It happens a few times a year with my favourite US TV shows - they get unceremoniously dumped by the US networks for a drop in ratings. It was particularly brutal for me in recent weeks - every single one of these shows I watch regularly (only, ahem, a day after the US) has been cancelled:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (West Wing meets 30 Rock, nicely scripted but perhaps not too original. Suffered by airing at the same time as 30 Rock really and as silly as it is, I think 30 Rock is a bit more fun to watch than Studio 60. Mind you, Amanda Peet vs. Tina Fey - sorry, Tina, it's no contest...)

Jericho (think Survivors, but far too "clean" compared to that great 70's British sci-fi show)

The O.C. (dismal since Mischa Barton snuffed it. They probably never should have bothered with Season 4)

Day Break (Groundhog Day mixed up with 24 - stood no chance because of the necessary repetition of each episode. Final episodes stuck on the Web, which is freaking useless for non-US people - we're blocked from downloading them...no worries, there were "other routes" to get them)

In Case Of Ermergency (not particularly funny, but Kelly Hu and Lori Loughlin in the same show? I'm there...)

Veronica Mars (excellent show, hadn't yet jumped the shark yet. Where were the fans from the previous season that did stunts to rescue it? All gone over to Jericho with their nuts protest I guess, despite Jericho not really being all that great. Looks like we'll get to see the FBI trailer they planned for Season 4's possible Veronica-goes-to-The-Feds concept though. Might even be a Veronica movie in the future too!).

Drive (showed some promise, but yanked after 4 episodes in true network-knows-nothing manner)

Andy Barker, P.I. (was warming to this show, but even Conan O'Brien's pull couldn't save this)

The Black Donnelllys (ended its brief run shunted onto the Web [and ultimately onto my hard drive via another route]. Quite liked this show - Irish Sopranos if you will - and Olivia Wilde is certainly soothing on the eyes as a nice bonus)

Raines (probably a doomed concept this one - The Sixth Sense did it all in under 2 hours after all)

Big Day (really enjoyed this one, though you wondered how they'd stretch it beyond one season [someone else's wedding for Season 2? Er, pointless...])

What About Brian (I was seriously getting into this - the addition of Tiffany Thiessen to the already attractive women in the cast just made the show total eye candy as the Americans would say. Even been picked up by E4 in the UK just as it got cancelled)

Six Degrees (another one terminated and dumped on the Web - not hugely compelling really and arguably too similar to What About Brian)

3 Lbs (BBC picked up a clanger here - House, Grey's Anatomy and the should-be-killed-off-now E.R. completely dominate US primetime medical dramas and the BBC doesn't have any of them. Decided to get this, only for it to be dumped after 3 episodes - BBC seems to have aired most of them, but it really wasn't that a great of a show and the grumpy Stanley Tucci character is just too close to Laurie's surely?)

Smith (really quite liked this one - sort of Hustle/Ocean's 11 territory. Ray Liotta was good in the lead role and this one ended being Web-dumped as well)

The Wedding Bells (another show I was warming to, but maybe the Big Day crash-and-burn didn't help. David E. Kelley had a flop - that's shocking enough - but I'll give a heads up to Sarah Jones here - her Sammy character was super sexy, especially in episode 4 [The Fantasy] if I remember correctly)

Yep, that's 16 shows terminated - thanks a bunch you useless US TV execs...if it isn't some lame quiz or reality show, you idiots don't know what to do with a good quality show! Mind you, it's not much better here in the UK. For example, how the freak does My Family survive so many bleeding years when it's so cringefully unfunny? And why does Casualty survive so long and even spin-off equally dire shows like Holby City and Holby Blue when Grey's Anatomy and E.R. are so much better?