'Episodes' Season 5 News, Spoilers: Series To End After Fifth Season

By Jackie Villegas, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, April 13, 2016

"Episodes," the award-winning British/American sitcom, will end with its fifth season, Showtime has announced.

The industry-insider comedy series, which has won numerous awards and earned praise from critics since it debuted in 2011, stars "Friends" vet and current "Top Gear" host Matt LeBlanc as a fictionalized version of himself.

The recent confirmation of the show's final season by Showtime follows long-running rumors that the series would soon be bidding its fans a final farewell. In January, Showtime's president of programming Gary Levine fuelled the speculation frenzy after he told the press during the Television Critics Association's winter press tour that there is a "real possibility" that the show would conclude with its fifth season.

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In a joint statement about the show's impending conclusion, "Episodes" co-creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik said that they have had the best time working on the show.

"Showtime has been the opposite of every network we write about," they said (via Variety). "If it were up to them we could go on making 'Episodes' forever. But we've told the story we set out to tell and we'd never want to outstay our welcome."

"'Episodes' scathing portrait of network executives has kept me on my best behavior these last several years, for which I am grudgingly grateful to Jeffrey and David," Levine said. "I love this show and can't wait to see what comic heights Matt and company will scale during the fifth and final season of our inspired series."

Since it debuted in 2011, "Episodes" has been nominated for an Emmy a total of 10 times, which includes honors for LeBlanc's lead actor role and Crane and Clark's writing. The critically acclaimed series has also been nominated twice in the Best Television Series category at the Golden Globes, with LeBlanc receiving the award for Best Actor in 2012.

The final season of "Episodes" will air sometime in 2017.