Poll Results And A Bit Of News - What new Drama will be cancelled first?

First the results. We had fourteen voters this time around, which sounds good until you realize that there were sixteen shows listed, so we averaged under one vote per show. Not that it matters though because there's a relatively clear winner.

In a tie for eighth place with no votes are Heroes, Standoff, Ugly Betty, Shark, Runaway, Friday Night Lights, Six Degrees, The Nine and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip with no votes. In a tie for fifth place with one vote each (7% of those cast) are Smith, Vanished, and Justice. In a tie for second place, with two votes (14%) are Kidnapped, Jericho, and Brothers and Sisters. The clear winner in this poll however is Men In Trees with five votes (35%).

There are a couple of interesting things in these results. Of the shows not getting any votes, only one - Standoff - had debuted before the poll began. Of the shows that got votes, only Brothers and Sisters has not yet debuted (it appears tonight). Make of that what you will, but I can't help but wonder what the results would have looked like if my technological difficulties hadn't occurred and I'd been able to run the poll before most of the series had debuted.

I can't help but wonder what the sizable vote for Men In Trees to be the first drama cancelled means. I know that I haven't reviewed the show yet largely because I have so far found myself unable to sit and watch a complete episode without missing big chunks of it. This is despite the fact that I basically like several members of the cast including Abraham Benrubi (Jerry from ER but also Olaf The Troll from and episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and John Amos (Admiral Fitzwallace on The West Wing, but also Gordie on the 1970s Mary Tyler Moore Show). Setting aside my personal dislike of Anne Heche - when she was a lesbian and with Ellen DeGeneres I kept thinking that Ellen could do much better, which of course she has - I don't really find the parts of the episodes that I've seen that appealing. The interesting thing is that I read people raving about just how good the show is in terms of writing and characters. I'll keep trying with it though.

And now the news I promised. TVSquad.com reports and Futon Critic confirms that Fox will be placing both The Happy Hour and Justice on "early hiatus" before the start of the Baseball playoffs which dominate the Fox lineup for most of October. The episodes of The Happy Hour scheduled for September 28 and October 5 will be replaced by reruns of episodes of 'Til Death. The Justice episode schedule for September 27 will air, but the episode set for October 4 will be replaced by a House rerun. In addition the pilot episode of Justice will be repeated on Friday September 29, reducing the length of the Celebrity Duets finale to one hour from two (hurray!). The Happy Houris supposed to return to the Fox lineup on November 2, but no date has been reported for a return of Justice. Each of the series, which started earlier than most network shows, suffered a major audience loss against "premiere week" competition. Ratings for Justice were down 37.29% from its premiere episode (and down 36.67% in the 18-49 demographic), while ratings for The Happy Hour dropped by 34.78% (and 32% in the 18-49 age group) from its debut. In last week's ratings, The Happy Hour finished fourth in its time slot against My Name Is Earl, Survivor, and special recap episode of Grey's Anatomy which aired before the season premiere. Justice was fifth in its time slot, being beaten by the second hour of The CW's America's Next Top Model, as well as CBS's Criminal Minds a rerun of last season's finale of Grey's Anatomy and the second hour of NBC's Biggest Loser. I suspect that airing the Justice pilot on Friday night might be an attempt to see if the show could be moved permanently to a time when all Fox has is a couple of reality shows, but that's purely a guess on my part.