Brilliant But Canceled - your choices?

[tzikeh]

thecomfychair and I were talking about the news that ABC has picked up Rob Thomas's pitch to re-make Cupid, which I find... bizarre and wrong for so many reasons. That led to listing cancellations that made us bitter. Whether because the show was canceled mid-first season for any one of several ridiculous reasons, or because it was never given a chance to find its audience, or because of network politics--or because it was canceled after one or two (or even three or four seasons) when it had set up a clear plan for the following season, there are those cancelations that, when mentioned, can still stir up anger and frustration even years after the show was yanked.

I'm not talking about something that had run for eight seasons and you wanted to see *more*, dammit, but shows that were canceled for all the different WTF reasons: network brainlessness, or politics, or a lack of becoming an instant hit--you know what I mean.

My top five, in no order at all:

Cupid
The Invisible Man
EZ Streets
Farscape
Dead Like Me

My five runner-up votes, any one of which could have been in the top five list on a different day:

Firefly
Now and Again
Boomtown
Carnivale
Odyssey 5

So - hit me. What are yours?

ETA: Honorable Mention: Maximum Bob.

Comments

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Like you, these could change on any given day, but:

John Doe
Dresden Files (Perhaps my number one source of bitterness right now. I mean, I am really, really bitter over that one)
Odyssey Five
Miracles
Invisible Man

[montanaharper]

Today, right now, these are my five:
Firefly
Invisible Man
Odyssey 5
Once a Thief
Max Headroom

and the Honorable Mention goes to Global Frequency, for not even getting the pilot picked up, despite it being fucking brilliant, imo.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I don't have five. I have two:

Sports Night
Wonderfalls

Since I have extra slots, I will also add in my Best Beloved's two:

Dresden Files
Carnivale

And...seriously, that's all I've got, but feel free to imagine that last space occupied by something so unfair you need to vote for it twice.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Gah - of COURSE Sports Night. Dammit.

[watergal.livejournal.com]

Star Trek TOS (Yes, I can hold a grudge for 40 years! HA!)
Firefly
Deadwood
Boomtown
Ab Fab...which isn't the same thing as having been killed by an unappreciative network, I do realize, but I still want MORE MORE MORE!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh, Goddammit, Deadwood too. Especially for the "we have clearly set up Season Four" reason.

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

Sports Night
Invisible Man
Man from UNCLE (though I'm iffy on this - if they'd done more season 2ish stuff, I'd want it to continue, not more season 4ish stuff.)
Enterprise
Lone Gunmen (I know a lot of people thought it was campy, but I enjoyed it)
Sentinel (was finally finding its feet when the ax came down)

[penknife.livejournal.com]

The only one that still makes me gnash my teeth is Alien Nation -- one season, damn it, and canceled in the middle of a cliffhanger. Rar.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was totally of the suck.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Aside from shows you already mentioned:

Peacemakers
Touching Evil (US)
Keen Eddie
The Evidence
Eyes
Miracles
Action
Standoff

And yes, I'm still bitter about all of them.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

ACTION. Yes.

[dorothy1901]

Wonderfalls came to mind immediately, probably because they had actually filmed thirteen episodes, but only showed four before yanking it from the schedule. WTF?

Also, we're kind of bitter here about Studio 60 getting cancelled.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

My gut says remaking "Cupid" is a mistake. First of all, there is but one Piven, and he's unavailable; second, I tend to think that once people get stuck revisiting old projects instead of creating new ones, it's a difficult cycle to break.

[destina.livejournal.com]

VR5
Deadwood
Miracles
American Gothic
Rome

[sunqist.livejournal.com]

Dead Like Me is coming back. That's what IMDb says, anyway. Minus Mandy Patinkin and plus Desmond from Lost. I know, that's what I said.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

...

No Mandy, no Dead Like Me. That's a Piven/Cupid situation.

[thecomfychair.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I suppose in all fairness Angel did get five seasons, even if the WB sent it a giant parting gift of "fuck you" during the last. Without it, the revised list from my post would be:

1.Arrested Development
2.Cupid
3.Brisco County, Jr
4.Firefly
5.Dead Like Me/Relic Hunter (which wasn't brilliant, but it was campy and fun.)

