Joss Whedon

It’s that time of year again. The network television season is wrapping up, and season finales are flying by.

Along with the end of the TV season comes the network "upfronts," when the five broadcast networks reveal their schedules for next fall and set rates for advertisers.

It’s become tradition in the couple of weeks before the upfronts for TV critics and fans to mount campaigns to save shows that are "on the bubble." There are always low-to-middlingly-rated shows that are of high quality, and many of these shows develop small but passionate followings.

Here are five good shows on the edge of cancellation that could really use the help.

’Chuck’

"Chuck" manages to combine action, comedy and drama with a deftness not often seen on television. In its second season, it has continued to be wildly entertaining on a week-to-week basis.

Zachary Levi is great as the titular character, a nerdy employee of the Buy More electronics retailer with a head full of government secrets.

This season, the NBC show has moved beyond the bumbling cliches that always come along with the accidental spy premise. Chuck has become more comfortable with his secret identity as Agent Charles Carmichael and he saves the day almost as often as he needs to be saved.

’Better Off Ted,’

It’s been a long time since ABC has had a great comedy. Paired with the seventh season of NBC castoff "Scrubs," "Better Off Ted" has quickly improved from "pretty funny" to "absolutely hilarious."

This is essentially a workplace comedy, but the workplace is an enormous, faceless corporation that makes a little of everything.

The writing on the show is sharp, the pacing is crisp, and the jokes have no trouble sliding between wacky and smart.

’Dollhouse’

Joss Whedon had to know that working with Fox again wouldn’t be easy.

After the way the network torpedoed "Firefly," it probably was tough for him to go back there.

The network wasn’t happy with the pilot, leading to a completely new first episode (as happened with "Firefly").

Fox also dictated that the first five episodes of the series stand alone, the better to attract more of an audience.

Once "Dollhouse" got beyond those first five episodes, the show took off. Overarching plotlines came into focus, the writers started to play around with and slyly undercut their basic premise, and it became clear that the "Dollhouse" and its creators are not necessarily the protagonists of the show.

’Life’

Damien Lewis’ offbeat cop show is at the top of its game. Charlie Crews (Lewis) is such a unique, interesting character that he makes the show worth watching.

Unfortunately, NBC’s money-saving decision to cede five prime-time hours a week to Jay Leno this fall has put the squeeze on shows like "Life" and "Chuck."

Hopefully character and quality will win out over pure budgetary concerns.

’Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’

When "Sarah Connor" is on its game, as it was for most of the second season, it’s a crackling good action show with tough-minded heroes making difficult choices. But sometimes, the show slows things down and inevitably it drags during these episodes.

It’s heady stuff for an action show, and worthy of further exploration.