Your Favorite TV Show That Was Cancelled
- Thread starter Zameaze
- Start date
Well obviously Firefly is at the top of my list. I'm not one of those that claims it was the greatest show ever (I'm not sure there can be such a thing) but I don't recall another instance of such a strong opening first half season be so completely wasted by it's network.
Farscape is another obvious choice, though in reality it only hand another year or so left in it, which we sort of got in the extremely compressed form that was 'The Peacekeeper Wars'.
Enterprise...umm...I'm not sure. The pilot was OK but the show itself (with the exception of a handful of high points) spent too much time early on mucking about as if it was an even more juvenile clone of Voyager. I actually didn't bother watching season 3 when it was first broadcast, having given up on the show, but the miraculous turnaround that was season 4 (space Nazis aside) actually made me want more. The less said about the final episode the better; if that's what the producers thought a "valentine" should look like, I feel sorry for their partners.
Earth 2 was something I only got to see after the fact and it was a shame it ended prematurely, though in truth I doubt it'd last another full season before falling apart. Even in the first year I think the cracks had already began to show.
Angel was another I only saw after the fact and while the latter quarter of the season felt decidedly rushed, in truth, again I'm not sure it could sustain itself for another year. Personally I thought the show had lost it's heart as soon as Cordy was out of the picture - and by out of the picture I mean when she "ascended". That thing that came back wasn't Cordy, even before she was outed she didn't feel the same anymore.
The removal of Conner and the addition of Spike, Harmony and later Ilyria gave the show legs again, but short of a budget breaking 6 season that took place entierly in a hell dimension, I can't see it going much further.
I really want to add The Sarah Conner Chronicles to my list, but the truth is that it got it's stay of execution and - for the most part - squandered it. Which was itself really a shame since going in I was convinced that I'd hate the show, an opinion the very short first season quickly changed, only for the second season to loose almost all of that ground.
Dollhouse was another that dilly-dallied getting to the meat of the show and most of the first five episodes or so are entierly forgettable and a strange throwback to the old formulaic traditions that most genre shows have spent the last decade throwing out the window.
Jeremiah is another I'm ambivalent about. In the first season I came SO close to giving up on it on several occasions so while the second season was an improvement, if I'm being honest with myself I didn't feel it was such a loss when it went away.
Farscape is another obvious choice, though in reality it only hand another year or so left in it, which we sort of got in the extremely compressed form that was 'The Peacekeeper Wars'.
Enterprise...umm...I'm not sure. The pilot was OK but the show itself (with the exception of a handful of high points) spent too much time early on mucking about as if it was an even more juvenile clone of Voyager. I actually didn't bother watching season 3 when it was first broadcast, having given up on the show, but the miraculous turnaround that was season 4 (space Nazis aside) actually made me want more. The less said about the final episode the better; if that's what the producers thought a "valentine" should look like, I feel sorry for their partners.
Earth 2 was something I only got to see after the fact and it was a shame it ended prematurely, though in truth I doubt it'd last another full season before falling apart. Even in the first year I think the cracks had already began to show.
Angel was another I only saw after the fact and while the latter quarter of the season felt decidedly rushed, in truth, again I'm not sure it could sustain itself for another year. Personally I thought the show had lost it's heart as soon as Cordy was out of the picture - and by out of the picture I mean when she "ascended". That thing that came back wasn't Cordy, even before she was outed she didn't feel the same anymore.
The removal of Conner and the addition of Spike, Harmony and later Ilyria gave the show legs again, but short of a budget breaking 6 season that took place entierly in a hell dimension, I can't see it going much further.
I really want to add The Sarah Conner Chronicles to my list, but the truth is that it got it's stay of execution and - for the most part - squandered it. Which was itself really a shame since going in I was convinced that I'd hate the show, an opinion the very short first season quickly changed, only for the second season to loose almost all of that ground.
Dollhouse was another that dilly-dallied getting to the meat of the show and most of the first five episodes or so are entierly forgettable and a strange throwback to the old formulaic traditions that most genre shows have spent the last decade throwing out the window.
