Unlikely To See Another Season?

TV Squad has this list of shows up which MediaLife suggests that media watchers believe won't be returning for the fall season. (How's that sentence as an effort to cover my butt). There are seven shows from NBC, two from Fox, five from CBS (but there are some questions about that number) and seven from ABC. This is in addition to series which we already know are gone forever at the end of this season, specifically Alias and (sob) The West Wing. Nothing from UPN or The WB of course because of the extinction/merger of those networks. If I have to guess - based on the poll that I never got around to putting up the results for but which you can see at the side (80% UPN, 20% The WB with a small sample size), I'd suggest that we'll be saying goodby to a higher proportion of UPN than WB series when the schedule for The CW (and I still hat that name) rolls out. Anyway, here's the list.

• Four Kings, NBC


• Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NBC


• Joey, NBC


• E-Ring, NBC


• Fear Factor, NBC


• Surface, NBC


• Scrubs, NBC


• Stacked, FOX


• War at Home, FOX


• Still Standing, CBS


• Yes, Dear, CBS


• King of Queens, CBS


• Out of Practice, CBS


• Courting Alex, CBS


• Crumbs, ABC


• Freddie, ABC


• Rodney, ABC


• According to Jim, ABC


• Hope & Faith, ABC


• George Lopez, ABC


• Commander in Chief, ABC

There are a number of shows that stand out on this list as being a bit surprising. On NBC there's Law & Order: Criminal Intent which I like, particularly with the introduction of the revolving cast, but is caught in that whole Sunday Night Football and will have to go up against Desperate Housewives if it stays on Sunday night. Surface is a mild surprise - I didn't like it but it and Scrubs have a tremendously loyal fan base. For Scrubs fans there's at least hope in the suggestion that the show could migrate to ABC. The situation is quite muddy on CBS. The fate of Courting Alex and Out Of Practice apparently depends on how well The New Adventures Of Old Christine does. Yes, Dear has been officially cancelled and Still Standing appears to be gone as well. Apparently CBS would like to retain King Of Queens but the question is whether they want to match Kevin James's demands to keep the show on for one more year. In truth CBS simply has too much bench strength so that if anything new is going to come on it will have to do so by pushing off shows with good ratings. No real surprises over at ABC. Commander-in-Chief may seem like a surprise but it has been hemorrhaging viewers for a while and nothing - including the addition of Steven Bochco as show runner - has helped. Personally I don't think they really knew what they wanted it to be. Finally there's George Lopez. The show seems well liked but has been battered in the ratings by a mix of special events and regularly scheduled show. This past week it finished fourth behind American Idol, Still Standing and the season debut of UPN's America's Next Top Model.