2 Veteran TV Series Canceled

Two long-running series--CBS’ “Designing Women” and NBC’s “Quantum Leap”--will leap into history next month, the victims of cancellation.

The networks said Thursday that both series will feature farewell episodes in May, joining three other veteran series--NBC’s “Cheers,” CBS’ “Knots Landing” and ABC’s “The Wonder Years”--that are also taking their final bows this season.

Both “Designing Women,” which debuted in the fall of 1986, and “Quantum Leap,” which debuted in the spring of 1989, took dramatic tumbles in the ratings this season.

“Designing Women,” the No. 6-rated show in the 1991-92 season, saw its ratings plunge 43% this season after being moved from Monday night to Friday night. The show, which stars Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jan Hooks, Judith Ivey and Meshach Taylor as partners in an interior decorating business, ranks 68 among the season’s 140 prime-time series.

“Quantum Leap’s” ratings were down 21% from a year ago. The science-fiction show, which stars Scott Bakula as time traveler Sam Beckett who “leaps” into the bodies of famous and not-so-famous people, placed 93rd this season.

The last episode of “Quantum Leap” will air May 5 at 10 p.m. Sam Beckett will “leap” into himself. Landing in the tavern of a coal-mining town, he encounters familiar faces and names from his former leaps. He also finally discovers the power that “has been driving his great adventure,” an NBC press release said.

In the final “Designing Women” episode on May 27 at 9 p.m., the design firm is the target of a hostile takeover attempt.