The renewal negotiations for 2 Broke Girls between CBS and Warner Bros, TV were expected to go down to the wire and they did. But after some encouraging signs in the last few weeks for a potential short season, 13-18 episodes, the veteran comedy series has been canceled by CBS.

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2 Broke Girls got off to a blazing hot start in its first 2011-12 season, with CBS head of sales Jo Ann Ross coming out dressed as one of the lead characters at CBS’ 2012 upfront presentation alongside the series’ stars Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. (pictured)

While the sitcom, created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings, could not sustain the early meteoric ratings heights, it has been a utility player for CBS. Its Season 6 L+7 adults 18-49 average, 1.8 rating, is just a tad below renewed CBS comedies Mom and Life In Pieces (both at 1.9) and above picked up Man With A Plan (1.6) and Superior Donuts (1.5). It also is CBS’ youngest-skewing comedy.

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But CBS has no ownership in 2 Broke Girls while having to cover its cost (or most of it) because of the show’s age. Meanwhile, 2 Broke Girls holds the record for the biggest off-network comedy series sale, earning Warner Bros. TV $1.7 million an episode from TBS alone. I hear CBS tried to tap into the studio’s lucrative backend and the two sides had long and tough renewal negotiations. In the end, a deal could not be made.

There was a hint that things may be heading south for 2 Broke Girls this afternoon when CBS gave Warner Bros. TV a somewhat surprising third new comedy series order for By the Book (fka Living Biblically) hours after the pickup of Me, Myself & I, meaning that both of the studios’ comedy pilots at the network, the single-camera Me, Myself & I and multi-camera By the Book, were picked up, along with the straight-to-series single-camera Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon. With Big Bang and Mom already renewed, that gave WBTV five comedy series on the CBS schedule next year without 2 Broke Girls. Still, the cancellation of the highly lucrative six-year-old comedy series put a major damper on what would’ve been a great day for WBTV.