talking about leaving Everwood where it is at 9 pm after 7th Heaven. Ostroff: We wanted to put a new show on the air, and Runaway is a really good show. We couldn't have the whole schedule of returning shows.
Ausiello: What about giving Everwood a 13-episode commitment? That way, if Runaway tanks, Everwood could be on deck to fill in. Ostroff: (Sigh) We wanted to try something new.
Ausiello: I hear the decision to renew Heaven was made after the ratings for the finale came in. True? Ostroff: It [drew] over seven million people. It's hard to ignore that.
So you can thank Dawn Ostroff for being a dumb bitch. I however don't want to speak too badly of her--she did bring back Veronica Mars afterall.
Michael Ausiello's Everwood Scoop
"You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" --Family Guy
"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.
Kitzy's Avatar du Jour: Kitzy as Little Red Ridinghood in her college's production of "Into the Woods"