Canceled Shows You Love (other than Firefly)

[Del Murder]

What are some shows that ended way before their time? I'm talking less than two seasons.

One show I liked from last year was Almost Human. I thought it had a really interesting world and the leads were just great together with a lot of chemistry. Unfortunately, they tried to make it a crime of the week type show rather than focus on the world building, which caused it to struggle to find its identity and audience.

But the biggest one for me (other than Firefly), was Kings. Miriel and I loved this show and I loved the imperial concept in a modern setting. I also thought the King and Queen were excellent. Unfortunately, this was on a major network rather than premium cable which I think would have given it a better chance. Just look at what Game of Thrones ended up being.

[Colonel Angus]

Reaper
Chuck
King of the Hill
Dinosaurs
My Name is Earl

[Del Murder]

Um, I've never heard of Reaper, but four of those lasted multiple seasons. King of the Hill and Chuck were like 6 seasons.

[Shorty]

PARTY DOWN

IT IS AN OUTRAGE

http://www.starz.com/PublishingImages/Originals/Party%20Down/hero/party_down_2009_key02_1440x651_v3.jpg

Two seasons, but it wasn't enough.

[Colonel Angus]

Um, I've never heard of Reaper, but four of those lasted multiple seasons. King of the Hill and Chuck were like 6 seasons.
Reaper was on the CW. Was about a guy who had to serve as a bounty hunter for the Devil.

STILL TOO SOON!

[Jinx]

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Such a dang good show. It deserved way more than two seasons.

The 4400. At least this series got two books set after the last episode to give it a proper ending.

[Freya]

Seconding Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. It was delightfully hilarious in all the right ways.

I actually really liked #selfie :(

I wish Revolution had more of a chance.

That show Invasion from 2005

http://sharetv.org/images/invasion-show.jpg

It only had one season and I loved it. Body snatcher type show.

[The Man]

Smurf yo' "less than two seasons" rule, none of these shows lasted long enough.

Arrested Development
Better Off Ted
FlashForward

And concurred with Almost Human.

I was also kind of iffy on the first couple of seasons of The Newsroom, but I thought it got cancelled just as it was starting to find its voice. The last season was easily the best.

[Laddy]

Solitary was a stupidly campy and exploitative show and the quality of the seasons is up-and-down, but it had a lot of potential for a competitive series.

Murder In Small Town X was fabulous, mixing the best of a scripted show and competition show, but the winner died in 9/11 and it kinda cursed the series and it never got another season.

[Ayen]

Young Hercules.

[Freya]

I was also kind of iffy on the first couple of seasons of The Newsroom, but I thought it got cancelled just as it was starting to find its voice. The last season was easily the best.
Well it didn't get cancelled, Aaron Sorkin was just done with it so he ended it.

[The Man]

The news stories I read said that HBO cancelled it at the same time as they renewed it for a third season.

[Freya]

I've been an avid follower of it. HBO had renewed for a 3rd season and Sorkin said he was done with it when they renewed it. It's why the season is only like 6 episodes instead of the 10 for season 3 just to tie up the story lines. In fact Sorkin said he's done with tv all together, he's just going to do movies.

[The Man]

I'm just saying, HBO said at the time (http://www.tv.com/shows/the-newsroom-2012/community/post/the-newsroom-renewed-season-3-the-newsroom-canceled-138964639321/) that they were cancelling it. Maybe Sorkin has said further stuff since, idk. I know he's said he's done with TV, which is disappointing.

[Sephex]

Everybody forgets about Sliders.

No, it's not a show about White Castle.

[Electroshock Therapy]

Dirk Gently

It was a beautifully quirky show with hints of sci-fi thrown in. It only lasted one season, but it showed potential that could have been reached with at least two more. It's also loosely based on a short-lived Douglas Adams book series just like any adaptation of Adams' work is loosely based off the original, especially when Adams is doing the adapting.

