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Entertainment
iVillage 5
It's not always easy being a TV fan. Networks urge you to check out a new show, and you comply. They entice you with promos of upcoming episodes, and you tune in again. You get invested. And then, once you're totally attached to a new show, they simply drop it.
We're at that time of year when TV execs need to place bets on what programming will draw the most viewers this fall. Guess what that means? They've got to decide which of their current shows (which they just got done promoting like crazy) to toss aside, in order to make room for some new attempts at hits.
Which shows are in jeopardy? According to TV Guide, the list includes some aging shows (that have been faltering for a while now) and lots of newish ones that just popped up this year. Depending on your TV tastes, here are some potential heartbreakers.
If you're a fan of ABC's Brothers & Sisters, brace yourself. Low ratings (and, some might say, creative decline) already put the show in jeopardy last year. Somehow they rallied and returned to the airwaves. But now in its fifth season, the show really seems to have had (and passed) its day in the sun. Still, if it does go away, it will be a sad goodbye. Sally Field has delivered great performances (she won an Emmy for her role as Nora, the Walker family matriarch). And ending Brothers & Sisters will put several talented actors, including Rachel Griffiths and Calista Flockhart, out of work. Of course, it will also give other shows a chance to snap them up.
CBS's long-beloved drama CSI:NY seems like an unlikely candidate for cancellation. But after moving to a Friday night time slot, the show hasn't been garnering its usual stellar ratings. CSI vets, it may be time to start the letter-writing campaign!
Despite rooting for the talented Matthew Perry to succeed in his latest attempt at primetime TV greatness, most critics have found ABC's Mr. Sunshine to be a disappointment. Even the fabulous Allison Janney hasn't been able to make up for the so-so jokes. And ABC didn't do the show any favors by parking it in the same time slot as American Idol. Oh, Matthew. We hope you get yet another shot, but maybe on another show?
Did you know that The CW's One Tree Hill is still on the air (and in its eighth season)? If you did, then you're a hardcore fan, because it's more likely you didn't. And that's not a good omen for the show to get picked up again. Then again, if it's made it under the wire for eight years, why not nine?
Does Outsourced deserve its place in NBC's must-see Thursday lineup? Most critics don't think so, and judging by the show's low ratings, viewers don't, either. If NBC has another new sitcom waiting in the wings, the network will (or at least should) shelve this one.
Also on the bubble are NBC's spy comedy Chuck (which in its four seasons on the air has already been saved from cancellation twice by fan campaigns in which they sent Subway sandwiches to the network -- seriously), the well-reviewed but low-rated Perfect Couples, Law and Order: Los Angeles, and the high-profile sci-fi serial The Event. Also on the chopping bloack are Fox's alien-invasion show V and CBS' freshman rom-sitcom Mad Love (starring American Pie's Jason Biggs and Scrubs' vet Sarah Chalke).
Which bubble shows will burst, and which will live to see another season? We'll know soon enough.