[klia.livejournal.com]

I loved Relic Hunter! *g*

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

Cupid would definitely be one.

Others that immediately spring to mind:

Alien Nation

The John Laroquette Show

TV Nation

Stark Raving Mad

China Beach

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm sad that I'd entirely forgotten about TV Nation until you just mentioned it.

[brak666.livejournal.com]

Wonderfalls
The Pretender
VR.5

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Firefly
The Dresden Files
Jericho
Tremors
Drive

[carla-scribbles.livejournal.com]

1. Profit (never mind that I would've been, like, eight)
2. Carnivale
3. Deadwood
4. Arrested Development

... I'm not sure I actually have a 5. Probably Firefly if I'd been watching it at the time, but it doesn't quite cause the same heartburn-inducing rage as the others.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

The Invisible Man
Sports Night
Farscape
Max Headroom
Babylon 5, with an asterisk. Yes, I know it didn't really get cancelled. But I believe with all my heart that JMS is a dirty dirty liar when he says that he would have written the end of Season 4 exactly the same way if he had been sure they were getting picked up for a fifth season. So I'm bitter about the lengthy limbo the show was in between S4 and S5.


Shows I'm bitter that they weren't cancelled earlier:
The X-Files
Beauty and the Beast

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh, now, ran too long is a whole OTHER rant and post. Hmmmm....

[carbonel]

I'm not sure I agree about Farscape. Like B5, it had to rush through its story arc to finish the series, but I'm not really bitter about what they did with it. Though I certainly would be if it weren't for the movies.

One show that I really would have liked to have seen more of was Century City. They only showed three episodes, though I assume more were filmed. It was a cross between The Practice and Law and Order -- set in the year 2030 or so.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Farscape was promised a fourth and fifth season by SciFi. The writers took that to mean, you know, what the network said, and plotted a fourth and fifth season to complete their story. The last day of filming on Season Four, the network reneged on the contract and cancelled it.

[greensilver.livejournal.com]

I don't have five. I have about a bajillion. But in the interests of not typing all night, I narrowed it down to the ones that still make me twitch a little when I watch them:

Wonderfalls
Firefly
Kitchen Confidential
Threshold
Standoff
MDs
The Others
Arrested Development
The Dresden Files
Keen Eddie
Sports Night
Miracles (this is the only one on the list I didn't watch live - that was in my TV lean period - but that doesn't keep me from wanting to whack some network execs every time I watch the final episode)

[klia.livejournal.com]

OMG, someone else watched Standoff! *sniff*

[svmadelyn.livejournal.com]

(Do not judge meeee!)

American Gothic
Titans
The Lost World
Amazon
Tarzan

[klia.livejournal.com]

Tarzan! I can't believe I forgot to mention Tarzan! I LOVED that show!

[stormheller.livejournal.com]

In addition to most of those, above:

Strange Luck (with DB Sweeney: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112182/)

Strange World (after only 3 eps aired: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182453/

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Strange Luck!!! !sob!

[loreleif.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files
Dresden Files
Dresden Files
Farscape
Brimstone

Yeah, I'm sure there's others I was upset about, but right now I'm still, like cereta, really, really bitter over Dresden Files' cancellation.

[ratcreature]

Farscape, Miracles, Odyssey 5, Invisible Man, Firefly, Standoff, Jeremiah... I'm sure I'd remember more, but this is just too depressing.

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Brilliant but canceled too soon:

1) Brimstone
2) Firefly
3) Carnivale
4) Profit
5) Thief

[iko.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files - *cry* It hurts to see "Season One" written on the DVDs.
Firefly - Definitely the most WTF of my list, because television this good is so rare.
Nightmare Cafe - I was 16/17 and was hot for Jack Coleman and Robert Englund. I was a creepy kid.
Rome - Should be more than just two seasons, although I could see it drifting into an I, Claudius thing.
Starman - Christopher Barnes and Robert Hays. In the same tv show? Dang. I was 12 and I couldn't decide which one I would want as my boyfriend.

Those are the ones that are really strong in my mind.