Jeremiah is another I'm ambivalent about. In the first season I came SO close to giving up on it on several occasions so while the second season was an improvement, if I'm being honest with myself I didn't feel it was such a loss when it went away.
Angel. Man, I was royally pissed off when they cancelled it.
I love Farscape but the mini-series worked for me, so I always thought it ended the way a series should: if it's still good.
Veronica Mars on the other hand could have had another season (but please without the FBI story line).
There is a series from the 1990ies that was called American Gothic. It was really good, but got cancelled after one season. WTF? I was quite disappointed.
ST: ENT went off air when it was just getting good, so I would have liked two more seasons here.
I love Farscape but the mini-series worked for me, so I always thought it ended the way a series should: if it's still good.
Veronica Mars on the other hand could have had another season (but please without the FBI story line).
There is a series from the 1990ies that was called American Gothic. It was really good, but got cancelled after one season. WTF? I was quite disappointed.
ST: ENT went off air when it was just getting good, so I would have liked two more seasons here.
One that I forgot was Wiseguy. Ken Wahl wasn't in the last season (I think it was a dispute over money). Steven Bauer tool over and while the show wasn't quite as good as it had been, I would have kept watching the show for Jonathan Banks. He did a great job as Frank McPike. I had always seen him in bad guy roles before but he really nailed his character.
After the cast change, Wiseguy only lasted about half a season before it was kicked to the curb.
After the cast change, Wiseguy only lasted about half a season before it was kicked to the curb.
The 1st season on ABC was really rough. But once it moved to FOX for Season 2, it really picked up steam. Sunday nights were a great 1-2 punch with The Simpsons & The Critic. Unfortunately, FOX decided to replace it with King of the Hill. FOX had a greater stake in that series because they owned King of the Hill while Sony owned The Critic.
Star Trek: Enterprise might still be on the air if the entire series had been as good as Season 4. (OTOH, people who lament the "premature" cancelling of the original Star Trek have clearly not watched Season 3 in a while.)
Heck, I think Cordelia had lost her edge even before that. Even in the latter half of Season 3, she had become so sweet & saintly that she just wasn't the same character anymore. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against character development. It's just that Wesley made the transition from lame to cool while Cordelia made the transition from funny to boring.
I wanted to like Dollhouse a lot more than I did. Unfortunately, it just wasn't as funny & the characters weren't as rich as on all the other Joss Whedon shows. The story was very interesting, but I think it plays out better as a mini-series than as a weekly show. The stand-alones did a good job of establishing the premise & purpose of the Dollhouse but were still kinda limp & lifeless. And while every season ended with a giant heaping of promise, I think the execution of the series never lived up to its potential and it's probably just as well that they didn't drag it out any longer.
On the subject of Eliza Dushku series, Tru Calling was cancelled just as it was starting to get good. But really, that was part of its problem. It wasn't until the latter half of Season 1 that they even began to rise above the rote concept of the show and really start exploring things. The show needed to spend more time in incubation. If they had gotten us to the end of Season 1 by about episode 5, I think they would have hooked many more viewers and the show wouldn't have ended in such an unsatisfactory way.
It's still a rather strange saga. First, FOX stuns all of us by renewing the show for a 2nd season. Then, just when we start to feel secure, FOX does a 180 degree about face, removes the series from the fall schedule and cuts the episode order down from 13 to 6. The writers try to get themselves put back on the fall schedule by making the 6th episode a Christmas show, figuring that FOX wouldn't make things awkward by airing a Christmas episode in April. They're right. FOX merely declines to air the 6th episode at all. Episodes 1-5 are burned off in March-April of the following year. And because the season was suddenly chopped from 13 episodes to 6, it doesn't get a proper ending. It doesn't even end on a cliffhanger. It just stops.
I've read some of them but not all of them. They're OK, but honestly, it's hard to get into the characters without the actors there to breathe life into them. The fun part is all of the minor characters that get to come back playing major roles, like Anne, Kate Lochley, & Gwen Raiden.
