The best cancelled shows
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008Top five shows that shouldn’t have been cancelled - Quit Your Day Job:
Lee came up with a good Friday Top Five this week. What are the 5 best shows that met an untimely end at the hands of the network suits?
1 & 2: This is a tie for me. Firefly and Crusade were both handled horribly by their respective networks (Fox and TNT), and both were aborted before they even had a chance—Crusade was even cancelled before it aired. They also both had overarching story arcs that would have been amazing. Crusade had a 5 year plan (as its parent show, Babylon 5, did) and would have taken an extreme turn in the very next episode after it was cancelled. Firefly didn’t have a set time that I know of, but it had an obviously evolving story with a defined end point. When the follow-up theatrical release, Serenity, came out, it was obvious that it was compressing multiple years worth of episodes into its running time. While the movie was great, it would have been so much more satisfying, and a more fully-realized story, to have it all play out over the course of a few seasons.
3: The 4400. It had a great run on USA Network, but it needed to resolve the story. Everything was heating up for the big reveal, and fans were left hanging. I still haven’t quite accepted that it’s not coming back.
4. Journeyman. The only reason this is #4 instead of a three-way tie for #1 is that they found out early enough that they were being cancelled that they wrote a suitable finale. While there was plenty left to sustain multiple future seasons, they managed to make the last show feel like an ending. Thanks for that, at least. Still, it was cut down way too early - and again, handled very poorly by the NBC suits, who didn’t seem to know what to do with it. In their defense, it had a bit of a slow start, but when it started firing a couple episodes in it was top-notch TV. Easily the best show to run last year.
5. The Dead Zone. This one, again, had a good run on USA Network. But just like The 4400, they were gearing up for the big stuff when they got axed. I appreciate that they were kept on as long as they were, but if the writers could have gotten some advance notice of the cancellation, they could have tied the show up properly - even if it had to be rushed into an episode or two.
Honorable mention: Nowhere Man. We’re re-watching this on DVD now. It’s showing its age a little, but I was hooked on this show during its short original run. Again, cut off way too early, but the writers saw it coming and had time to cram an ending into the last few episodes. It felt rushed, but it was good stuff.
Agree? Disagree? What are your picks? Lee has an almost completely different list, but I’d agree they all should have gone on a little longer (except Seaquest DSV… that one had to go. I cringed when it came on.)
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