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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 4, 2011 13:08:10 GMT -5
We all know of shows like this, they showed great potential but had the axe dropped on them before they could blossom into true masterpieces. These shows are gone but never forgotten.
So far I have three in mind.
1. Firefly.
Originally airing on fox, king of killing great shows, with 14 episodes, a few of which never making it to air. Spawning a theatrical movie, "Serenity", and quite a few comic mini-series. A space western better then most land westerns, with a amazing ensemble cast that have mostly gone on to successful shows and movies.
Truly a great sci-fi franchise killed before it could reach it's height.
2. Dead Like Me.
First aired on Showtime, this aired for 2 seasons amounting to 29 episodes. A few years after it was ended it was given a DTV movie that never quite matched up to the series. The story of a girl killed by a falling toilet seat and given a second chance at life as a grim reaper. Again with a great cast and a concept that could really be heavy darkness and depression, yet it finds humor in the morbid and makes you think about the petty things we waste our precious short time on.
3. Reaper.
Airing on CW in it's second season as a network, it ran for 31 episodes over two seasons with no media tie-ins or spin-offs that I know of.
Certainly not as great as the previous 2 shows, but still pretty good. This ones a mixture of Supernatural and Dead Like Me, starring a slacker turned reaper who works to recapture escaped souls from hell for the devil while trying to maintain a normal life. This is a good comedy that, like the others, showed potential but was cut down before it could shine.
So what are some of your favorites?
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Post by strangely on Dec 4, 2011 20:35:27 GMT -5
Yes Firefly is a definite favorite of mine. But here's a few others I love but regret their cancellation.
Arrested Development was an awesome comedy, but it only lasted three seasons.
Futurama, another Fox show, lasted for four seasons. Fox mistreated this show, the last two seasons were broken up miserably and many of the episodes didn't air at all. Comedy Central picked it up not too long ago, but its not the same (Not that it doesn't have its moments...).
Pushing Daisies was a short lived show, only two seasons. It was an incredible show basically a murder mystery show with a candy coated look. A fantastic show that mixed very different genres into a unique entity.
Greg the Bunny. A very unique puppet comedy on fox starring Sarah Silverman and Seth Green before they were very popular.
Freakazoid. A hilarious 90's cartoon that only got a measly two seasons with just slightly over twenty episodes total.
Freaks and Geeks. A great show, only had one season, and it has a lot of really popular people in it before they were famous (James Franco, Linda Cardellini, Sth Rogen).
Honorable Mention:
Mystery Science Theater 3000. Okay in reality this show had a dazzling 10 season run, but no matter what anyone else says this is a show that deserved much more. It was canceled twice and both times it related to the networks wanting to change their image. To add insult to injury this was a show that helped cement Comedy Central and helped Syfy Channel through a transitional period. MST3K helped their networks a lot and in return the networks canceled with little thought.
Those are just a few off the top of my head. I honestly think networks need to stop being so trigger happy with canceling (I mean most of these shows ended up have a ridiculous following after cancellation, I hope these networks feel silly for what they did).
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 5, 2011 7:18:26 GMT -5
I never watched Freaks and Geeks or Pushing Daisies, but I know Pushing Daisies was created by Brian Fuller who created Dead Like Me. From what I've heard about it it was kinda Dead Like Me mixed with the comic series Chew, which is in TV development as well.
Can't believe I forgot about Arrested Development, a great show but I'm not surprised it didn't make it here in America. It had more of a British sensibility to it. We're closer everyday to getting new episodes and a movie, and this time they say it is happening!
Greg the bunny was resurrected on IFC but never to great success.
Freakazoid was another one of those great 90's cartoons, along with Animaniacs, that just never got a fair rub.
I didn't count Futurama because it has been brought back. But your correct, it's not as great as last time. But I'm glad it got another shot.
And here's a new one, and it almost makes me want to change the title of this thread to "how FOX screwed up".
The Tick. Starring Patrick Warburton as the title hero, this series only lasted 9 episodes on, you guessed it, the FOX network. Since FOX didn't own the series they never promoted it which lead to nobody knowing about it and watching stuff like survivor instead. Almost everybody involved has expressed strong interest in doing some continuation of this show, whether it's taking the show somewhere else or doing a movie.
And since this is a Scooby-Doo board I have to include "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo". With just 13 episodes this one is one of the best series in franchise history, by far the best of the Scrappy years, and they never did catch that last demon. I always wished they's finish it off with a DTV but it's doubtful that'll ever happen.
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Post by Ross on Dec 5, 2011 8:14:34 GMT -5
Stargate Universe: I'm a massive Stargate fan, but admittidly, they lost me during the second season of SGU. However I don't think Syfy didn't give this show a fair chance. They cancelled it before they could tie anything up, and the second season wasn't even released on Blu-ray in the US. The SG-1 and Atlantis movies were also cancelled, so nothing is really gonna get wrapped up.
The Dresden Files: Based on the books by Jim Butcher, this is another show Syfy screwed with. Not only did they cancel it after only 12 episodes, they took the two hour pilot{based on the first book}, edited it down to 42 minutes, and aired it as episode 7.
