Favorite Shows Get Cancelled....

[bladestarr]

That's right, I've just been reminiscing about the past, and looking back, I've realized that ALL of my favorite shows get canceled WAY before they should be. Most of them never even get the chance to shine. It's like I'm doomed to live in a world where my tastes aren't reflected anywhere on the small screen. Want proof? Here you go.


My Favorite Shows:

• Eerie, Indiana (Nineteen episodes, 1 and a half seasons)
  
• VR.5(13 episodes, one season)
  
• Duckman(70 episodes, four seasons, could have lasted as long as the Simpsons!)
  
• Brimstone(13 episodes, one season, brilliant concept)
  
• Friday the 13th: The Series (72 episodes, 3 seasons)
  
• Freddy's Nightmares (44 episodes, two seasons)
  
• Farscape (Four seasons, 88 episodes, finished unresolved)
  
• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (Two years and 27 episodes, killed way too quick)
  
• Kindred: The Embraced (Eight episodes, didn't even get a chance to start)
  
• The Critic (23 episodes, 2 "and a half" seasons)
  
• The Tick (36 episodes, 3 seasons)
  
• Generation X (Only one TV pilot movie! Didn't even get picked up as a series! And I loved the movie! Argh!)
  
• Strange Luck (One season, 27 episodes)
  
• Key West (One season, 13 episodes, co-starred my future wife Jennifer Tilly)
  

So all of these great and promising shows get canceled, and crap like Seinfeld and Friends got renewed year after year after excruciating year? What gives? Anyone have any theories?

Anyone have their own lists to reminisce about?

[TheLuckyOne]

As a fan of both Friends and Seinfeld, you're not winning my vote with that, and I didn't watch most of those shows. However, I'll grant you that The Critic and Eerie, Indiana should have gone on longer. To me, a show that lasts 70 episodes has had a decent run -- I might wish it had gone on longer, but I can't really say it was never given a chance. But yeah, some of those deserved more of a chance than they got. (As well as others left off the list, like Greg the Bunny and Wonderfalls.)

I'm as quick to decry stupid TV execs as the next guy when one of my favorite shows gets cancelled, but looking at it objectively: every show eventually gets worse than it was at its peak. I'm sure there are some exceptions, but that's an almost universal rule. The Twilight Zone had three outstanding seasons of some of the best television ever created, and then two okay seasons. If it'd only had three, would fans always wonder, Star Trek-style, what might have happened if it had continued on? Probably. Would the overall body of work have been stronger? Most likely. (Mind you, it's still an insanely strong body of work anyway.) I think most -- not all, but most -- fans would tell you that Buffy the Vampire Slayer would've been stronger overall if it'd ended after the third or fourth season. I love Scrubs and still think it's a great show, but I can admit that it's not as good as it used to be. (Seriously, JD, when did you turn into such a girl? That's what we call "Ross Syndrome.") And dear God, the X-Files... what the eff happened, Chris Carter?

I look at something like Arrested Development- I don't think there's ever been a show that I more wish had stayed on the air. I really, really wish they'd gotten to do another season. And you know, it might have been just as great as the three preceding it. But somewhere down the line -- maybe next season, maybe not for another three, but somewhere -- it would've started to slip. As it is, I still wish they'd been able to do more, but at least I can look at the three existing ones and say, "This is some near comedic perfection right here."

Now, when they cancel shows AND don't release them on DVD, then we have a problem.

-D

[bladestarr]

Sorry buddy, I just felt those two shows had the most vacant and unintelligent types of jokes out there. I forced myself to sit through about a half dozen episodes of each just to give them a chance.

Not one laugh escaped me. Nothing even made me smile.

Maybe it's just "sitcoms", I don't know. It just, doesn't do it for me.

[eatmyshorts]

I agree. Perfect example: Freaks and Geeks.

[PoolMan]

And along the same lines, Undeclared. (Freaks and Geeks' stepbrother)

[eatmyshorts]

I still haven't seen Undeclared!

Is it still sentimental and heartwarming like Freaks and Geeks was, or is it a lot of rowdy college humor?

[drew]

I still don't understand the comparison between Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Aside from the obvious connection in personnel (on- and off-camera) between the two, the shows are very different.

Undeclared tried much harder to be funny, but still wasn't nearly as funny as Freaks and Geeks. The characters weren't as likeable, the plots weren't as good, and the show as a whole lacked the feel of reality that Freaks and Geeks had. I kept watching (on DVD, not when it aired), waiting for it to be up to par with Freaks and Geeks (and the Apatow Productions that followed it), and it never was.

[PoolMan]

Oh, I agree, Drew. F&G was the better show. But I still liked Undeclared far more than I expected to. I think the reason everyone draws the parallel is the Apatow connection and the fact that they were both extremely high quality shows that should have lasted longer than a single season.

EMS, it's definitely not as heart-warming as F&G was. Not even close. But for a college show, it was refreshingly realistic and funny.

