It’s that time of the year, as the clock ticks down, where we find out which American shows will make it to another season (or at least kick off one, and then see how it does).

For those of you just joining us, amongst those that are already gone Stateside, not to return (save any episodes left ‘in the can’) are the likes of Men In Trees, Cane, Jericho (again!), Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Las Vegas.

And then there’s the shows which are said to be ‘on the bubble’ - in other words, their bubble could be burst at any moment by their sponsor Network. For many it’s a toss-of-the-coin thing; has the show got enough left in the tank to keep on being entertaining for another season? Can the ratings still see an upturn if the show returns? More than anything one of the biggest problems is that the more seasons a show runs for in America, the more expensive each episode becomes. The cast get guaranteed raises for enduring more episodes, the Network has to pay more for the show, and so forth.

So, which shows have the axe hanging over them? Of the shows we know in the UK, we have:

• Reaper
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Shark
• The Unit
• Rules of Engagement
• Moonlight
• The New Adventures of Old Christine
• BOSTON LEGAL

Must admit to liking Shark a lot, but out of these, without a shadow of a doubt the highlight of my week is Boston Legal. This is one show that actually gets better the longer it runs, and it is undoubtedly currently the highlight of my viewing week.

Yes, above everything else. Even Doctor Who. If it was a choice between cancelling either the BBC’s flagship or the best show on LIVING tv, then Denny Crane beats the good Doctor hands-down.

And that’s not to suggest that Cardiff’s finest export is not any good, far from it. It’s more to do with Boston Legal being so in touch with the world around us, that within its drama and comedy are some absorbing facts that simply don’t get relayed to us via the news services where most of us get our view of the world. This week they explained more about the sub-prime mortgage market fiasco in a single secondary plot than we have had in hours of coverage on BBC News, ITN or Sky News. Or CNN. Or, undoubtedly, Fox News.

Alan Shore demolished the perceived logic of the event in Iraq in the previous week’s episode.  In three minutes, James Spader’s character Shore explained what could have been possible for the American people if they hadn’t have spent the Trillions they so far have in fighting a war that, in the end, seems more about oil than democracy.

And when a British show does a similar thing in terms of what the UK could have done for its people if it didn’t keep blowing the budget on keeping a war going which will only continue to perpetuate even more hatred and keep hostilities going on ad infinitum, then maybe the wake-up call will begin to resonate worldwide…

Which, all in all, is an around-the-houses way of saying: SAVE BOSTON LEGAL !