Bursting the Bubble

I hate to say it, but the tail-end of the TV season is pretty much here…which means some of my favorite shows might be in danger of not returning to a schedule near me next fall.

Tear.

Among the shows that are “awaiting their fates” – and that matter to me – are The CW’s Gilmore Girls, which should return only if both Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel sign on the dotted line for a final season, and Veronica Mars, which has proved to be critical and cult hit, but hasn’t caught on with viewers in a large scale. Don’t ask me why; the show rocks – and you ought to catch up with its first two seasons on DVD like, yesterday!

NBC appears to have given up on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I can’t say I’ll miss that show, for it certainly had its merits (like when it was not taking itself too seriously with issue plots), but I will say that the network’s other Saturday Night Live send-off, 30 Rock, is tremendously worthier of another go. It has proven to be infinitely more effective – and quotable – which means more and more people are responding to it. And by “more and more people” I mean me.

Jericho over at CBS is facing a big ol’ question mark about its tomorrow as well. A modest hit after it premiered last fall, the show, about a small town coping with the aftermath of several nuclear explosions, was sheltered for three months right as it was hitting its stride. It returned last month – but some viewers already had left it in favor or the little talent show with the kooky judges over at FOX (a network that, according to me, has little to worry about, what with 24, Bones, and Prison Break doing well). I want to know who dropped the bombs – and why. I just hope this show isn’t this year’s Invasion.

ABC seems to be standing the firmest. Grey’s Anatomy might birth a sounding-better-and-better spin-off later this season – and if it does, I’m sooo going to miss Kate Walsh, and Scrubs might…uh…scrub in if NBC decides to pass on it for next season. I suppose I’d be kind of sorry to see the Anne Heche starrer Men in Trees go, if anything because I’ve heard good things about it and I totally would catch up with it over the summer.

To be completely fair to the networks, though, I could live without of these “on-the-bubble” shows – if I had to. Except for Veronica Mars. There’s no need to cancel it, but there is a need for it to be allowed to be what it wants to be, CW, so quit hampering with it.

Photo: NBC.com (30 Rock).