[Vyk]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Took a little while to get off the ground, but I loved it from the get-go. Probably helps to have Firefly's River playing a starring role. Summer Glau was on fire back then. But always playing odd side-jobby things. But this was a really well done telling of an alternate-past in the Terminator universe, and expands on a lot of things that we all probably imagine could/should have happened during that whole robots being sent to the past thing

Life - The angle for this was weird, a cop gets put away for like twelve years during a huge boom in technology and comes out having to learn what instant messaging and cell phones are. It gives him an excuse to be very zen about everything, and puts him in a quirky place. It's like if House was a detective, and was actually polite about his off the wall (and usually correct) opinions. I think a lot of people compared it to a light hearted House in police procedural territory. But it did eventually find a life of its own, and was really (really) good. Especially when he took a moment here and there to stop being zen, or to stop being a cop, and just went all ... human

Raine - A psychotic Jeff Goldblum has hallucinations about murder victims which gives them agency to then help solve their own murder

I like a lot of quirky short "too good to last" type things

Another one was Tron Uprising. Frequently compared to Batman Beyond. Tron had to find a successor, because he was too injured to do any good, and found a kid to train and try to guide to do the right things. But teenage angst and stuff frequently got in the way. The plots were kinda cliche and tropey, but its one of those things where they were handled very well. Outside of the new (and also cancelled too soon) Thundercats, it was the next best thing to Avatar: The Last Airbender before Korra became popular. Cartoons with relatable characters, and mature plot devices. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't

[Dark_Valentine]

My favorites was Arrested Development (before going to Netflix) and the American version of Touching Evil which only got one season :(

[Madame Adequate]

Jericho. It wasn't the best show in the world, but it was starting to find itself in season 2. It was pretty cool that they listened to the fans who were upset about cancellation and did give the show a second season after previously cancelling it. But season 2 only got 7 episodes and didn't really have the time to recover.

Cancelling Revolution was bulltrout, the show was great in the best goofiest way. I mean it featured a neckbeard who became a nanotech wizard, what the hell else do you want?

Falling Skies managed to get a fifth season, which is a way better run than I ever expected it to get. Just to throw out a show that got half a chance.

Kings definitely deserved far more than it got. It was superb in every facet, beautiful, tense, meaningful, and filled with great actors, most of all King Al Swearengen.

Millennium got smurfed with by the network, and so after Season 1 went downhill, meaning of course viewing dropped and it ended up cancelled. Had it been given what it needed, I imagine it would be remembered as an amazing show now, and a total cult classic.

Twin Peaks, obvs., but oh my god it's coming back for another season next year.

Every way that Alphas got screwed by ScyFy was a crime, because the show was one of the freshest, best looks at the superhero genre in years and years and years. Everything Heroes wanted to be, Alphas was, and more. Plus, Gary :3: Most adorable and reportedly the most accurate portrayal of autism in just about any fictional show.

[Vyk]

Heroes might as well be on that list, since everything after the first season was due to corporate meddling and not what the creators intended at all. They wanted to start season 2 (and every season) with new heroes and new stories, but due to fan favoritism, corporate didn't want to damage the brand by bringing in that many drastic changes, so they were forced to write out cliches and plot-holed nonsense to bring everything back and try to make it stick

[Freya]

Ahhh yeah, Jericho all the way. I liked that show :(

[Depression Moon]

Damn, no love for Young Justice? I am highly disappointed.

[Quindiana Jones]

Heroes might as well be on that list, since everything after the first season was due to corporate meddling and not what the creators intended at all. They wanted to start season 2 (and every season) with new heroes and new stories, but due to fan favoritism, corporate didn't want to damage the brand by bringing in that many drastic changes, so they were forced to write out cliches and plot-holed nonsense to bring everything back and try to make it stick

I did not know this and oh god it explains everything.

[Shlup]

How has no one mentioned Freaks and Geeks?

[Del Murder]

Millennium got smurfed with by the network, and so after Season 1 went downhill, meaningful of course viewing dropped and it ended up cancelled. Had it been given what it needed, I imagine it would be remembered as an amazing show now, and a total cult classic.
Yeah I loved the first season of Millennium but then it got weird.


Heroes might as well be on that list, since everything after the first season was due to corporate meddling and not what the creators intended at all. They wanted to start season 2 (and every season) with new heroes and new stories, but due to fan favoritism, corporate didn't want to damage the brand by bringing in that many drastic changes, so they were forced to write out cliches and plot-holed nonsense to bring everything back and try to make it stick
Nobody forced them to do anything. But yes, they should have had a bigger pair and stuck to their original vision.

Does anyone remember a show called Profit? It was about a sociopath trying to get revenge on a bunch of people and also murder/blackmail his way up the corporate ladder.

