So I am a bit of an optimist when it comes to the show. I have read lots of speculation about the death of the show, but I cannot find hard evidence to support those assertions. I listened to Filoni speak about the show 3 times and this is not a man who's job is finished. Season 5 is essentially done and I imagine they are well into mapping out Season 6. Some of the images they showed us were 18 months old. Filoni also mentioned a number of storylines that will develop in future years. Of course, CN could cancel it and CW could come to an end, but I do not want to be fatalistic about it. I think things are more positive than many believe.
Would be nice to have solid info though either way.
I really don't think TCW is in any danger of going away at this point, because the people financing the show (George Lucas and Lucasfilm) have made it clear that shows are going to be produced regardless of ratings or outlet availability until they reach a point that, creatively-speaking, it is time for the show to end. Everyone involved with the show from a production end, from Dave Filoni to the writers to the cast to GL himself, still seem excited about the show, the stories, and the characters, so its not like a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the crew is an issue. Also, while 9:30 PM on Saturday nights might be the "death slot" for network television programs, 9:30 AM on a Saturday morning is (unless my childhood is to be disregarded) a pretty prime-time slot for kids' cartoon viewing, but I continue to watch the show online the following day due to Comcast being money-hungry monopolizing morons anyway, so time slots are irrelevant to my viewing habits anyway.
That said, I really don't know where all the doom-and-gloom in terms of ratings is coming from. From what I can tell, fan reaction to the last season was overwhelmingly positive, and IMO, the show just keeps getting better and better from a story perspective (not to mention the animation itself, which looks amazing these days). Even people who loathed the prequels (Simon Pegg, for example) seem to be really big fans of the show. I hear "declining ratings" mentioned by people but I have yet to see any actual evidence to support their claims that "OMG THE SHOW IS DEAD!"
As for figures, I think the main problem I have is that they did a separate animated line (which I have collected from day one) to begin with. While I do not have the negative view of the "realistic" versions that some do (I'm actually really excited to get some of the characters in realistic form; I'm hoping that Pre Viszla is on that short list), I am disappointed to see the animated line descend into seemingly 1990s Batman territory with endless versions of main characters, countless repaints, and a almost total lack of background characters and/or villains for said heroes to fight. It certainly looks like Hasbro is doing everything they can to make the line fail in one way or another so they can move on to something else.
All this being said, three concurrent action figure lines for Star Wars is, and has always been, way too much product and confusion. I've said it a million times, but stores see all three lines (even vintage) as one thing and as long as there is Star Wars on the pegs, either 20 Saga Legends/Movies Heroes Super Battle Droids, 20 Clone Wars Anakins and Obi-Wans, or 20 Vintage Qui-Gons, they're not going to get/order more.