The New York Times notes an interesting side effect of the Writers Guild of America strike against television and film producer. Unlike previous years in which many new television shows were quickly cancelled due to disappointing ratings virtually no new shows have been cancelled this year. The article explains why marginal shows that in other years would be cancelled are still on the air:
Very soon the networks will begin running low on original scripted episodes of shows. Any new episode will become an increasingly valuable commodity. No network is going to waste bought-and-paid-for episodes. So the marginal shows will stay on until their episodes run out, which, in most cases, will mean sometime between now and the end of January.
January’s mid-season shows could also gain in the ratings, as other shows run out of new episodes.
On the downside, shows such as Life that have been building in the ratings will also run out of new episodes and nobody knows how they will perform, if even if they will be back when the strike is over.