Cancelled Shows 2009

I was surprised to recently come across the list of cancelled shows or shows that are not returning for upcoming seasons. This must have been a tough years for shows to survive. Does the financial crisis have anything to do with these shows cancelling? Are funding and survival rates highly dependent on the economy?

Here is a list of shows that were either cancelled or are not returning for the upcoming season:

My Name Is Earl
Samantha Who?
Kath and Kim
Boston Legal
ER
King of the Hill
Without a Trace
Prison Break
Kings
In the Motherhood
Sit Down, Shut Up
Swingtown
The Unit
Eleventh Hour
According to Jim
America's Toughest Jobs
American Gladiators
Crusoe
Deal or No Deal
Dirty Sexy Money
Frank TV
Howie Do It
Knight Rider
Kyle XY
The L Word
Last Comic Standing
Life
Life on Mars
Lipstick Jungle
MADtv
Momma's Boys
My Own Worst Enemy
Osbournes: Reloaded
Pushing Daisies
The Shield
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TRL
The Unusuals


Check out reasons as to why these shows are cancelled here or here.

And to be honest, I didn't even list ALL of them. These are the ones I think the general public would be familiar with. Some of these really trouble me (My Name Is Earl, King of the Hill, American Gladiators, MADtv, Last Comic Standing, Deal or No Deal). Maybe I'm living in a bubble or something, but I thought that a lot of these shows got some decent ratings. I thought they were fairly popular. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of these shows were destined to fail. I was surpirsed some lasted as long as they did. Others were first year shows that got the cut early on (no surprise). I am just shocked at HOW MANY are cancelled.

Do this many shows normally get cancelled every season, or am I just seeing one season and going a little overboard here?

I guess I'm just trying to figure it out, and there are just so many! A lot of these were pretty good shows (or there names were just widely recognized). What other shows are they going to put on in their place? It seems like they have to create a lot of new ones to make up for these old ones. New shows are hard to pitch and sell to an audience. Let's see how the networks do...

So, what do you think of these cancellations?