'Life' is over

No big surprise here. NBC has officially cancelled the wry Damian Lewis cop series. It's too bad, because "Life" had a lot of promise. But the network gave the show two seasons, and it never caught on, and the scripts were uneven -- even while Lewis was consistently excellent. That's the way TV works, alas.

Meanwhile, NBC is still pondering the fates of "Chuck," "My Name Is Earl," "Medium," and "Law & Order," while it has renewed "Heroes," "Parks and Recreation," "Southland," "Friday Night Lights," "30 Rock," "The Office," "The Biggest Loser," "Celebrity Apprentice," and "Law & Order: SVU" (with or without Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, who are currently holding out for raises).

Also, NBC is planning to bring back the Thursday prime time version of "Weekend Update" from "Saturday Night Live" that it ran last fall, before the presidential election. "SNL" alums and current NBC stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are both expected to show up as guests.