In any case, I doubt Ugly Betty will be canceled. It doesn’t have horrible ratings, and as you mentioned in your post, it’s increasing in viewership. I do believe Lindsay Lohan’s stint did increase ratings as well.

Do they realize that the baby boomers are the largest demographic?????

I *do* think race was involved. But I think race is the only reason the shows weren’t already cancelled.

I won’t be at all shocked to see them back one more year either. Especially EHC, since it will have 88 episodes and be only about a half a season away from the 100 episode threshold that syndication seems to love (The Game will only be at 60ish episodes after this season completes, but it is a CPT produced show, and EHC is distributed by CPT).

I’d say CBS does have a limited vested interest in keeping these shows, more politically than economically. Nothing the CW could air here would do much better, so it’s either turn the net back over to its affiliates as it does on Saturday, or air reruns (I think an MHC style deal for Friday nights is out of the question, and it doesn’t look like it will even last for Sunday Nights). If the CW has to worry about Fridays, and winds up having to worry about Sundays too, I think it’s very likely these shows are still around for a while, despite the ratings.