Witchblade is an American television series that aired on TNT from 2001 to 2002. The series is based on the Witchblade comic book series, and followed a pilot film which debuted in August 2000. Some of the episodes were written by Ralph Hemecker, Marc Silvestri and J.D. Zeik. Yancy Butler starred as Sara Pezzini, Anthony Cistaro as Kenneth Irons, David Chokachi as Jake McCartey, Eric Etebari as Ian Nottingham, Will Yun Lee as Danny Woo, Conrad Dunn as Tommy Gallo, Kenneth Welsh as Joe Siri, and John Hensley as Gabriel Bowman, among others. Although critically acclaimed and popular with audiences, the show was canceled in September 2002; there was speculation that the cancellation was connected to Butler's entering rehab for alcoholism. The series ran for two seasons on TNT, for a total of 24 episodes. The first episode aired June 12, 2001; the last episode aired August 26, 2002. In spite of its cancellation, Witchblade was ranked seventh in the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002. According to Top Cow editor Matt Hawkins the Witchblade TV series was cancelled because the lead actress Yancy Butler was an alcoholic and went into rehab – it was and remains the highest rated TV series to be cancelled.