Grab your gi-tars and check the locks on Connie Britton’s contract: Nashville has officially been renewed. Variety is reporting that CMT has closed that deal we told you about earlier this week, bringing the once-cancelled musical soap into its open and denim-clad arms.
The show’s production company, Lionsgate TV, has been shopping Nashville around to other networks for the last few weeks, ever since ABC refused to stand by its mandate to keep the show on the air. CMT president Brian Philips expressed his delight at the news, telling reporters, “We see our fans and ourselves in this show, and we will treasure it like no other network,” which seems reasonably sincere, even if it’s also exactly the sort of smooth-talking patter that gets people into trouble in Patsy Cline songs.
The Variety report also notes that the series will continue to post its episodes the day after they air on Hulu, ensuring that the web-connected Hayden Panettiere fan will never have to miss another twist and turn in the melodrama that’s sure to greet the show when it returns for its fifth season. There’s no word yet on when that will be, though, or whether the show’s entire cast will make the transition to their new, twangy home.