That Canceled TV Show Thing
Jul. 3rd, 2004 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchIt's really going around... gakked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nmissi, miggy, nutmeg3, and a few others.
Name 10 TV shows you loved that got axed before their time (also known as, for a few of them, why haven't they made it to DVD yet???)
In absolutely no particular order, and I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one show that will make me have a V8 moment later...
1. Probe
-- Most people probably don't remember this show, but it's still one of my all-time favorites. It aired in the late 1980's and lasted for only eight episodes... starring Parker Stephenson as an eccentric and reclusive genius, with Ashley Crow playing his down to earth (but brainy in her own right) assistant. The series was the brainchild of Isaac Asimov and was fun, quirky and intelligent, with just a slight splash of potential romance thrown into the mix (the two leads certainly sparked, but the characters were such that I think they could have carried it and kept it interesting without ever moving into an actual relationship).
2. The Tick (the animated version) and The Tick (the live action version)
-- I put them together, because I liked them for the same reasons and they were essentially the same show in a different format. Plus, aside from toning down some of the language, they were practically "The Tick" comic book put on screen. I also have a thing for Arthur.
3. Wizards and Warriors
-- Dirk Blackpool was one of the coolest villains ever. The man wore so much leather he creaked when he walked!! And oh... did he know how to make an entrance. Okay, so the actors all have incredibly 80's hair and the show itself was high camp ... it never pretended to be anything else. It's great fodder for quotable dialogue, and did I mention Dirk Blackpool?
4. Angel
-- I hesitate a little to put this one down, because while I desperately wanted the show to keep going and would be ecstatic if I slipped into an alternate dimension to find it still on the air, I guess I'm actually pretty happy with the ending -- they never got the chance to make me hate any of the characters.
5. Max Headroom
-- C'mon, I can't be the only person who loved this show. I even still have my original video taped recordings of it around here somewhere. It was edgy, dark, funny and romantic.... what more could you want?
6. Futurama
-- I'm really not sure why this one was cancelled. At all. I believe it even had good ratings. Television executives are weird.
7. Farscape
-- See above regarding television executives. And I'll admit it's a little odd to have tossed this show in the list, considering I'm not quite through watching Season Two (please, please don't spoil me), but I'm loving it so far, people I trust say the ending sucked, so I'm gonna go with it.
8. Strange Luck
-- Quirky, fun, and original. I was a Chance/Angie shipper.
9. Jake 2.0
-- It was just starting to really pick up steam!! I mean, I liked the early episodes, but they were just beginning to build up enough background to throw in some story arcs... and I thought it was about to tip into the realm of incredibly good.
10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-- Hm. Hm. This one is tricky, because on one hand, I kinda think it should have ended after season five, and I kinda think it should have ended after the musical... but... I would have loved to see another season if it would have meant I'd have a chance to love the Scooby Gang again. It would have been nice to see them actually live with their epiphanies, instead of ending when it did, where it's so easy to assume that they followed old patterns and took nothing away from their experiences. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have put this one on the list... but I actually loved the show right up until the end, I just didn't love the "core four" anymore.
ETA: D'oh!!! Okay, scratch BtVS out of number 10 (or just toss up a number 11) and put in Firefly. I can't believe I forgot it! I guess because I'm so buzzed about the movie, it doesn't seem like it's actually over yet.
nmissi, miggy, nutmeg3, and a few others.Name 10 TV shows you loved that got axed before their time (also known as, for a few of them, why haven't they made it to DVD yet???)
In absolutely no particular order, and I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one show that will make me have a V8 moment later...
1. Probe
-- Most people probably don't remember this show, but it's still one of my all-time favorites. It aired in the late 1980's and lasted for only eight episodes... starring Parker Stephenson as an eccentric and reclusive genius, with Ashley Crow playing his down to earth (but brainy in her own right) assistant. The series was the brainchild of Isaac Asimov and was fun, quirky and intelligent, with just a slight splash of potential romance thrown into the mix (the two leads certainly sparked, but the characters were such that I think they could have carried it and kept it interesting without ever moving into an actual relationship).
