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Q: Has the show "Life in Pieces" been canceled? We really enjoyed it and I keep looking for it to reappear.

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

It's understandable you'd be worried about the fate of "Life in Pieces." Since the end of season 3 in the spring, there's been an explosion of news about new projects the cast members and producers are taking on. That's usually the first (and sometimes only) sign of a cancellation. But not this time.

"Life in Pieces" has been renewed for a fourth season, which will premiere sometime over the winter (there's no firm date yet).

The announcement glut can be explained by the fact that the show has reached the stage where it can survive without quite as much attention from its producers. And with a huge ensemble cast, it's always afforded its stars a little extra free time beyond what they'd get on another show.

It's usually around the season 2 or 3 mark that producers start launching new projects, once the show has developed a bit of a formula and a solid production team that knows the show well.

"Life in Pieces" director and executive producer Jason Winer is at that stage. Now that the series has hit its stride, he can turn his attention to new shows. But instead of taking a one-at-a-time approach, he's taking on a bunch at once. He's co-producing a sitcom called "Single Parents," which launched in September on ABC, and he also has deals for two others, drama series "The Family Practice" and the working-mom sitcom "Woman Up."

For the latter series, he's also enlisted the talents of "Life in Pieces" star Zoe Lister-Jones. 

She's not the only "Pieces" actress doing double duty, either. Co-star Hunter King has a pretty weird arrangement with "The Young and the Restless" where she comes and goes in the role of Summer Newman in that series in between shooting "Life in Pieces." Indeed, the soap series brought in an understudy to play Summer for just a couple of days this fall while King zipped away to shoot her other show.

Meanwhile, Winer's fellow "Life in Pieces" producer Aaron Kaplan has also announced a new family-themed sitcom, "Carol's Second Act," starring Patricia Heaton in the title role.

 

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