I'm not talking about the amount of television we produce (we do a pretty good job of that too), rather the number of free-to-air channels TV viewers have access to.

Here in Tasmania we have no less than 16 to choose from - nine commercial and seven non-commercial (ie ABC and SBS).

But due to our relatively small size on the world stage, we are at the mercy of other countries, specifically the US, to provide us with many of the shows that litter our daily schedules.

And almost instantly there's an inherent problem.

By that I'm referring to the fickle nature of the US television industry and how quick off the mark many of the networks are to axe a show unless it performs up to a certain standard.

The most recent round of axings for the upcoming "Fall" season the US is proof of this.

Sadly, many good shows were cut because they couldn't compete in the incredibly tough and ultra-competitive US market.

And not all the time is it simply a matter of how many people are tuning in. A number of shows were axed even though they boasted good ratings figures.

The problem lies in the fact that US TV execs sing from a different hymn book to most people. To them, it's ONLY about the Benjamin Franklins (ie money).

A lot also has to do with the phenomenal rise of reality TV.

Make no mistake, reality TV is a massive threat to the TV industry and the people who derive an income from it - but I'll deal with that another time.

My main problem with show cancellations is that axing a show after a season or two shows a blatant disregard for TV viewers.

Brothers & Sisters, V, The Event, Detroit 187, Medium, Smallville, $#*! My Dad Says were high-profile shows that are no more. And there have been PLENTY more before them and no doubt there'll be plenty more in the future to meet the same fate.

I remember when news circulated that US thriller SUPERNATURAL was going to be cut.

Viewer uproar ultimately saved that show. On the flip side, the same couldn't be said of MEDIUM, which was unceremoniously dumped.

So the question is, how can a show develop an audience, develop a following when it is cut, sometimes after just a handful of shows.

How can we as an audience be expected to make the effort to become "involved" with a show's plot and its characters if there's always the threat that ANY show could be axed at ANY time?

Well, we can't. And at some stage, one can only assume we simply won't care any more.

All of this got me thinking, will there ever be another show on TV that can last the distance, knowing how fickle the industry is nowadays.

Take CBS's GUIDING LIGHT, the longest running dramatic series ever, with a record that spans 57 years, and more than 15,700 episodes. Wow!

Can you imagine Bones or Grey's Anatomy running that long?

It will never happen. Ever.

Or, for instance, General Hospital (47 years), Days of Our Lives (45 years), The Simpsons (22 years) Lassie (20 years), ER (15 years) South Park (15 years), Bonanza (14 years), Dallas (13) and even ... Power Rangers (19 years and more than 700 episodes) just to name a few.

I have no doubt that viewer loyalty kept many of those shows on the air for so long.

Sadly, I doubt loyalty to a show or the audience on behalf of the TV networks will ever come into consideration again when deciding whether to keep a series on the air or not.

If you need proof of that, the Fox in the US just cancelled America's Most Wanted - the longest-running program of any kind on the Fox Network - after a staggering 23 years.

Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly was quoted as saying that the main reason for the show being cancelled was due to the cost of production and had nothing to do with ratings.

Pardon me? It's a guy - John Walsh - standing in front of a camera reading from a tele-prompter about scumbag crims. And all the information was provided to the show's producers by law enforcement. How the hell could that be too expensive???

In fact, the show was still maintaining an audience of five million viewers per episode a week - a very impressive number considering it screened on a Saturday night.

Ultimately, it won't matter how many people watch a show, it will all come down to how much money a network can squeeze out of advertisers during any given hour on TV.

That's why a show like AMERICAN IDOL will always be safe. It has very little overheads (ie no one pays for the people to appear) and advertisers will pay a squillion dollars to advertise during the breaks.

The same goes for TWO AND A HALF MEN.

From memory, it runs second only to Idol for TV shows in the US in the advertising stakes per half-hour of air time.

That's why Warner Bros. were willing to pay so much money to Charlie Sheen when his contract was renegotiated, and why they were just as determined to NOT let the show die a natural death following Sheen's much-publicised departure.

But make no mistake about it. If Sheen's replacement Ashton Kutcher doesn't cut the mustard and advertisers aren't as willing to throw millions of dollars at the network to run their ads during the revamped version of the show, Warner will undoubtedly have no qualms sending Charlie, Alan and young Jake off to the unemployment line.

And with Kutcher earning a reported $700,00 an episode, no amount of public uproar will save them.