• Boston Globe, Monday, March 9, 2009 9:45 AM

As news trickles out of the networks about their fall TV plans, an unlikely theme is buzzing in the Hollywood air: recession. ABC has "Canned," in which a group of friends are fired on the same day, as well as a sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as a fallen Wall Streeter. Fox has "Two Dollar Beer," about a blue-collar couple struggling in Detroit, and CBS is chronicling a pair of poor slackers in "Waiting to Die."

There's no guarantee that any of these shows will make the fall schedule, but one thing is certain. As the recession continues, people will be watching plenty of TV, an inexpensive form of entertainment. For the fourth quarter of last year, Americans watched 3.6% more TV than in 2007, per Nielsen.

Some shows that embody the zeitgeist are already among us. HGTV's Sunday morning block now includes shows on selling in a down market. Current sitcoms are also testing the waters with recession themes, in the same way series TV cautiously inched into terrorism themes after 9/11. They want to be somewhat relevant in the coming months. Series built entirely as light escape and that court irrelevance -- the low-rated "Chuck," the canceled "Dirty Sexy Money," the kitschy "Knight Rider" -- are not in vogue.

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