The television networks will be having their upfront presentations for the advertisers this coming week where we will learn all of the schedules for the 2011/2012 season.  While I’ve already run a version of this, the number of renewals and cancellations announced prior to the events has run unusually high this year.  CBS is the only network to not yet cut loose with a bunch of announcements, but we still have a good idea of what to expect.

The short version?  A whole lot has been canceled, so get ready for a ton of new shows to be announced this week … and for a whole bunch of them to suck.

Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

30 Rock – NBC
90210 – CW
The Amazing Race – CBS
America’s Next Top Model – CW
American Dad – Fox
The Bachelor – ABC
The Bachelorette – ABC
The Big Bang Theory – CBS
The Biggest Loser – NBC
Bob’s Burgers – Fox
Body of Proof – ABC
Bones – Fox
Castle – ABC
Chuck – NBC
The Cleveland Show – Fox
Community – NBC
Cougar Town – ABC
Dancing With the Stars – ABC
Desperate Housewives – ABC
Family Guy – Fox
Fringe – Fox
Glee – Fox
Gossip Girl – CW
Grey’s Anatomy – ABC
Happy Endings – ABC
Harry’s Law- NBC
House – Fox
How I Met Your Mother – CBS
NCIS – CBS
The Middle – ABC
Modern Family – ABC
The Office – NBC
Parenthood – NBC
Parks & Recreation – NBC
Private Practice – ABC
Raising Hope – Fox
Rules of Engagement – CBS
The Simpsons – Fox
Supernatural – CW
Survivor – CBS
Two and a Half Men – CBS
Undercover Boss – CBS
The Vampire Diaries – CW

Likely to be Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

American Idol – Fox
Celebrity Apprentice- NBC
Criminal Minds – CBS
CSI – CBS
CSI: Miami – CBS
The Good Wife – CBS
Hawaii Five-0 – CBS
Law & Order: SVU – NBC
The Mentalist – CBS
Mike & Molly – CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles – CBS

On the Bubble to be Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

Blue Bloods – CBS
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior – CBS
CSI: NY – CBS
The Defenders – CBS (NOW CANCELED)
Hellcats – CW
Mad Love – CBS (NOW CANCELED)
Nikita – CW
One Tree Hill – CW
$#*! My Dad Says – CBS (NOW CANCELED)

Likely to be Canceled for 2011/2012 Season

Chaos – CBS
Chase – NBC
Perfect Couples – NBC

Canceled for 2011/2012 Season

Better With You – ABC
Breaking In – Fox
Brothers & Sisters – ABC
The Cape – NBC
The Chicago Code – Fox
The Defenders – CBS (UPDATED)
Detroit 1-8-7 – ABC
The Event – NBC
Friday Night Lights – NBC
Human Target – Fox
Law & Order: Los Angeles – NBC
Lie to Me – Fox
Life Unexpected – CW
Lone Star – Fox
Mad Love – CBS (UPDATED)
Medium – CBS
Mr. Sunshine – ABC
No Ordinary Family – ABC
Off the Map – ABC
Outsourced – NBC
The Paul Reiser Show – NBC
Running Wilde – Fox
$#*! My Dad Says – CBS (UPDATED)
Smallville – CW
Traffic Light – Fox
V – ABC

As we head into the time for the network upfront presentations, it’s time to start wondering what is going to be renewed and what’s canceled.  While not all decisions are final, we already know a good chunk of which ones have been renewed.  It sure doesn’t like much room has been left for new shows this year.

UPDATE 5/21/11: You can see all of the new fall 2011 TV schedules at these pages:

• NBC 2011/2012 Schedule Announced
• FOX 2011/2012 Schedule Announced
• ABC 2011/2012 Schedule Announced
• CBS 2011/2012 Schedule Announced
• The CW 2011/2012 Schedule Announced

Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

30 Rock – NBC
90210 – CW
The Amazing Race – CBS
America’s Next Top Model – CW
American Dad – Fox
American Idol – Fox (UPDATED)
The Bachelor – ABC
The Bachelorette – ABC
The Big Bang Theory – CBS
The Biggest Loser – NBC
Bob’s Burgers – Fox
Body of Proof – ABC (UPDATED)
Bones – Fox (UPDATED)
Castle – ABC
Chuck – NBC (UPDATED)
The Cleveland Show – Fox
Community – NBC
Cougar Town – ABC
CSI – CBS (UPDATED)
CSI: Miami – CBS (UPDATED)
CSI: NY – CBS (UPDATED)
Dancing With the Stars – ABC (UPDATED)
Desperate Housewives – ABC (UPDATED)
Family Guy – Fox
Fringe – Fox
Glee – Fox
The Good Wife – CBS (UPDATED)
Gossip Girl – CW
Grey’s Anatomy – ABC
Happy Endings – ABC
Harry’s Law- NBC (UPDATED)
Hawaii Five-0 – CBS (UPDATED)
House – Fox (UPDATED)
How I Met Your Mother – CBS
NCIS – CBS
The Middle – ABC
Modern Family – ABC
Nikita – CW (UPDATED)
The Office – NBC
One Tree Hill – CW (UPDATED)
Parenthood – NBC (UPDATED)
Parks & Recreation – NBC
Private Practice – ABC
Raising Hope – Fox
Rules of Engagement – CBS (UPDATED)
The Simpsons – Fox
Supernatural – CW
Survivor – CBS
Two and a Half Men – CBS (could be canceled due to Charlie Sheen issue)
Undercover Boss – CBS
The Vampire Diaries – CW