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronacles: This is one of those shows Fox cancelled. But at least they gave it a full second season.
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Post by strangely on Dec 5, 2011 9:10:19 GMT -5
Futurama and Greg the Bunny I added because even though they were brought back they were never as good (In the case of Greg the Bunny it's later seasons had little to do with the original show, in fact the IFC seasons seem almost like a spin-off or reboot).
I feel like I should mention A Pup Named Scooby Doo, it had a short run and really never got what it deserved. Come to think of it if SDMI does get another season of 26 episodes I think it will actually be the Scooby incarnation with the most episodes (Generally each run has around 30 episodes or less, with as popular as Scooby is you'd think at least one incarnation would have a decent run).
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 5, 2011 11:28:22 GMT -5
Didn't the Stargate franchise get shuffled around a lot from the start? Or am I thinking of a different series?
Terminator seemed to be quite well liked, I never watched it myself but I rarely heard anything bad about it. I generally heard it was the best part of the franchise other then T2.
I know what ya mean. Greg the bunny cameback worse off then Futurama, just my opinion, cause it never came back with the entire cast intact. But it did get a spin-off, "Warren the ape", which I haven't seen so I can't speak to it's quality.
Very true, Pup is one of my favorite series also.
I think "What's New" holds the record at 39, so yeah SD:MI will set the record with 52.
The original Munsters only had 2 seasons as well. It has had a few TV movies and a reboot is in the works masterminded by Brian Fuller. So looks like it'll get another shot at the brass ring.
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Post by strangely on Dec 5, 2011 19:09:47 GMT -5
Your also forgetting the 80's continuation of the Munsters which lasted for 3 seasons. It sort of baffles me that they could be brought back not once but twice.
Also we're forgetting to add every Spider-Man show to the list. Live action or cartoon I can't think of any incarnation that wasn't killed off quickly (The 90's cartoon had 6 seasons but was canceled with a cliffhanger, so I'd say it was canceled before its time). Of course about half those incarnations deserved it, but the other half didn't.
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 6, 2011 7:45:10 GMT -5
Yeah, that's right! That show is very strange. In the combined 5 seasons it had over 140 episodes, then there was like 4 TV movies, it almost had a theatrical movie, and now the reboot. So you raise a very interesting question: why do people love that franchise so much?
I always liked it but I don't think it was particularly groundbreaking in anyway.
Yeah, a very mixed bag on the spidey front.
Lois and Clark: the new adventures of Superman was a decent show that ended with no resolution as well. They find a baby on their doorstep and who knows what after that.
Not a great show by any stretch of the imagination but it was good for what it was.
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Post by Ross on Dec 6, 2011 18:40:42 GMT -5
Didn't the Stargate franchise get shuffled around a lot from the start? Or am I thinking of a different series? Stargate aired on Showtime for the first five seasons. After Showtime decided not to pick it up, it found new life on Sci Fi. Thanks to syfy, it now has a impressive 17 seasons combined and 300+ episodes. Yes, it was. It was a really good show. Also we're forgetting to add every Spider-Man show to the list. Live action or cartoon I can't think of any incarnation that wasn't killed off quickly (The 90's cartoon had 6 seasons but was canceled with a cliffhanger, so I'd say it was canceled before its time). Of course about half those incarnations deserved it, but the other half didn't. The 90's show and the MTV series is what really gets to me. Especially the MTV series. That was terrible. |
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 8, 2011 9:08:57 GMT -5
This is totally of topic but, What was Sci-Fi genre show was it that was on USA then Sci-Fi?
And it starred Summer Glau, Firefly's very own River tam.
I wasn't a big fan of that MTV show because It had that dead plastic CGI like NickToons' Ironboy cartoon.
Speaking of Ironboy, whatever happened to that show? I'd heard it was getting a second season but I never heard anymore about it. Did I miss it?
When you say it was terrible, do you mean the whole show or just the cliffhanger?
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Dec 19, 2011 3:29:16 GMT -5
I recently remembered another animated series, this time from axed by ABC.
Clerks: the animated series. Based on Kevin Smith's "veiwaskeniverse" and it's characters, it ran for 2 episodes on ABC, with a total of 6 being produced and later released on dvd. Much like fox did with Firefly, ABC decided it would be fun to air the episodes out of order. They aired the fourth episode first and the second episode second, though it was a flashback episode to the intended first episode. Adult swim has since aired all six episodes in the order they were intended to be.
It was a really funny show that had a lot of referances to pop culture, much like Kev's movies.
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Post by Scooby-Doom! on Aug 20, 2012 22:30:16 GMT -5
The newest slaughtered show to be added to the list is AWAKE.
It aired for 13 episodes on NBC this year from march to may.
if your a comicbook fan and you missed this show, you oughta be ashamed of yourself.
The story of one Detective who has two lives. Literally.
After a car accident his reality is split in two, one where his son survived the crash and one where his wife survived.
Over the 13 episodes he learns that the accident was anything but.
Brought down without even getting a chance, story of this thread huh?
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