SHOW: "Cougar Town" (ABC)

IN ITS FAVOR: "Cougar Town" has strong critical support, growing creative momentum and a cast and producers willing to do literally anything to promote the show and preach the "Cougar Town" gospel. "Cougar Town" is also slowly, but surely, moving into that area where its episode number might start paying syndication dividends, eventually.

AGAINST IT: Despite all of those things in its favor, "Cougar Town" was held til spring and hasn't found any kind of audience in an unfriendly Tuesday time period.

OUR TOTALLY UNINFORMED GUESS: The ratings suggest cancellation, but creators Kevin Biegel and Bill Lawrence keep expressing optimism on Twitter. ABC's gonna have a lot of potential comedies next season and not all of them are going to be compatible. Maybe the network orders 13 episodes of "Happy Endings" and 13 episodes of "Cougar Town" and pairs them in a really low-rated, adult-skewing block? "Happy Endings," though, probably has a better chance at a stand-alone renewal and hopes for "Cougar Town" probably aren't any better than 50-50. Renewing "Cougar Town" might encourage other ABC producers to take similarly creative approaches to promotion and audience building, which should be a message ABC wants to send.

VERDICT: Picked up by TBS!