Likely to be Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

American Idol – Fox (NOW RENEWED)
Body of Proof – ABC (NOW RENEWED)
Bones – Fox (NOW RENEWED)
Celebrity Apprentice- NBC
Criminal Minds – CBS
CSI – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
CSI: Miami – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
Dancing With the Stars – ABC (NOW RENEWED)
Desperate Housewives – ABC (NOW RENEWED)
The Good Wife – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
Harry’s Law- NBC (NOW RENEWED)
Hawaii Five-0 – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
House – Fox (NOW RENEWED)
Law & Order: SVU – NBC
The Mentalist – CBS
Mike & Molly – CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles – CBS

On the Bubble to be Renewed for 2011/2012 Season

Better With You – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
Blue Bloods – CBS
Breaking In – Fox (NOW CANCELED)
Brothers & Sisters – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
The Chicago Code – Fox (NOW CANCELED)
Chuck – NBC (NOW RENEWED)
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior – CBS
CSI: NY – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
The Defenders – CBS (NOW CANCELED)
Detroit 1-8-7 – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
The Event – NBC (NOW CANCELED)
Happy Endings – ABC (NOW RENEWED)
Hellcats – CW
Human Target – Fox (NOW CANCELED)
Law & Order: Los Angeles – NBC (NOW CANCELED)
Lie to Me – Fox (NOW CANCELED)
Mad Love – CBS (NOW CANCELED)
Mr. Sunshine – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
Nikita – CW (NOW RENEWED)
No Ordinary Family – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
Off the Map – ABC (NOW CANCELED)
One Tree Hill – CW (NOW RENEWED)
Outsourced – NBC (NOW CANCELED)
Parenthood – NBC (NOW RENEWED)
Rules of Engagement – CBS (NOW RENEWED)
$#*! My Dad Says – CBS (NOW CANCELED)
Traffic Light – Fox (NOW CANCELED)

Likely to be Canceled for 2011/2012 Season

The Cape – NBC (NOW CANCELED)
Chaos – CBS
Chase – NBC
Life Unexpected – CW (NOW CANCELED)
Perfect Couples – NBC
V – ABC (NOW CANCELED)

Canceled for 2011/2012 Season

Better With You – ABC (UPDATED)
Breaking In – Fox (UPDATED)
Brothers & Sisters – ABC (UPDATED)
The Cape – NBC (UPDATED)
The Chicago Code – Fox (UPDATED)
The Defenders – CBS (UPDATED)
Detroit 1-8-7 – ABC (UPDATED)
The Event – NBC (UPDATED)
Friday Night Lights – NBC
Hellcats – CW (UPDATED)
Human Target – Fox (UPDATED)
Law & Order: Los Angeles – NBC
Lie to Me – Fox (UPDATED)
Life Unexpected – CW (UPDATED)
Lone Star – Fox
Mad Love – CBS (UPDATED)
Medium – CBS
Mr. Sunshine – ABC (UPDATED)
No Ordinary Family – ABC (UPDATED)
Off the Map – ABC (UPDATED)
Outsourced – NBC (UPDATED)
The Paul Reiser Show – NBC
Running Wilde – Fox
$#*! My Dad Says – CBS (UPDATED)
Smallville – CW
Traffic Light – Fox (UPDATED)
V – ABC (UPDATED)

There is a certain point where reality shows run their course, and The Celebrity Apprentice has definitely reached that point.

As with my story of quitting How I Met Your Mother, I have just reached  point with the entire Apprentice franchise where I just can’t stomach it any more.  Having watched everything up to this 11th season, and including the Martha Stewart spinoff, I’ve watched everything that has aired for this series thus far.  However, when we got to the Sunday April 10th episode (which I didn’t watch for a few days), I finally had my suspicions confirmed that Trump doesn’t base his decisions on anything other than ratings potential, and that has made me finally just drop the show.

In this particular episode, Mark McGrath was fired despite the fact that the clients, Trump’s children/advisors and all the contestants called for the firing of Gary Busey.  The problem is, Busey is more marketable than McGrath, so Trump mysteriously decides that it’s actually McGrath that needs to go despite Busey’s horrible performance in the task.  Yeah, that makes total sense.  While I had always figured the more controversial person was kept for ratings chances, it had never been quite this obvious before.

It doesn’t really matter in the larger scheme of things, and I’ve since heard Busey was fired in the following episode, but I just can’t be bothered any more.  Perhaps I was slightly influenced by quitting How I Met Your Mother in the same week, and it feels like it’s time to cleanse myself of shows I am watching now more out of habit than any actual desire.  Perhaps it is my collector mentality from the days of comic books, but I always feel like if I start something than I should follow it through to completion, but I’m learning you can indeed drop a show without feeling guilty.  I’ve done it in the past, but it’s been rare, and now I plan to make it a bit more frequent of a habit as I actually find it rather liberating.

I have no delusions about just how realistic “reality shows” are, but when you’re this glaringly obvious with your manipulations, give your audience some credit for at least having two brain cells to rub together.

Be sure to come back Saturday when I discuss what I think has gone horribly wrong with American television in general.