With ‘Shining Vale’ canceled and ‘Minx’ likely to be renewed, Starz announces its comedy exit

Starz canceled Wednesday Radiant Valley after two seasons and removed the horror comedy starring Courteney Cox from its digital platforms. In an interview published Thursday Slut Star Jake Johnson told Deadline he doesn’t expect a third-season renewal of the erotic comedy, which was rescued by Starz after Max canceled it.

Radiant Valley And Slut is Starz’s last remaining current comedy series. The premium network currently separating Slut Producer Lionsgate Television has about half a dozen upcoming scripted series, all dramas.

Sources say Starz executives have complained in private conversations with producers that comedy isn’t working at the network.

There haven’t been any announcements for comedy development at Starz in a year and a half, and I’ve heard that the network isn’t on the cutting edge when it comes to comedy pitches.

Sources inside Starz emphasize that the network is not backing away from the comedy industry and may develop half-hour projects in the future that target Starz’s target audience of women and underrepresented viewers.

This isn’t the first time Starz has shied away from comedy. One of his first steps was to get the network’s former CEO Chris Albrecht to cancel the comedy series in 2010 Party off And Severity focus on the drama. (Party off made a triumphant return to Starz earlier this year for a limited series revival under current CEO Jeff Hirsch.)

Three years later, the network announced a return to comedy, with Albrech insisting in 2013 that the plan was to “proceed with caution” and not “open the floodgates” to half-hour pitches that would air elsewhere is not rejected.

Starz isn’t the only premium network dabbling in comedy, a notoriously difficult genre to master. Showtime has also struggled to find half-hour hits of this caliber weed And Californian.