This week’s Monday Listicle is “10 shows that got canceled too soon.”
I don’t know. I’m picky about my TV. This is not to say I haven’t watched my share of crap (“Zorro and Son” comes to mind). But I find that most of the time, shows drag on far longer than they should. I like it when a showrunner has a story to tell, and tells it. Which is why I stopped watching shows by J.J. Abrams.
However, there are some shows that didn’t get a chance to show what they could do–or were just beginning to build an audience, and got canceled anyhow.
1) Homicide: Life on the Street You look at that page, and you think, “There were 7 seasons. What’s the problem?” Well, they weren’t all full seasons, for starters. And I think that their first cast was the strongest. But even when some of the newer characters annoyed me (how they developed some of the original ones did, too), this show was one of the smartest things on TV. Which is probably what killed them, because they were canceled as punishment for not beating “Nash Bridges” in the ratings.
2) Firefly. Mr. Sandwich introduced me to this show when we were dating, and I still think it’s wonderful. I never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so this was my real introduction to Joss Whedon.
3) Dollhouse. Speaking of Joss Whedon . . . Actually, I found this show very problematic. It focused on the wrong character (Sierra and Victor were much more interesting than Echo). It depicted a very disturbing approach to sexuality. But it was just starting to turn into a really interesting show with a dynamic plot arc and it got canceled. They were able to show us where they were going, but it had to be very rushed.
4) Deadwood. At least the first three found ways to give us a little more–Homicide with a TV movie, Firefly with a big-screen movie, and Dollhouse with a handful of epilogue episodes. But Deadwood wasn’t done with its story when HBO canceled it. We were promised two follow-up movies, and seven years later, WHERE ARE MY TWO MOVIES???
5) Boomtown. This examined the same events from different points of view and featured complex and compelling characters. So, naturally, NBC decided that the second season should do none of that, and then aired the final episodes in unpromoted clusters so that you couldn’t find them. Stupid NBC.
6) Southland. Again with the NBC. The first season was so good, and then they dropped it. Fortunately TNT picked it up, and the excellence continued, but it won’t be coming back next year.
7) Freaks and Geeks. You know, I’m getting mad at NBC all over again.
8) Pushing Daisies. I have never seen anything like this show. It was like tasting colors. It was like hearing the scent of a thousand fruits and spices.
9) Arrested Development. I haven’t caught the Netflix season yet, but this show had more life in it. And it also had Jason Bateman in it.
10) Terriers. Mr. Sandwich was more into this show than I was, but it had some interesting characters and was different. I think the name confused people, and I’d say their loss, but Donal Logue was terrific and I think it’s my loss, too.
Bonus Round: Mr. Sandwich has some entries.
Brimstone. “I’m a bit of a soft touch for cop shows and scifi/fantasy.” It was moving from an episodic format to longer-range stories, and he guesses that the whole thing just wasn’t speaking to enough people–but it spoke to him.
Farscape. “If Star Trek is a ‘wagon train to the stars’, then Farscape is a really fast getaway car in space, but the bank robbers all rob different banks and no one can agree where the safe house is. It was canceled precipitously, and although there was a pair of follow-up TV movies, they felt rushed and inelegant.”
Never seen any of these. So many of you have listed “Arrested Development” though–guess I’d better watch that one!
It’s not your typical sitcom, but it is very, very funny.
I came across great critics for Terriers. Must check if I can stream it. And with major Justified withdrawal over the summer I am planning on giving Deadwood a go.
Deadwood comes with astonishing levels of profanity, sex, and violence–but Justified is probably its closest network equivalent. (I say that without having seen The Shield.)
Yay to you being a Freaks and Geeks fan! I think Southland was in and out of the channels that I had so I gave up on it. It was kinda depressing to me anyway – even though I couldn’t watch the intro without sitting down for the whole show.
The second-to-last episode of Southland was so grueling that I have yet to watch the season/series finale.
I never saw either Freaks and Geeks or Pushing Daisies, but heard it was good. Hubby got me hooked on 9) Arrested Development…thank God for Netflix I’m enjoying the new shows.
I recommend both of them, although I suspect that Freaks and Geeks speaks most strongly to those of us who were in high school in the 1980s–a fair amount of it is probably timeless, but I definitely related to the specific timeframe.
Agree completely with Arrested Development (the new ones on Netflix right now just aren’t the same…too wacky? just off somehow) Freaks & Geeks, and Firefly. I got a bit tired of Homicide, didn’t like the new characters. I’ll add “my so-called life”. I watched it again a couple of years ago and its still SO GOOD (I did relate more to the parents’ drama this time…I don’t remember paying attention to any of that before)
I never saw “My So-Called Life,” but I think I know what you mean–recently I re-read Anne of Green Gables, and I was much more sympathetic to Marilla than I was as a child!
I am STILL mad that they cancelled Pushing Daisies. And your description is just spot on. Man I miss that show!
Wasn’t it wonderful? Just enough sunny, just enough dark, just enough loopy.
Brooklyn Bridge. It aired for 2 seasons in the late ’80’s and has never been released on DVD. It was great. There are bootleg versions available.
Oh, I remember hearing about that–it was supposed to be terrific.
I’ve been watching Arrested Development on Netflix for the last couple weeks… hilarious! I love clever ensemble shows. My favorite show that got canceled too early was “My So Called Life” with a very young Claire Danes. Great, great show.
I know a lot of people who loved that show. I wonder what I was watching instead.
Freaks & Geeks was on my list – the only one that I could remember that was cancelled too soon. I wrote a whole post about that show because I just watched it for the first time about a month ago or so. Loved it!!! I need to watch Arrested Development. I just put it on my “get at the library” list. I’ve heard so much about it – all good.
Stopping by from Monday Listicles.
@JLenniDorner
Dollhouse- awesome!
I do wish it had had more Sierra and Victor, though–I loved them!
I’ve only watched ONE of those shows on your list – and it’s Arrested Developement (we JUST started watching from season 1…) guess I better get crackin’ on the rest.
I really tried to like Farscape, but it was a little too off for me. I am a die-hard scifi fan…but. Give me Babylon 5 back anyday! I loved Pushing Daisies too, but even I stopped watching before it was cancelled. But thank goodness for Netflix, now we can have more Arrested Development!
Agree with Pushing Daisies. You could do another post about shows that went on too long!
There are so many of those!
Pushing up Daisies, how could I have forgotten that one? I thought Farscape finished? that was a great one too.
I didn’t watch Farscape, but my understanding is that rather than see things out at a pace that made sense for the show as a whole, they bundled everything into a couple of TV movies.
I was a huge Buffy fan, but never watched Firefly until I saw Serenity in the theater. I was so mad at myself. Maybe I could have saved it! 😉
I also love Pushing Daisies.
Sports Night is another one I wish would have lasted longer
I’ve been feeling the need for a Firefly-rewatch for a while. Now, if I could just get Baguette to nap!
Not to make it sound like we’re a sci-fi/fantasty only household – but we loved Firefly and Dollhouse too! And obviously Buffy and Angel 🙂