Top 10 Brilliant But Canceled

[Pilot Ace]

Not a bad list, haven't seen some of those shows myself. Maybe I will now.

Wouldn't disagree with too many on that list, except Jake 2.0. WTF?

Oh man, don't hate on Jake 2.0. It was good, I swear! So much potential.

I really liked, and miss, John Doe.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Me too, me too.

 

[Aragorn]

I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

And as much as I love Bruce Campbell and Brisco County, watching that show again on DVD, it has not aged well. The writing is really goofy, cheesy, repetitive and if it came out today, a lot of people wouldn't be able to put up with its earnest nature and family-friendliness.

Boomtown, now there's a great show that got axed before its prime.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

2. Wonderfalls, created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland.

This reminds me--apparently, Wonderfalls may have a mini-crossover of sorts with season two of Pushing Daisies.

Link.

Spoiler: Minor "Pushing Daisies" spoiler.

"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

 

[Lindley]

I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Well, for my own part, I didn't start discovering Joss' work until after I saw Firefly. It stands just fine apart from his name recognition.

 

[Harvey]

Firefly is an easy choice (although I must note that I care little for the movie version). For the record, I've never had enough interest to see more than an isolated episode each of any other Whedon show.

And, after tearing through most of the first season on DVD with a blind buy, I have to make a shout out for Alien Nation. The show offers a more complexly developed alien race than I have seen on any other television series, and despite being a product of the 1980s manages to tackle more adult topics that are still relevant 20 years later than most of what is on television today. A quick google search surprised me in finding that there isn't a lot of information out there about the show. A shame, really. A damned, damned shame.

For one that isn't on your list, I have to mention the Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade. Yes, it had its missteps, and risked reteading themes of its parent series, but compared to the first 13 hours of Babylon 5 (and also comparing the pilot movies The Gathering and A Call To Arms) it was a far, far superior program at that stage.

 

[PsychoPere]

I only saw it on Sci-Fi a year or so after it was canceled by ABC, but I've always been disappointed that Strange World ended. It was about a doctor working for the US military, investigating criminal abuses of science, while he was also trying to determine how and why he was cured of Gulf War Syndrome by a "shadowy organization." Strange World could be compared to The X-Files, but its thirteen episodes felt distinct enough to me that it could've survived if it had been given a chance. It was created by Howard Gordon and Tim Kring, and was one of the first shows Tim Minear worked on.

 

[Brian]

I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Well, for my own part, I didn't start discovering Joss' work until after I saw Firefly. It stands just fine apart from his name recognition.

And I'm one who thought Firefly was brilliant and can't sit through an entire episode of anything else from Whedon.

EDIT: I should clarify that I mean primarily Buffy and Angel. I do find Dr. Horrible quite enjoyable!

 

[msbae]

I'm not surprised Firefly is on this list. That was a pretty good show and it should come back.

Personally, I'm upset that the re-imagining/relaunch of Bionic Woman didn't survive the writer's strike. I was really liking that show and the star (Michelle Ryan) is hawt.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

9. Nowhere Man, created by Lawrence Hertzog. UPN. Original run: August 1995 to May 1996. Number of episodes: 25

One of the most frustrating things that can happen when a show is yanked before its time is a denial of answers to a big, over-arching mystery. That's what happened in the case of Nowhere Man, about a photographer (played by Bruce Greenwood), who takes a controversial picture in a South American war zone and suddenly finds his identity erased by a covert, possibly governmental, organization. Nowhere Man incorporated elements of The Fugitive and The Prisoner, but unlike those shows, it never got an epic final episode, leaving fans (dozens of them) to wonder forever (or for a few weeks at least) about the significance of that fateful photograph.

I must quibble. I watched Nowhere Man from episode 1 to episode 25 - and it's ending was perfect. The show sagged somewhat in the middle, but had an incredibly strong beginning and end. The mysterious, unresolved ending was right in keeping with the tone of the show, and the ending line, same as the first, wrapped up all the issues of identity, secrets and lies, and the nature of the unknowable that had been the core of the series.

"My name is Thomas Veil..."


