mid-season replacements, fall renewals, extra episode orders

When I read this today I was NOT surprised: ABC has pulled the plug on Great American Dream Vote and host Donny Osmond after just two episodes. The show debuted last Tuesday after a DAncing with the Stars lead-in provided it with a 4.7 A18-49 lead-in, and Vote fell to a disturbing 1.9. In its regular time period on Wednesday at 8p, it delivered a 1.5 A18-49 rating.
That show was complete crap. I have never disliked a show more except maybe that It's Your Party show on the CW last year with Kristin Cavalleri from the real laguna beach as a host.

As ALL the mid-season replacements seem to be gradually getting killed off one by one, I have to ask, has tv outgrown this early spring tradition? With the late 90s dawn of "summer shows" and premium and basic cables offerings on a continuous loop throughout the year, perhaps network tv needs to reinvent things a little and start to follow suit. I would be in favor of some of the tricks of Fox as of late, the a-la-Prison break 20 episode order, with 10 shown in the fall then new episodes of other shows straight through the winter, then 10 new in the spring. They are planning on doing the same thing with Drive (Drive, scheduled to launch on April 15 at 8p, will split its season and end after the first six episodes on May 7th, and then pick up again later on in the season with 7 more episodes). Or ABC's plan for Lost, bringing it back in January and showing new episodes straight through May instead of trying to spread them out across the year and losing audience interest when it substitutes in. With so many choices and so many tivos to record so many more hours, it would be smarter to take new shows, run an advertising campaign and start them off against one another after the primary season has logically ended. We have short attention spans. I can't even remember what the last episode of Men in Trees was about (even though I did notice it got picked up for a second season) and I know that in 3 weeks October Road is going to be gone and those 6 episodes will hardly have made a significant dent in my tv timeline...