Fall-TV Deathwatch: Why Have No Shows Been Canceled?

The crappy ratings are in, and this much is clear: America’s televisions are being used exclusively for Halo 3 right now. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a new Nielsen rule that counts DVR playback failed to significantly boost ratings for the first week of the fall TV season, meaning all those new shows (save for Private Practice) performed just as poorly as we thought. And yet, amazingly, not one of them has been canceled — not even Cavemen!

How can this be? We suspect it has something to do with the impending Writers Guild strike, scheduled to happen when their contract expires at the end of this month. Since writers won’t have time to think up all new shows, we’re probably stuck with the ones we’ve got for a while — except for Viva Laughlin, which we still fully expect to get canned before the first commercial break when it premieres this Thursday.

Premiere Week Ratings: Not Much Bounce [HR]