[sandrine]

Even if they don't cancel something, they make an excuse to end it by making is just plain bad. Viz:

Hustle. It was so good, so very good...and then Adrian Lester left, and so - it seemed - did the script writers' will to keep going.

ER. All the good characters are gone except Kovac, and he's only good for eye candy nowadays.

Rome. The first series was great, but then in the second they decided the only way to get viewers was to double the gratuitious nudity and X-rated content. And we all wanted to kill Cleopatra.

I'll admit that Doctor Who is still going strong, but it's only a matter of time - can anyone beat Chris Eccleston and David Tennant? And Torchwood's alright, but that episode with the faries where the crew did absolutely nothing was one step down a slippery slope...

Not much holds out these days. At least with Life On Mars they decided to end it after the second series because they didn't want it to get stale.

But look on the bright side! There are no bad episodes of Firefly and other short-lived series' because they didn't have a chance to make any - so we have quality, if not quantity.

[coccatino]

Sept 11, 2008 13:22:12 GMT -5 sandrine said:

ER. All the good characters are gone except Kovac, and he's only good for eye candy nowadays.

I'm with you! Bring back Carter! and Greene! and Ross! and pretty much anyone. Romano, even! geez!

[orangejesus]

Oh, God, doesn't ER suck of late?

I really dug that show, quite a bit.

As for short lived series, I'm still pining away for Studio 60 two years later.

And I wish with every fiber of my soul that Slings & Arrows had lasted longer than three years. I don't know where they would have gone, but I miss my Geoffrey/Oliver fix.

[coccatino]

Oh, did anyone watch The Class? I liked that one, was sad to see it go.

[Al]

Aug 7, 2008 19:40:13 GMT -5 @bladestarr said:

That's right, I've just been reminiscing about the past, and looking back, I've realized that ALL of my favorite shows get canceled WAY before they should be. Most of them never even get the chance to shine. It's like I'm doomed to live in a world where my tastes aren't reflected anywhere on the small screen. Want proof? Here you go.


My Favorite Shows:

• Eerie, Indiana (Nineteen episodes, 1 and a half seasons)
  
• VR.5(13 episodes, one season)
  
• Duckman(70 episodes, four seasons, could have lasted as long as the Simpsons!)
  
• Brimstone(13 episodes, one season, brilliant concept)
  
• Friday the 13th: The Series (72 episodes, 3 seasons)
  
• Freddy's Nightmares (44 episodes, two seasons)
  
• Farscape (Four seasons, 88 episodes, finished unresolved)
  
• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (Two years and 27 episodes, killed way too quick)
  
• Kindred: The Embraced (Eight episodes, didn't even get a chance to start)
  
• The Critic (23 episodes, 2 "and a half" seasons)
  
• The Tick (36 episodes, 3 seasons)
  
• Generation X (Only one TV pilot movie! Didn't even get picked up as a series! And I loved the movie! Argh!)
  
• Strange Luck (One season, 27 episodes)
  
• Key West (One season, 13 episodes, co-starred my future wife Jennifer Tilly)
  

So all of these great and promising shows get canceled, and crap like Seinfeld and Friends got renewed year after year after excruciating year? What gives? Anyone have any theories?

Anyone have their own lists to reminisce about?

I was just rereading the initial post here and noticed something: Friday the 13th: The Series lasted for three years? Seriously?

[starwenn]

One of my favorite TV shows of all time was "Remember WENN," one of the earliest shows on American Movie Classics. (So yeah, that means they're lying when they say "Mad Men" is their first original program. In this decade, maybe.) It eked out two seasons of 56 episodes, not a bad run for a show moved all over AMC's schedule and maimed by uncaring and obnoxious executives towards the end of its run. It was a lovely comedy-drama about the staff of a small-time radio station in Pittsburgh circa 1939-1941, filmed to look like a slightly faded period movie, with lots of great costumes and Art Deco sets. Alas, the show was cut off on a cliffhanger just as Pearl Harbor was announced and World War II began for the US.

[CheshireKat]

Peter Griffin: Everybody, I got bad news. We've been canceled.
Lois Griffin: Oh, no! Peter, how could they do that?
Peter Griffin: Well, unfortunately, Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We've just got to accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows, like "Dark Angel", "Titus", "Undeclared", "Action", "That '80s Show", "Wonder Falls", "Fastlane", "Andy Richter Controls the Universe", "Skin", "Girls Club", "Cracking Up", "The Pitts", "Firefly", "Get Real", "Freaky Links", "Wanda at Large", "Costello", "The Lone Gunmen", "A Minute with Stan Hooper", "Normal, Ohio", "Pasadena", "Harsh Realm", "Keen Eddie", "The Street", "American Embassy", "Cedric the Entertainer", "The Tick", "Louie", and "Greg the Bunny".
Lois Griffin: Is there no hope?
Peter Griffin: Well, I suppose if all those shows go down the tubes, we might have a shot.