I have no problem watching a show for as long as it lasts, and lately the shows that have been getting cancelled deserve it, like V, which was disappointing junk. But if cancellations bother you, watch more cable shows. The expectations at lower and odds of survival therefore higher. There are a few broadcast shows I still follow, like Once Upon a Time and Grimm, but I've decided that being up on the new shows isn't worth the cable bill, so I'm switching to Roku/Netflix after the Olympics finish, so ironically that will mean I wont see any new shows till I know whether they got renewed anyway. Ethros- you should check out Falling Skies S2' it's a definite improvement over S1. Danoz - I thought Awake's ending served very well as an intentional ending, as though it had always been intended as a miniseries so try watching it in that spirit.
Its a slight advantage being the UK, most US shows that run less than a year are axed before they've arrived here. UK shows, treat each season as their last unless you've heard otherwise.
^That's changed quite a bit now thow, shows like Terra Nova aired only a few days after the States. More and more shows esp. on the likes of Sky air within seven days of the US broadcast. For example The Newsroom we are maybe an episode or two behind. And when we do have a later start it is generally to build enough episodes so that when the US goes into the mid season hiatus, by the time the show returns to the US screens the UK has caught up and is once again a week or so behind.
I tend to skew towards the cable shows which aren't cancelled nearly as much and are also much better written so winners all around.
I've been burned many times, especially by FOX: Alien Nation, Space Above and Beyond, Firefly. When 24 started I was smart and waited until the second season premier to start watching the first season. I made the mistake of watching Terra Nova from the beginning. I didn't like it that much at first but it started growing on me. I should have known better.
I'll second the Chuck recommendation from Greg Cox, five great seasons and at least six potential series finales! Basically the writers kept thinking they were going to be canceled so they kept wrapping up the story, only to be given yet another reprieve by the hit-starved NBC brass. The real finale is definitely the most final though, naturally. I'm not really into it that much (or at all, really, it just doesn't seem to be to my tastes) but FOX's recent "Fringe" series has apparently been around for four seasons and its upcoming one is touted as a "final season", so it should get some closure (one would hope) on its story lines. So that might be another contender if you're looking for a serialized scifi show with a real conclusion in the works. Myself, the only show I really follow these days is "Parks and Recreation". There's not a lot there in terms of epic story telling, but at least it's gotten to season 5 without getting cancelled. Recent talk by NBC about shifting their focus to more "broad" comedies make me question whether it has a shot of making it to a season 6 (especially since it'll reach syndication numbers this year), but even if it ends after 5 seasons and 90 episodes, that's still a decent-sized run. But I've definitely tempered my expectations from the days when my favorite shows were Deep Space Nine and Mystery Science Theater 3000, which reached season 7 and season 10 respectively.
It didn't surprise me either, but even though I didn't love it, I had gotten to the point where I wanted to see where the story was going. Lost and new BSG were the same way for me. I didn't really like them all that much but I still watched every week to see how they ended.
Why a FEW seasons and not just one season? You know that half the new shows that first air don't make it out of the first season right?
My apologies. I thought I remembered having 7 or 8 episodes on TiVo when it was cancelled. My memory is not what it used to be. At least, I think that's true...
I really don't watch primetime television at all, and definitely nothing on the broadcast networks. Firefly was the last time I allowed myself to fall for a non-cable series.
Oh, one more: Leverage is into season five now and isn't super-serialized. It's mostly the serialized dramas, built around ongoing mysteries and arcs, that frustrate when they get killed off before their time. Something like Monk, that consists mostly of standalone mysteries, is less of a risk. Although, as it happens, Monk actually wrapped things up quite nicely after several seasons.
I no longer watch something until it at the very least gets a renewal for a full second season. If it gets renewed, but only for half a season because it's on the bubble, I skip it until it actually finishes that second season. Sometimes I even wait until a show that was renewed for S2 gets renewed for S3. I am tired of wasting my time on TV shows that are crap...or that are good but get canceled without even a decent conclusion. I really like Grimm, but I didn't start watching it until I read the news that it got renewed. I then simply watched the whole first season for free on VOD over the summer. Right now I am watching Hawaii Five-O, which I did not bother with until it got renewed for S3. I think this method saves me a lot of wasted time and emotional energy getting invested in shows that go down in flames.
Another advantage is that cable channels often run marathons of shows, so even if you don't have access to/don't want to pay for Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, etc., you can catch up. In early July, I remember AMC had a two-day Walking Dead marathon. I noticed USA had a few hours the other night for Burn Notice episodes. Just as two examples. Personally, as I said up-thread, I find networks are more apt to give shows time to wrap things up after they've given the show at least two seasons. Case in point, Chuck and Eureka were afforded a chance to wrap things up, though the latter was given less time. I believe Fringe is going into its final season. With the first season, the rug can be pulled out at any time. With the second season, it still could, but if it makes it past mid-season without being cancelled, it's usually good for at least one more season, and at this point, as I said, the networks are more apt to say, "Wrap it up, you're being cancelled" than to say "You're done, we're pulling you off the air and not showing any more episodes."
Well yeah that's the point being made. That I can't be bothered anymore investing time in a show that you start to get into to and then oh dear its cancelled with never mind no resolution but hardly any development. I think its also because in this age of DVD for the past 10 years, I prefer to watch shows for the first time via DVD too. No commercials every five seconds, no waiting the whole week (or longer) for the next episode, no waiting all summer to start the next season, you can actually watch the credits without it being squeezed up for ads or some announcer talking all over it, watch it whenever you want at any time of day etc etc etc
If you aren't supporting good shows from S1 Ep1 you are part of the problem. "Waiting to see if it's cancelled" only helps guarantee shows GET cancelled. The networks want to see numbers. If a show is good, then watch it. Help it get the numbers it needs to survive!
Unless you are a Nielsen family it doesn't make much difference to the ratings. They've started taking into account the people who watch shows on dvr but not everyone has a dvr.