Death Watch Fall '06 is asking viewers to peer inside their Medium-inspired crystal balls and divine which of the fall's 24 new shows will be the first to earn its rightful place alongside Manimal, Love That Bob and Pink Lady & Jeff in the pantheon of early TV dismissals.

The official fall season is just 10 days old. Fourteen shows have debuted so far -- eight in the past week. There are no official coffins yet, but the undertaker might be readying his shovel.

Happy Hour, a sitcom about a newly single dude who learns to enjoy life with his new, party-hearty roommate, is the early frontrunner at 3-1 odds. Fox has pulled the comedy from this Thursday's schedule, but insists the show will be back in November.

Television executives are typically reluctant to say the word "cancelled," for fear of hurting feelings. "Hiatus" is a favoured term, even if it is indefinite.

Opening week of fall's television season was notable, analysts say, for the willingness viewers displayed to at least try out several new programs. During the next few weeks, they are likely to settle on favourites..

Last week, Happy Hour posted the lowest numbers of any new series -- this, after an episode that aired Sept. 14 was seen by just five million viewers in the U.S. More importantly, it tumbled 20 places in that week's Nielsen ratings, to 61st from 41st. In Canada, it airs Saturday afternoons on CTV, where it is not officially counted in the weekly prime-time ratings.

Viewers are asked to predict which TV show will be cancelled in any given week. The odds are changed each week to reflect the turning tide in viewers' tastes.

The Anne-Heche-looking-for-a-man-in-Alaska dramatic comedy has been likened to a cross between Sex and the City and Northern Exposure, but without the watercooler buzz or pizzazz of either.

Men in Trees is listed at 4-1, but those odds could lengthen now that Trees' opening-night numbers held firm in its second week, however. Men in Trees won its time period last Friday in the key demographic of young women.

Cancellation often has as much to do with how many viewers bail out from one week to the next as it does how few watched the show in the first place. That is why Happy Hour might be in trouble, while Men in Trees could be safer than appears at first sight.

Betty, about a style-challenged fashion writer who lands a job at a snooty, high-end fashion firm, has already been heralded by many reviewers as the "It" show of the fall season.

Also high on the Death Watch list is the yet-to-debut ABC comedy Knights of Prosperity, at 14-1, and CBS's already-debuted Jericho, the post-apocalyptic ensemble drama that Jericho's producers call "an odd mixture of 24 and Little House on the Prairie." Jericho is listed at 32-1, despite posting strong numbers in its opening-night debut.

The program re-airs short-lived series, like Paul Haggis's EZ Streets, that wowed critics and developed a cult following, but didn't have the mainstream appeal to last beyond a dozen episodes or so.

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