2. The Tick (the animated version) and The Tick (the live action version)
-- I put them together, because I liked them for the same reasons and they were essentially the same show in a different format. Plus, aside from toning down some of the language, they were practically "The Tick" comic book put on screen. I also have a thing for Arthur.
3. Wizards and Warriors
-- Dirk Blackpool was one of the coolest villains ever. The man wore so much leather he creaked when he walked!! And oh... did he know how to make an entrance. Okay, so the actors all have incredibly 80's hair and the show itself was high camp ... it never pretended to be anything else. It's great fodder for quotable dialogue, and did I mention Dirk Blackpool?
4. Angel
-- I hesitate a little to put this one down, because while I desperately wanted the show to keep going and would be ecstatic if I slipped into an alternate dimension to find it still on the air, I guess I'm actually pretty happy with the ending -- they never got the chance to make me hate any of the characters.
5. Max Headroom
-- C'mon, I can't be the only person who loved this show. I even still have my original video taped recordings of it around here somewhere. It was edgy, dark, funny and romantic.... what more could you want?
6. Futurama
-- I'm really not sure why this one was cancelled. At all. I believe it even had good ratings. Television executives are weird.
7. Farscape
-- See above regarding television executives. And I'll admit it's a little odd to have tossed this show in the list, considering I'm not quite through watching Season Two (please, please don't spoil me), but I'm loving it so far, people I trust say the ending sucked, so I'm gonna go with it.
8. Strange Luck
-- Quirky, fun, and original. I was a Chance/Angie shipper.
9. Jake 2.0
-- It was just starting to really pick up steam!! I mean, I liked the early episodes, but they were just beginning to build up enough background to throw in some story arcs... and I thought it was about to tip into the realm of incredibly good.
10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-- Hm. Hm. This one is tricky, because on one hand, I kinda think it should have ended after season five, and I kinda think it should have ended after the musical... but... I would have loved to see another season if it would have meant I'd have a chance to love the Scooby Gang again. It would have been nice to see them actually live with their epiphanies, instead of ending when it did, where it's so easy to assume that they followed old patterns and took nothing away from their experiences. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have put this one on the list... but I actually loved the show right up until the end, I just didn't love the "core four" anymore.
ETA: D'oh!!! Okay, scratch BtVS out of number 10 (or just toss up a number 11) and put in Firefly. I can't believe I forgot it! I guess because I'm so buzzed about the movie, it doesn't seem like it's actually over yet.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-07-04 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-04 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-04 01:32 pm (UTC)-- See above regarding television executives. And I'll admit it's a little odd to have tossed this show in the list, considering I'm not quite through watching Season Two (please, please don't spoil me), but I'm loving it so far, people I trust say the ending sucked, so I'm gonna go with it. >>
I wouldn't say it ended badly so much as prematurely, something the miniseries will - I fervently hope - remedy. The producers expected to have a 5th season, so they wrote a cliffhanger, not a series finale. Thing is, it was one frelling hell of a cliff. The mini is going to resolve that and essentially strip the filler eps from their planned S5 and play out the story to a natural - and I pray happy - end.
Bwaaah!
Date: 2004-07-06 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 02:19 am (UTC)Prematurely cancelled for me would include Cupid, with Jeremy Piven. The writing was good, the actors were good, what was ABC's problem? Oh yeah, Paula Marshall reminds me: Sports Night.
The ending of Out of This World really left us hanging. Where did Evie go?
Also, Aaron's Way. I thought that was neat at the time.
I can also think of several pilots that were released as TV movies that I would have liked see continue: something called The Gifted One, Earth Star Voyager (um. I wrote something that we would now probably call fanfic for that -- I was 11); and more I've forgotten. The thing that got me with those was they could have been great shows or sucky shows, but they never got a chance. And now I realize they had one thing in common: a sci-fi element. Hmm. Now I feel cynical.
Since writing the above, I've wasted a half hour looking for more. Yikes!
OT
Date: 2004-08-15 04:50 am (UTC)