Famester Dish:

After months of speculation about the fate of "Gilmore Girls," the CW and Warner Bros. Television announced today that the show will end its seven-season run this month.

Going into this season, it was widely known that the popular dramedy about a mother and daughter would carry on only if both Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, who play the fast-talking Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, wanted to extend their contracts. In recent weeks, there were rumors that the show would return for a 13-episode season to wrap up the series. According to a source close to the show, the network and the studio were unable to make a deal to keep the show alive.

"Gilmore Girls" was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino for the now-defunct WB, where it was one of its most popular shows. Sherman-Palladino birthed the show's acclaimed signature style: rapid-fire pop culture references embedded in a larger thematic backdrop of a young single parent raising her daughter in the manner she wished she'd been raised. Since it became part of the CW's first slate of shows when the new network was created from the merger between UPN and WB last year, it has also been one of its most-watched shows. It averaged 3.3 million viewers, and has been able to sustain its ratings among young female demographics in the Tuesday at 8 p.m. slot even against "American Idol."

Throughout its run, "Gilmore Girls" inspired as fanatical a viewership as any show on television, including ones with much larger audiences. But Sherman-Palladino, and her husband and collaborator, Daniel Palladino, left at the end of the sixth season when the duo could not reach an agreement with Warner Bros.

David S. Rosenthal, an executive producer for the show, took over the series this season, and his tenure has received mixed reviews from critics and viewers.

Locking in "Gilmore Girls," one of the CW's few unqualified successes, had been a priority for the new network. As all of the TV networks ready themselves to announce their new shows to advertisers at Upfronts later this month, the CW has few sure things on its schedule for next season. "Veronica Mars," its comedies and "Supernatural" have all struggled in the network's first year.

A joint statement from the CW and Warner Bros. read, in part, "Announcing the final season of 'Gilmore Girls' is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television. This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters."

The series finale will air on May 15.

Joint statement from The CW and Warner Bros. Television regarding "Gilmore Girls."

"Announcing the final season of 'Gilmore Girls' is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television. This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters. We thank Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino, Dave Rosenthal, the amazing cast led by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as well as the producers, writers and crew for giving us this delightful gem for the past seven years. We would also like to thank the critics and 'Gilmore' fans for their passionate support and promise to give this series the send off it deserves."

GILMORE GIRLS finale airs Tuesday May 15 on The CW at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

I'm not sure cancellation news is really a show spoiler...