Yesterday, Chuck fans everywhere (including devoted TWoP posters) banded together to participate in one of the grand traditions of TV fandom: the grassroots Save Our Show campaign. How? Since Subway is Chuck's biggest sponsor, fans hope that by purchasing a $5 footlong sandwich at Subway and dropping a note in the comment box imploring NBC not to cancel their beloved dramedy, they can sway network execs who are currently deciding the fate of the on-the-bubble series. But plenty of past about-to-be-cancelled shows have spawned even more creative campaigns by desperate fans -- read on to relive some of the successes, and more of the failures. (Hint: Food-based protests don't always work...)

They're outta here. Over and gone. Last year's news. In the words of Monty Python's parrot sketch, these shows have ceased to be. Kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible.

They are ex-shows.

Quirky is a weird thing in a TV show. A good thing. And a bad thing. It's fun for those in-the-know to savor. But it can be off-putting for folks who feel on the outside looking in.

Is that the fate befalling Reaper, the CW delight that remains on the bubble as the struggling netlet prepares to announce its fall schedule Tuesday evening?

Hmm. Boston Legal got renewed in March last year. Here it is May, and still no word if producer David E. Kelley's law-'n'-sex romp will make ABC's fall lineup. Since the network announced renewals of half its current slate in February, one has to wonder if William Shatner will have a place to play this fall.

Oh, wait. Shatner always has a place to play.

Ah, sometimes synergy has its rewards. The much-derided corporate cooperation game may yet give us another season of the hospital comedy Scrubs, despite NBC having "cancelled" it.

Thursday, May 8, 2008 could have gone down in history as the comedy's final telecast if that network had its way. And no wonder. Despite its cult fanbase, Scrubs still draws relatively miniscule ratings in NBC's Thursday comedy lineup. (Which is saying something, considering how not-well most of the other series do.) And there's no upside, right? The show's been on the air for seven years. It's not like it's going to "grow" ratings.