Sad Day

Elliott Yamin Gets Boot on 'Idol'; 2 Left

Well, that's not a big surprise, is it? Still, it makes me sad--and that's just the beginning.

There is, of course, the requisite bad news from Washington:

A Senate panel advanced a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on Thursday as the committee chairman shouted "good riddance" to a Democrat who walked out of the tense session.

And tonight is all set for sadness, with the end of Will & Grace looming alongside the death of Marissa on The O.C. as dueling farewells.

Seriously, what will become of TV in our house next year? We're down to one sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. A recent addition to the DVR, Everwood, got the ax today. House and Boston Legal are coming back, as is Desperate Housewives. But what will fill the void left by The West Wing? And, after January's eight-episode mini-season, how will anything replace The Sopranos?

I know I've waxed poetic about the death of TV shows before (see Six Feet Under, Friends, Sex and the City, Queer as Folk, et al.), but it really does feel like a death-blow is being administered to our TV schedule. As of tonight, Meet the Press and Sunday night football may be the only reasons we have to turn on NBC. (I know I should get into The Office, but the British version is stuck in my brain.) ABC gets two hours, Fox gets two if The O.C. can hold my interest (and fend off ABC's Grey's Anatomy in the ratings), CBS gets 30 minutes, and the new CW gets nothing. Yes, new seasons of Rome and Big Love will come eventually. But the cupboard is looking decidedly bare: 4.5 hours of prime-time television in a normal week this fall? We were watching nearly that just on Sunday nights most of this spring.

I realize this is a good problem--we don't need to watch so much TV--and also that when Idol and The Sopranos come back at the same time next winter we'll suddenly have an avalanche of shows and no time to watch them. In the meantime, though, tonight's Will & Grace finale will be a just a little bit sadder because it seems so irreplaceable.