Sometimes networks cancel low-rated shows after their first season, and sometimes they cancel low-rated shows in their second seasons. NBC, after adding The Jay Leno Show this fall, shows itself willing to continually innovate with new and creative ways to get rid of dramas: it renewed cop show Southland at the end of last season, then yesterday—while the show was in production but before it had aired a single season 2 episode—cancelled it. (In happier news, ABC picked up Modern Family, The Middle and Cougar Town for a full season.)

I wasn’t a huge Southland fan, as I wrote in the spring, but the move, in the context of NBC’s continuing low ratings and its general drive to downsize, has some interesting implications.