Starz cancels catering comedy 'Party Down'

By Elizabeth Guider

They're partying no more at Starz.

 Cult comedy "Party Down," which centers on a catering crew of aspiring Hollywood actors and writers, has had its renewal invitation turned down by Starz management under recently installed boss Chris Albrecht.

Ditto for "Gravity," a first-season drama which focuses on an out-patient program for suicide survivors and stars Krysten Ritter, Ivan Sergei and Ving Rhames.

Neither set the ratings world on fire; in its recent second season, "Party Down" slipped to about 125,000 viewers. The cult, in other words, was more like a coterie.

"Party" follows the sextet of actors and writers, as well as lost souls in their entourage, as they do their gigs and try for their big break. Each episode finds the team -- which has included Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Megan Mullally, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr and Lizzy Caplan -- working a new event and mixing it up with their clients.

It was created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd.

"After careful consideration, we've decided not to continue on with subsequent seasons of Party Down and Gravity," Stephan Shelanski, executive vp programming for Starz Entertainment, said Wednesday.

"Starz remains committed to aggressively expanding our original programming lineup," he added.

Under Albrecht so far, it's big-bucks miniseries like "Spartacus" and "Pillars of the Earth" that are getting the green lights and the attention.

Below are our interviews with the "Party Down" cast at this year's PaleyFest.