Saturday update: Insiders confirm the E! report that decision on "Chuck" is likely to be delayed beyond Monday's announcement. And word has surfaced that although it looked to be dead, NBC and 20th Century Fox TV are negotiating for a fifth-season pickup of "My Name is Earl."

Looks like the cops on "Southland" will be back on the beat in the fall.

Word is that NBC has picked up the Warner Bros. TV/John Wells Prods. drama for 13 episodes, probably for a fall slot. NBC execs are hunkered down in New York this weekend making fall pickup decisions in advance of Monday's "Infront" programming presentation to advertisers in Gotham.

There's also chatter at this late hour that Warners is in the midst of a big ol' deal with NBC that includes "Southland" plus a third-season renewal for "Chuck" and greenlight for David E. Kelley pilot "Legally Mad" -- after all three projects took a slight haircut in budget. But that's just email chatter at this point, no confirmation yet. (Sorry all you "Chuck" devotees.)

Ensembler "Southland," created by Ann Biderman and exec produced by Biderman, John Wells and Christopher Chulack, has delivered solid numbers to NBC in the Thursday 10 p.m. time slot since its debut April 9, and the show has been warmly received by critics. Hard-boiled cop drama will presumably slide to a 9 p.m. berth in the fall, as NBC plans to strip "The Jay Leno Show" Monday-Friday at 10 p.m. hour.

Reps for NBC and Warner Bros. TV could not immediately be reached for comment late Friday.

Angela Bromstad’s message to fans of NBC’s critically beloved but ratings challenged shows: We love these programs too, but people need to start tuning in.

“There’s an affinity and appreciation for those shows and not something I would cavalierly toss aside even if they weren’t meeting expectations. We can’t stop striving for that but we won’t replace shows beloved by fans,” she said. Minutes earlier, however, she told journos gathered at TCA: “We live in a world we have to have both (quality and ratings). We have to have ratings."

If the messages seem contradictory, it might be the only way Bromstad, the Peacock’s newly crowned primetime entertainment chief, could handle the inevitable questions.

On other networks, shows such as “Friday Night Lights,” “Life” and “Chuck” would probably have an extremely hard time to return but the NBC numbers have been so poor, it could be worth it – maybe for nothing more than pleasing a small but hardcore fan base – to bring these shows back.

That being said, with Jay Leno now taking up five primetime slots, competition for the remaining hours will be fierce, especially among scripted shows since reality takes up a sizeable chunk of the Monday-Friday schedule.

Bromstad is well aware that the network didn’t do itself any favors this past fall with shows such as “Kath & Kim” and “Knight Rider” – “The were a fair try but not holding up and may or may not come back. We’re going to try and beat that.” – and that quality of future programming will have to be held to a higher standard if the network is to recapture its glory days.

As to how that philosophy will help shape the fall lineup, everything’s up for grabs at this point.

“There’s not going to be any hard and fast rules. I’m not making any proclomations about specific shows.”

 -- Stuart Levine 

It wasn't a total loss. This is a contrarian view on the season that will go down in the Nielsen annals as the lowest rated on record for the Big Four nets, but there was some good news to be found here and there, amid the wreckage.

For sure, the season-long stats on the 2007-08 campaign are pretty darn ugly, as Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell smartly and soberly details in this season wrap. But in actuality we didn't have a season, we had two abbreviated seasons -- pre- and post-strike. Writers Guild of America leaders were as strategic as Eisenhower and Marshall carving up the European theater in triggering the work stoppage to begin on Nov. 5, to ensure maximum impact on current production and pilot development.

Of course, most everything the WGA was fighting for in its 100 Days War has been at work in force  -- on steroids -- in this topsy-turvy season: the increasing popularity of web streaming of programming and DVR time-shifted viewing, the increasing use of digital extensions of traditional programs to drive traffic to network-affiliated websites and to generate new revenue streams for our half-dozen favorite media congloms.

Beyond the fairness issue and the wonky oh-my-god-younger-generations-will-never-watch-TV-the-same-way-again considerations, let's look at what the nets have to show for themselves program-wise out of the fall and spring mini seasons of '07-'08.

POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

vs.

Get ready for the Monday night battle between TV's slightly dweeby "awesome" peddlers.

CBS' critical fave "How I Met Your Mother" has helped restore the term "awesome" into the current lexicon (rescuing it from its use as '80s retro fodder). Neil Patrick Harris' character, Barney, is such a proponent of "being awesome" that Tuesday's TCA panel for "How I Met Your Mother" promised a primer on the path to awesomeness.

But now comes NBC's "Chuck." Not only does "Chuck" lead Zach Levi (above, left) bear a passing resemblance to "HIMYM" star Josh Radnor (right), but the new series includes a character who goes by the name... wait for it... "Captain Awesome."

On stage at the TCA, Harris couldn't resist poking fun at the fact that both shows will now face off Mondays at 8.

"A war is brewing!" he quipped.

Then there's the case of this rather unusual "Family Circus" comic, which ran in papers on Monday. In the post below, Stu writes that Thomas joked during the session that he found the mention "better than an Emmy nomination."

But later, exec producer Carter Bays (who created the show with Craig Thomas) admitted after the session that the cast and crew were a little bit puzzled by the strip.

Were "Family Circus" writers Bil and Jeff Keane simply looking for a hip pop culture reference? Were they trying to make a clumsy statement about the dangers of watching too much TV?

But On the Air might add, what are little Billy and Dolly -- and especially pre-schooler Jeffy and toddler P.J. -- doing watching such a grown-up show in the first place? Shouldn't those kids be watching "How I Met Dora the Explorer"?!

Bays suggests a future "Family Circus" strip: "Instead of watchin' 'Rules of Engagement'... tonight I'll tell you MY 'Rules of Engagement'!"

-- Michael Schneider