Sad news for Holly Hunter fans: TNT can’t save Grace.
The Hollywood Reporter announced last week that Saving Grace will end its run after a nine-episode final season next summer.
In this case, the network didn’t make the decision. TNT wanted a fourth season, but Fox TV Studios, which produces Saving Grace, turned down the offer for financial reasons. I’m guessing that a lot of the expense has to do with the fabulous star of the show, Holly Hunter.
Hunter’s Grace Hanadarko has been a stereotype breaker as a “mature” detective with an uninhibited lifestyle. Grace works and plays with abandon — and that includes her sex life. Before Saving Grace, we rarely, if ever, saw an over-40 woman character on television enjoying sex as unselfconsciously as Grace. And Holly Hunter, who turned 50 last year, looks damn good naked.
(Sorry, you’ll have to do that photo research for yourself.)
Nancy Miller, who created Grace, told The Oklahoman that Fox’s decision was strictly business:
Fox feels like it has lost money on the show. The DVDs are not selling, they can’t sell it foreign, and they’ve already lost a lot of money, and they don’t see any of that changing. So to continue would just mean losing more money.
The series’ Southern feel and religious undertones were a hard sell overseas. If I were European, I think I’d want to see it anyway.
The good news is that TNT ordered enough episodes to give Saving Grace a proper sendoff. Sad as I am to see a smart, woman-centered show leave the air, I’m happy that we may finally get to understand what’s up with Earl.
Any thoughts on how Saving Grace should end?
