‘Drop Dead Diva’ Season 5 returns June 23 on Lifetime

“Drop Dead Diva” survived its own brush with TV death earlier this year and now Lifetime has officially set the Season 5 premiere for Sunday, June 23 at 9 p.m.

That’s right before the launch of the network’s new series “Devious Maids” from “Desperate Housewives” executive producer Marc Cherry, and the same night the network’s “The Client List” was expected to air its Season 2 finale (there’s no official word yet if the Jennifer Love Hewitt series will wrap a week earlier or simply in a different timeslot).

As recently as February it looked as though “Diva” wouldn’t be back, at least on Lifetime, after word leaked in January that the network had canceled the show. But a passionate outpouring from fans and some financial wheeling and dealing between the network and studio Sony Pictures TV led to a revival.

The “Diva” Season 5 premiere is titled “Back From the Dead” and picks up immediately following the Season 4 cliffhanger ending with Jane (Brooke Elliott) desperate to find fiance Owen (Lex Medlin) after he saw her kissing Grayson (Jackson Hurst).

Justin Deeley (“90210”) joins the “Diva” cast for Season 5 along with returning favorites Margaret Cho, Kate Levering and April Bowlby.

Photo/Video credit: Lifetime