paying-attention

I just read that Fox is probably cancelling "Arrested Development" after this season. Too bad. The show is genuinely funny. It's fate was becoming obvious, anyway, when they moved it from a somewhat secure spot on Sundays first to Fridays and then all around the schedule. Note to the networks: People are more likely to watch a show they like if they can find it.
Which moves me to point out something that other people must have noticed about TV ratings and which shows live or die. It's all about scheduling. There are hours and hours of absolute crap available on the air every week. Shows like "Yes, Dear" and "According to Jim" last because they are on at a time that there is little else available. Would anybody ever actually have chosen to sit down in front of the horrible acting and labored plot lines of "Seventh Heaven" if they had had an alternative? That show was handed a time slot by the poor choices of the other networks. If that blonde with the gigantic head weren't on right before "Reba" she wouldn't have had a chance.
On the flip side, we're subjected to time slots like Thursday at 7. There are four different programs that the three people in my family enjoy on at exactly the same time. I've given up. If any of the four -- "The OC," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Joey" or "Smallville" survive this scheduling Armageddon long enough to make it to DVD, I'll watch them next year.