Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Private Practice writer-producers Steve Blackman and Craig Turk have been elevated to co-head writers on the ABC medical drama for its coming fourth season. They fill the void left by the departure of Robert Rovner and Jon Cowan who stepped down as executive producers/showrunners in March after two seasons at the helm. Grey’s Anatomy and Practice creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes will continue to supervise all creative and production aspects of the Grey’s spinoff. Blackman joined Practice at the beginning of season 2 as a co-executive producer and was upped to exec producer at the start of the current third season. Turk is a co-executive producer on Practice having started on the show also at the beginning of Season 2 as a supervising producer. He is now being upped to exec producer. While ABC has not handed out renewals to its returning series, Practice is fully expected to be back in the fall.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.