EDIT: Hey it's the guy from Heroes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_%28TV_series%29

[noxious.sunshine]

Suburgatory.

It made it for 3 seasons, but it was a damn good show and I still can't believe ABC pulled the plug on it. Especially considering "The Middle" is so God awful.

[Shiny]

Dead Like Me

The movie was garbage though.

A friend of mine was on that Kings show so I tried watching it but it was incredibly boring.

[Rocket Edge]

The two shows I was disappointed that were cancelled were released years ago. Boston Public and Freaks and Geeks. I don't watch enough TV to know all that much more.

[Necronopticous]

Pretty much every show the Stella guys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_%28comedy_group%29) have ever done.

[Ayen]

Dead Like Me

The movie was garbage though.

OMG yes! I completely forgot about that show.

There was a movie?

[Jessweeee♪]

+1 to Dead Like Me



Dead Like Me

The movie was garbage though.

OMG yes! I completely forgot about that show.

There was a movie?

I've seen plenty of movies I didn't like but there are only two movies that I have ever wanted to un-watch. This is one of them. I was warned, they were like "no don't watch it, it ruins everything forever!" I mean if you like this show you are probably going to inevitably watch it no matter how much I warn you but I just want you to know if you need a shoulder to cry on after we're here :cry:

[fire_of_avalon]

Dead Like Me

The movie was garbage though.

A friend of mine was on that Kings show so I tried watching it but it was incredibly boring.

Yeeeeeeeeeees Dead Like Me. I just want Mandy Patinkin to sadly, softly sing to more people in my life. I won't see the movie just because of everything I hear. I wish there were more Ellen Muth in the world.

I really liked The Killing. It was on for two seasons and I think maybe netflix picked up a third that I haven't seen yet.

[chionos]

Kings definitely deserved far more than it got. It was superb in every facet, beautiful, tense, meaningful, and filled with great actors, most of all King Al Swearengen.

Every way that Alphas got screwed by ScyFy was a crime, because the show was one of the freshest, best looks at the superhero genre in years and years and years. Everything Heroes wanted to be, Alphas was, and more. Plus, Gary :3: Most adorable and reportedly the most accurate portrayal of autism in just about any fictional show.

My ex turned me on to Kings and I'm really surprised and saddened that it was canceled without ever really getting a chance to explore those characters.

I agree with every single word you wrote concerning Alphas. It was doing so much right in the way it handled supers, and the characters were growing in really interesting but believable ways. Man, I was so pissed when it got canceled. <3 Gary. :(

For this and so many other reasons, the execs at ScyFy deserve to be publicly flogged and mocked forever as the dumbest dummies in television history.


Suburgatory.

It made it for 3 seasons, but it was a damn good show and I still can't believe ABC pulled the plug on it. Especially considering "The Middle" is so God awful.

I actually watched that show some (not really my thing) and was pleasantly surprised by it. The main characters were great, but I watched because of Alan Tudyk, and then he got cut between seasons, and that was it for me.



Dead Like Me

The movie was garbage though.

OMG yes! I completely forgot about that show.

There was a movie?

DON'T WATCH IT! Don't you smurfing do it. Not if you've seen the series. Not if you haven't seen the series but think you might some day. Not if you never plan to see the series at all. Just don't do it!

Oh, and I wanted to add: Stargate: SGU. I know it was seriously flawed, but I think it was finding itself and had a ton of potential.

[Shorty]

The mention of Alan Tudyk (and also Alpha) made me think of another. Dollhouse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_%28TV_series%29)

Quit canceling Joss Whedon shows, my god.

[Carl the Llama]

Angel? It had 5 seasons, but everyone who watched it knows it got canceled... it had a lot of potential to continue at the time and it was just... dropped.

I did have another one, but age and forgetfulness has happened and I cant seem to remember what it was I was thinking only 10 seconds ago... >.<

EDIT: Dead Like me
EDIT2: Close your eyes and focus on the words, this is why DLM is such an awesome show.
8h-uhoCmyH8

[noxious.sunshine]

OOOOOO I doubt anyone will remember the night time soap operas that came on MY30 or whatever.

Fashion House & I can't remember the other one..

The girl I was living with & I got really into them but they only made it one season or something.