I might add to your list Witchblade. While it's second season was lame, the first season was brilliant. The first and only time a reset button being pushed was so integral and logical to the story. Well acted, well-produced, great storyline, excellent villain, fabulous heroine - and it actually improved on the source material, being much more character based and wasting far less time on cheesecake.

 

[Stevil2001]

Spoiler: Minor "Pushing Daisies" spoiler.

"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

It's been ages since I've seen Wonderfalls-- who on Earth was this person?

 

[Nedersong]

Firefly and Nowhereman were underwhelming shows at best.

I did like john doe and Jake 2.0 but they weren't really sci-fi, or extremely light on the sci0fi.

And I don't like when shows are canceled without a wrap-up to their storyline as well.

Some would love the show Dark Angel.

And some of those shows are shown on the Sci-Fi channel, including Jake 2.0 and John Doe.

 

[FreezeC77]

Alien Nation didn't seem like it was only on for one season, I guess because of the movies. But I honestly always thought the series had lasted 2 or 3 seasons.

 

[Neroon]

I liked Firefly but a lot of people here wet themselves unconditionally at just the thought of Joss Whedon. If it had been a Whedon-less show but with the same results, I doubt people here would be treating its cancellation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Well, for my own part, I didn't start discovering Joss' work until after I saw Firefly. It stands just fine apart from his name recognition.

Ditto for me with my fellow mod. I had never watched a minute of any other Whedon produced show before I watched - and immensely enjoyed - "Firefly".

 

[TheArsenal]

The only show that I really was upset that they cancelled after one season is Journeyman.

I really liked that show. One of my favorites of last year. In truth, however, the ratings were so miserable that I was resigned to never seeing a second season and was just glad to see the entirety of the first. In anything but a strike year, it would have been gone in three episodes.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

My list is better than SyFyPortal's.

1) Carnivale
2) MillenniuM
3) Farscape
4) Firefly
5) Justice League Unlimited
6) Jericho
7) Journeyman
8) Samurai Jack
9) The 4400
10) ???

An honorable mention goes to The Dead Zone, which was cancelled after its third season, with somehow six seasons worth of DVDs existing somewhere.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Spoiler: Minor "Pushing Daisies" spoiler.

"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

It's been ages since I've seen Wonderfalls-- who on Earth was this person?

She's the one who bakes Muffins, the Buffalo tells Jaye not to give her her disability cheques that have mistakenly been posted in Jaye's mailbox.

 

[RevdKathy]

No mention for Sapphire and Steel.

 

[Brian]

Spoiler: Minor "Pushing Daisies" spoiler.

"Wonderfalls" lives! Sort of. The character Mary Ann Marie Beetle, seen in the "Muffin Buffalo" episode of Fuller's canceled Fox series, will appear in a crossover episode. (Update: According to a podcast of the panel, Fuller said he "wants to" bring her back, not that it's a definite.) Fuller says he'd love to have snarky Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) appear in the sunny "Daisies" world as well. Also, Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom, has a recurring role in Season 2's first three episodes.

It's been ages since I've seen Wonderfalls-- who on Earth was this person?

Spoiler: Plot of Wonderfalls episode: "Muffin Buffalo"

It was the episode where Jaye hid the disability checks of the woman who bakes muffins in her trailer park, because the buffalo on the woman's apron tells her to. It was also the episode where Jaye was taking pix of her neighbor "Fat Pat". The fat substitute in the woman's muffins makes Pat lose a bunch of weight ('cause that stuff will fly right through you), Jaye reveals that she held back the woman's checks, and the woman thanks her for helping her save enough money to start a weight-loss muffin business.

Anyhow, Mary Ann Marie Beetle is the muffin baker, played by Beth Grant, the hilarious actress now starring in Sordid Lives on the LOGO network.

EDIT: Got distracted while typing (stupid boss!), so Bob The Skutter beat me to it. Left here for completeness.

 

[darthraidr]

Firefly, SAAB, Crusade. B5: LOTR

Good Versus Evil, anybody remember that show? I thought it was hilarious.

i do remember GvE... i hope it gets released on DVD sometime.

another brilliant but cancelled show: futurama. sure they have movies now, but it isnt the same. it never should have been canceled.

 

[Derishton]

I'd agree with Ben Sisko3 about Carnivale. A rare show that took its time yet somehow advanced the plot and gave you new information with each episode.