NBC announced its fall schedule this morning, without Chuck, but not because it’s cancelled–the final decision is delayed until May 19.

So … what do they have left to decide, given that there are no more episodes this season by which to gauge ratings? Are they seeing how many Subway footlongs we can buy between now and then?

If that’s what it took, I’d buy a footlong weekly as long as the show was on the air. Sure. But that being the case, why don’t we just go ahead and admit that with the coming of DVRs, TV has moved past the advertising model and should just go to a pay model? Most of us are paying for our channels as it is. Under a new model, you could pay for only the channels you want, or even better, pay for the shows you want–and if subscriptions to a particular show aren’t high enough, then it’s cancelled. This would be far more concrete than ratings, which don’t really measure in real numbers how big a particular show’s audience is. And if your subscription drops off, you have hard numbers on that end too and thus undeniable justification for cancellation.

Down side: Not much wiggle room to try to improve the show if your subscribers drop off–because if they’ve dropped off, they won’t see the improvement and thus be enticed to come back. Other drawbacks I’m missing? Aside from the mechanics of making your box show only the shows you subscribe to rather than a series of channels?