Top 10 Brilliant But Canceled

[Auralis]

Add Odyssey 5 to the list, axed for stupid reasons to boot.

[Mutenroshi]

^
Yup, that's true. Didn't Manny state he would do something way back then?

[Robert Maxwell]

I thought Brimstone was a neat little show, particularly due to John Glover's portrayal of the Devil. But the whole premise had "niche" written all over it.

[Neroon]

Not that it's a bad thing to be labeled as "niche", I wonder how many of these shows we're listing would be considered as such.

[Robert Maxwell]

There's nothing wrong with niche shows, but they generally don't last long in the cruel world of network TV, where ratings are king. The new BSG is clearly a niche show, but thankfully Skiffy thought critical acclaim and DVD sales were more important than first-run ratings.

[Pilot Ace]

Not a bad list, haven't seen some of those shows myself. Maybe I will now.

Angel4576 wrote:

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Wouldn't disagree with too many on that list, except Jake 2.0. WTF?

Oh man, don't hate on Jake 2.0. It was good, I swear! So much potential.

Trent Roman wrote:

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I really liked, and miss, John Doe.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Me too, me too.

[Aragorn]

I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

And as much as I love Bruce Campbell and Brisco County, watching that show again on DVD, it has not aged well. The writing is really goofy, cheesy, repetitive and if it came out today, a lot of people wouldn't be able to put up with its earnest nature and family-friendliness.

Boomtown, now there's a great show that got axed before its prime.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Carpe Occasio wrote:

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2. Wonderfalls, created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland.

This reminds me--apparently, Wonderfalls may have a mini-crossover of sorts with season two of Pushing Daisies.

Link.

"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

[Lindley]

Aragorn wrote:

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I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Well, for my own part, I didn't start discovering Joss' work until after I saw Firefly. It stands just fine apart from his name recognition.

[Harvey]

Firefly is an easy choice (although I must note that I care little for the movie version). For the record, I've never had enough interest to see more than an isolated episode each of any other Whedon show.

And, after tearing through most of the first season on DVD with a blind buy, I have to make a shout out for Alien Nation. The show offers a more complexly developed alien race than I have seen on any other television series, and despite being a product of the 1980s manages to tackle more adult topics that are still relevant 20 years later than most of what is on television today. A quick google search surprised me in finding that there isn't a lot of information out there about the show. A shame, really. A damned, damned shame.

For one that isn't on your list, I have to mention the Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade. Yes, it had its missteps, and risked reteading themes of its parent series, but compared to the first 13 hours of Babylon 5 (and also comparing the pilot movies The Gathering and A Call To Arms) it was a far, far superior program at that stage.

[PsychoPere]

I only saw it on Sci-Fi a year or so after it was canceled by ABC, but I've always been disappointed that Strange World ended. It was about a doctor working for the US military, investigating criminal abuses of science, while he was also trying to determine how and why he was cured of Gulf War Syndrome by a "shadowy organization." Strange World could be compared to The X-Files, but its thirteen episodes felt distinct enough to me that it could've survived if it had been given a chance. It was created by Howard Gordon and Tim Kring, and was one of the first shows Tim Minear worked on.

[Brian]

Lindley wrote:

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Well, for my own part, I didn't start discovering Joss' work until after I saw Firefly. It stands just fine apart from his name recognition.

And I'm one who thought Firefly was brilliant and can't sit through an entire episode of anything else from Whedon.

EDIT: I should clarify that I mean primarily Buffy and Angel. I do find Dr. Horrible quite enjoyable!

[msbae]

I'm not surprised Firefly is on this list. That was a pretty good show and it should come back.

Personally, I'm upset that the re-imagining/relaunch of Bionic Woman didn't survive the writer's strike. I was really liking that show and the star (Michelle Ryan) is hawt.

[Lapis Exilis]

Carpe Occasio wrote:

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9. Nowhere Man, created by Lawrence Hertzog. UPN. Original run: August 1995 to May 1996. Number of episodes: 25

One of the most frustrating things that can happen when a show is yanked before its time is a denial of answers to a big, over-arching mystery. That's what happened in the case of Nowhere Man, about a photographer (played by Bruce Greenwood), who takes a controversial picture in a South American war zone and suddenly finds his identity erased by a covert, possibly governmental, organization. Nowhere Man incorporated elements of The Fugitive and The Prisoner, but unlike those shows, it never got an epic final episode, leaving fans (dozens of them) to wonder forever (or for a few weeks at least) about the significance of that fateful photograph.

I must quibble. I watched Nowhere Man from episode 1 to episode 25 - and it's ending was perfect. The show sagged somewhat in the middle, but had an incredibly strong beginning and end. The mysterious, unresolved ending was right in keeping with the tone of the show, and the ending line, same as the first, wrapped up all the issues of identity, secrets and lies, and the nature of the unknowable that had been the core of the series.

"My name is Thomas Veil..."


I might add to your list Witchblade. While it's second season was lame, the first season was brilliant. The first and only time a reset button being pushed was so integral and logical to the story. Well acted, well-produced, great storyline, excellent villain, fabulous heroine - and it actually improved on the source material, being much more character based and wasting far less time on cheesecake.

[Steve Mollmann]

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

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"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

It's been ages since I've seen Wonderfalls-- who on Earth was this person?