Cats Don't Dance: Is the animated series cancelled for sure?

The CW's animated series Cats Don't Dance, a follow-up to the 1997 film of the same name, is currently in its ninth season - barely. The cartoon was reportedly going to be cancelled last Spring but was saved at the hour because the network didn't want to pay an "end fee" for not following through on a previous agreement.

As a result of this, the cartoon was picked up for its ninth season, originally for 13 episodes, but was later extended to 20. Basically, The CW felt that the cartoon didn't fit their "desired demographic". Due to this, the new episodes didn't premiere until other CW series had failed. When Cats Don't Dance finally began its ninth season on September 23, 2006, it gave the network good numbers. It even boosted the viewership of 7th Heaven.

Since then, fans of the cartoon have been hopeful that the CW would realize the value of the cartoon and order five more episodes to extend the season even further and even renew the series for a tenth year. It now looks like that's not going to happen.

Yesterday at the Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena, The CW's president, Dawn Ostroff had reportedly declined to comment on the future of Cats Don't Dance. Later, it was quietly stated that the cartoon was done. Today, sources at Cartoon Brew are confirming that Cats Don't Dance has indeed been cancelled. There are seven episodes left to air and word is that The CW will air the finale on Sunday, May 20th.

There are lots of fans out there, so there are a ton of rumors floating around. Once source at The CW reportedly said that the network will indeed order the five extra episodes soon (very doubtful now). There has also been talk that Boomerang (Cartoon Network's cable channel that airs reruns of Cats Don't Dance) has expressed interest in airing a spin-off series. The spin-off would feature Danny and Sawyer moving into their new house in Hollywood and raising their new kitten together. The rest of the characters from Cats Don't Dance could appear as guest stars from time to time (and as a presumably smaller cartoon budget would allow)