LIFETIME'S "ARMY WIVES" TO RETURN WITH ALL-NEW EPISODES ON JUNE 24 AFTER THIS SUNDAY'S CLIFFHANGER EPISODE

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 17, 2012) - After this Sunday's intense cliffhanger episode of Lifetime's hit drama Army Wives, the series will begin a five week break and return with even more drama and all-new episodes on Sunday, June 24, in a new time period at 10:00pm ET/PT. Army Wives, which recently shot its 100th episode, will immediately follow Lifetime's critically-acclaimed comedic drama Drop Dead Diva.

Television icon Susan Lucci returns to Army Wives as guest star this Sunday, when Claudia Joy (Kim Delaney) prepares for her kidney transplant, putting the tribe, Michael (Brian McNamara), her family and Fort Marshall on edge as she braces for the high-risk procedure and the fight of her life.

Propelling Lifetime to be the number one cable network among Women in its time period, Army Wives follows the struggles, dreams and friendships of a diverse group of women - and one man - living with their spouses and families on an active army post. The series stars Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brian McNamara, Sterling K. Brown, Wendy Davis, Drew Fuller, Terry Serpico, Kelli Williams and Catherine Bell, and also features Kellie Martin, Alyssa Diaz and JJ Soria.

Produced by ABC Studios, with Mark Gordon and Jeff Melvoin serving as executive producers, the series is based on the book Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage by Tanya Biank, who serves as a consultant.

ABOUT ABC STUDIOS

ABC Studios, part of ABC Entertainment Group, is a leader in the development, production and strategic distribution of entertainment content across television and emerging digital platforms. As a key content driver for the Disney/ABC Television Group, the studio has produced multiple seasons of primetime series, such as "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "Castle," "Brothers and Sisters," "Private Practice," "Army Wives" and "Criminal Minds," which have fed the company's distribution pipelines worldwide with programming and related product lines. During fall 2011 (September launch through November), ABC Studios claimed TV's Top 2 new drama series debuts among Adults 18-49 with "Once Upon a Time" (on 10/23/11) and "Revenge" (on 9/21/11), respectively. In fact, "Once Upon a Time" opened as television's biggest drama debut in 2 years with young adults. ABC Studios placed three of the Top 15 primetime shows among A18-49 with "Grey's," "Criminal Minds" and "Once Upon a Time." Further, "Grey's" stood as the fall's no. 1 drama among the key Adult demo. ABC Studios will continue its history of producing memorable television programming with the recent orders of 7 new series set to debut during the 2012-2013 television season ("Malibu Country," "Zero Hour," "Red Widow," "The Neighbors," "The Family Tools," "Nashville" and "Mistresses").

ABOUT LIFETIME

Lifetime Television is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. The network posted major growth in viewership among the key demographics in First Quarter 2012 versus First Quarter 2011, including a 9% jump in Adults 25-54, +12% with Women 25-54, +14% with Adults 18-49 and +18% with Women 18-49. In addition, the quarter marks the first time Lifetime has posted First Quarter year-on-year growth for Adults 25-54, Women 25-54 and Women 18-49 in seven years. Lifetime Television(R), LMN(R), Lifetime Real Women(R) and Lifetime Digital(TM) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A+E Networks. A+E Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal.