For Clayton, an emotional survival technique is getting her finances in order. She budgets her $70,000 salary over the course of 12 months should "Max Bickford" be canceled, and she squirrels away enough money to carry her through to her next job.
"This waiting each spring has been a way of life for me for 10 years," said Clayton, adding that she even has come to enjoy the change that has taken her from series like Fox's "New York Undercover" to feature films, including "The Hurricane."
Not everyone has reached her level of serenity, regardless of the financial precautions taken. The worst bubble season 54-year-old cinematographer Rodney Charters can remember occurred two years ago, when NBC dropped "The Pretender." The show had been on the air four seasons, a long enough run that the cast and crew thought they could let their guard down.
"Banks hate people in this business because we have no visible means of support other than a contract, and an executive can [alter] the destiny of 300 and 400 workers overnight," Charters said.
For actors, especially, the bubble can present complications. Some audition for roles on new series while their existing shows remain up in the air. It's tricky footwork that can land the actor in a producer's office wearing the scarlet letter of "second position," meaning the performer's eligibility for the new role is tied to the fate of the current show. It doesn't have to be bad for actors. Just ask Jennifer Aniston.
She was co-starring in a CBS series, "Muddling Through," when she landed the role of Rachel on NBC's "Friends" in 1994.
CBS decided not to air "Muddling Through" until the summer, mere weeks before "Friends" was scheduled to begin production. Had "Muddling Through" exhibited ratings promise and CBS held Aniston to her contract, the producers of "Friends" would have been forced to recast the part.
In the end, "Muddling Through" ran for less than two months. "Friends" is due to begin its ninth season, paying its six stars, including Aniston, roughly $25 million each, annually.
"With the amount of pilots being done, you have to double up" on actors, said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves, who--as the then-chief of Warner Bros.--remembers fearing that Aniston's involvement with "Friends" would be "dead meat" if initial ratings for "Muddling Through" had been better.
Actors Tom Everett Scott and Rick Hoffman, both 31, know the drill well. The two previously co-starred in the Fox series "The $treet," a much-hyped drama about youthful stockbrokers that was canceled after just seven episodes. Both segued to Bochco's "Philly," in which they play lawyers, and now find themselves hoping they won't be told a second time that a network is dumping their show.
"There's a little weight loss," said Hoffman, "an occasional cigarette, an occasional drink and a lot of working out."
His enthusiastic family back in New York may be adding to those pangs of worry. They call every Wednesday morning and talk about the show's performance the night before. Even his grandmother calls, quoting the overnight ratings.
"She says, 'Eleven, Twelve. That's not bad,'" he said, referring to the show's decent but not stellar audience shares.
Last year, Scott--whose resume includes the films "That Thing You Do!" and "Boiler Room"--relocated his family to a three-bedroom rental house in the canyons for his second stab at a television career. Even if "Philly" doesn't receive a second season, he won't consider the experience a failure.
"This is a successful show to me," he said. "I've never been on a TV show that's gotten this far--it's guaranteed for 13 months."
If it were only about the ratings, reading the tea leaves would be simpler. Other factors, however, complicate the schedule-setting process--particularly now, with vast media companies owning the series they broadcast.
At Fox, for instance, executives are still deciding whether to renew the second-year sitcom "Titus," about a dysfunctional family based on the life of series star Christopher Titus. The good news for those involved is that "Titus," which has completed 54 episodes, is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The network ostensibly has an interest in getting the series to about twice that number of installments, because then its reruns could be sold into syndication.
But after opening to mostly good reviews and ratings, "Titus" appears to have run out of gas amid a slew of other dysfunctional-family comedies on the air. The program's renewal will hinge on those considerations, as well as how good the new pilots are. Meanwhile, Stephan Olson, the show's production designer, cleaned out his office in March, the weekend after the series wrapped production.
"The feeling was it would be so much more fair if we left knowing [the show's fate], so we could plan our lives," Olson said. Staffers "were told we'd be notified when the producers know. It's not as though they know and aren't telling us. Nobody knows."