The other reason why I have a hard time getting into those comics is because I really like the ending of "Not Fade Away." I think it's exactly the kind of ending that Angel should have and I kinda like not knowing what happened during that fight.
I don't know about that. While I don't think the WB did themselves any favors by cancelling the show (at least in hindsight), I think that they at least did right by the show in giving proper notice that they were cancelling it and giving it a proper finale. (BTW, James Marsters had some choice words regarding Angel's cancellation, placing more of the blame on Joss Whedon for pressuring the WB into making an early decision.)
Honestly, I'd been hearing rumors that Season 6 would be unlikely anyway because David Boreanaz wanted a pay raise, which meant that 20th Century Fox would have probably needed to up the license fee, and Angel had always been on the bubble anyway.
Not that the WB didn't have its own reasons for wanting Angel gone. At the time, they were developing their own vampire TV series (Dark Shadows or Dracula or something).
I guess my point, if I have a point at all, is that, at that moment, Angel was fucked from several directions. Many factors contributed to its cancellation and any one of them probably could have caused it on its own.
Enterprise
Space: Above and Beyond
Firefly
Millenium
Deadwood
Rome
The Visitor
Space: Above and Beyond
Firefly
Millenium
Deadwood
Rome
The Visitor
Give it a shot if you ever get the time, would love to hear your thoughts, having seen the US version first. I'm an American, and Life on Mars UK is very close to my heart.
I just finished the first season of Carnivale, and am liking it so far. It's a tad slow, but I like the characters and the season finale was great. Can't wait to see the rest. Is there some closure at the endk or is it just left up in the air?
I couldn't see it even if I wanted to, since no channel shows it here (I don't get BBC America).
And yeah, 005, the setting IS important to me.
Well, the original Life on Mars was both set and filmed in Manchester, so you should be happy.
And yeah, 005, the setting IS important to me.
Are you saying you won't watch any shows that aren't in New York City? I'm confused.
And yeah, 005, the setting IS important to me.
Are you saying you won't watch any shows that aren't in New York City? I'm confused.
Not necessarily; just when there's multiple versions of the same show and the first one I see is the New York one.
(Actually the only two shows I watch regularly are L&O:SVU and CI, so maybe you're right after all...)Besides, with a few exceptions (Python, Red Dwarf), I guess I just don't "get" most UK programming.
Firefly
Angel
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Carnivale
Deadwood
Arrested Development
I miss them all.
Angel
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Carnivale
Deadwood
Arrested Development
I miss them all.
This.
True, the final scene really bit the big one, but they can always The Good That Men Do-ize it out of existence just like with TATV.Plus I don't think the finale was "real" anyway. Look at the decorations on the wall of the lunar module, plus whose boot it was seen stepping onto the Martian surface...
Wow. It's probably my #1 all-time favorite TV show ending ever. I thought the Brit series was better overall, but the US ending blew theirs away IMO. For me, it was a 100% perfect ending.
Wizards and Warriors (lasted 8 excellent episodes)
Firefly
Northern Exposure
Star Trek Enterprise (after 3 seasons of crap, 1 good season and sayanara sam with a "worst.final.episode.ever" sendoff)
Star Trek TOS (of course)
Blake's Seven (totally kickass finale though)
Freaks and Geeks
BSG (one season was not enough, and neither of the twin horrors of G80 or nuG helped that at all)
Firefly
Northern Exposure
Star Trek Enterprise (after 3 seasons of crap, 1 good season and sayanara sam with a "worst.final.episode.ever" sendoff)
Star Trek TOS (of course)
Blake's Seven (totally kickass finale though)
Freaks and Geeks
BSG (one season was not enough, and neither of the twin horrors of G80 or nuG helped that at all)
I was hoping to not be the only one who picked Millennium.
I think many people forgot it was ever aired. It sucked that it never got resolved and it featured a lot of great actors. Another one I forgot to mention was Good vs. Evil. Hilarious show.
