'Saving Grace' Dumped by Studio

The Emmy-nominated TNT drama "Saving Grace" will end next summer, according to a press release that the cable network released today.

However, it wasn't the network that canned the at-times edgy show starring Oscar winner Holly Hunter, who has also received consecutive Emmy nominations for her role. Fox Television Studios, a production unit at News Corp., decided that the program's production costs were too high to risk running with the show through a full third and fourth season like TNT wanted.

"Since 'Saving Grace' began in 2007, the series has both challenged and entertained viewers in ways few other shows on television ever dare," Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies said.

However, the show's production company believed that it wouldn't generate enough revenue through reruns and DVD sales, despite drawing a solid audience of 3.5 million viewers per episode during this summer, according to HitFix.

Prior to today's announcement, there were still six episodes left in the show's third-season order, scheduled to air in the winter. Now, three episodes have been added to the order and the nine will air together in the summer of 2010 to wrap the series.

The show's third season premiered on June 16 this summer and will air its mid-season summer finale Aug. 18, titled, "Am I Gonna Die?" before picking up again next summer.