Every new season you scour the schedule to see which of your favorites from three months ago managed to make into a new birth as a hit show, but it seems that fewer and fewer of them are making a return each year as more and more networks are going after those coveted demographic numbers rather than actually caring about the shows that they produce.

I'm an avid TV fan and there are a lot of shows that I like to watch. Usually I will choose one over another if they fall in the same time period, and for the most part I'm very selective on what I like to see, but what I don't like to see, in any case, is a show be terminated before it has ever had the chance to find its voice. We stand now at the end of one TV season, and beginning to make the transition into the next with hold-over summer programming to keep us company. But what will we miss next year when the broadcast networks come back with season and series premieres? A whole lot of good stuff.

By far I'm most disappointed with FOX's decision not to bring back campy favorite "Fastlane", co-produced by McG, director of Charlie's Angels. The show had a very unique style that gave it an edge on the cookie cutter melodrama that blasts on screen these days. But "Fastlane" wasn't the only show killed off. As in previous editorials I named my disgust for FOX the the killing of some of the best shows on TV including the critically acclaimed "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and the newly departed "Futurama," and the ever hilarious "Family Guy." It seems funny that FOX would just abandon the "Simpsons" follow-up on a whim after dooming it to a terrible time slot and give up on Seth McFarlane's series because it dared to push the envelope into a smolder fireplace and then found a way to make fun of Jews.

In fact a lot of newly canceled, or past departed, shows were terminated because of a very poor timeslot. "Fastlane" did very well on Wednesdays but fell apart when sent to the Friday hellhole. "Andy Richter" disappeared for nearly a year before making it back to the schedule, and if you ask anyone who watched it, they will tell you it was one of the most cleverly written shows you will ever see.

Not all shows that give poor ratings their first season get the axe. FOX hit "24" wasn't a ratings smash during season one but benefited from following American Idol this season and jumped out to great numbers. Usually coming out first in it's timeslot for total viewers and in the 18-49 demographic focused in on by advertisers. Other shows have lived on well beyond reasonable bounds by just doing what they do. "America's Funniest Home Videos" on ABC has survived the doldrums of being hosted by Bob Saget to still be on the air today and still turning in numbers that draws attention.

Do the networks care about these shows, or just the dollar signs associated with them? The problem with TV shows these days is its really hard to get attached to them before they disappear. "Firefly," again on FOX, is a good example of a show that got shot down before anything really good had a chance to happen. In typical network broadcast style the episodes were played out of order (a la "Clerks: The Animated Series") so the audience loses track of characters they don't even know before the series ever begins. As was the case with the Joss Whedon created sci-fi adventure we know that it usually takes almost an entire year for one of Whedon's shows to find it's footing, but "Firefly" didn't even last to episode 11 and there are still several shows in the can waiting to be aired on DVD or otherwise.

It seems as though "The X Files" was a fluke. Starting on a Friday and then moving into a coveted Sunday spot, the show developed a hardcore cult following that only seemed to wane in the last two seasons. The same couldn't be said for the wealth of shows launched on Friday this season and will never again see the CRTs in our living rooms.

As you have seen in my previous editorial touching on this subject most of the major networks seem content with focusing on dating shows, reality TV, and any opportunity to get twentysomethings to yell, swear, and get down and dirty with each other makes that "cha ching" sound we see so often in cartoons.

I just feel as thought the television environment at the current time is more focused on making money than letting the creative passions of some producers and directors show through. When TV executives start caring about TV again is when we can expect good shows to remain on the air and bad ones to at least get a half-way-decent chance.