I thought The Unit died an early death. The wife-drama could get a little tedious at times, but overall, it was one badass show. I was a big fan of The West Wing and thought that they could have kept that show going by bringing in a new administration every 4/8 seasons. I've been watching Oz on HBO Zone weeknights which was/is a great show. With the way characters literally get killed off, that show could have gone on for decades. Personally, I don't think we have enough police dramas that involve forensics.
Doctor, Doctor A sit-com starring Matt Frewer about a family doctor and his hi-jinks was piss-ass hilarious, and criminally only ran two seasons. I rmember it as a kid and is was laugh-a-minute. The Greatest American Hero This was the first show I ever watched as a kid, and proved my love for it by putting on a cape and leaping down an entire flight of stair when I was five years old, nearly killing myself. I remember barely anything about the show, except for its unforgettable theme song and that is was about a super hero with curly hair that flew (i.e crashed) into lots of things. Deadwood Deadwood being cancelled just proves that I'm right about how many stupid people there are in the world. This show flipped the Western on its ear dispelling the rootin' tootin' six-gun-shootin' old west and exposing it as a filthy, profane and disgustingly cold-blooded era. Men Behaving Badly (USA version) Rob Schnieder and Ron Eldard were hysterical in this highly relatable and real sit-com, then they replaced Eldard in the second season and the show tanked. It was really funny, and they ruined it for no reason. Watch Season 1 if you can, especially the part where Scnieder uses his dirty tighty-whiteys as a coffee filter.
focus: I am probably the only person who liked The War at Home. I was disappointed when it was canceled after season 2, but looking back it might have gotten bad if it had continued. Still, I think that it was deserving of another season. The mom and daughter were hot, too, so that was a plus. I wish that they would release season 2 on DVD. Clerks: The Animated Series: I am a big fan of Kevin Smith's "View Askew" movies, so this one is a given. It was canceled after only six episodes, and I think it could have been good for at least a few seasons. alt-focus: I will state the obvious and say The Simpsons. I love seasons 3-8, but after that it went downhill and never recovered. Now they are on season 22! Yeah... 24: I liked seasons 1-5, even if they are kind of a guilty pleasure. But seasons 6-8 were just awful, and should have never been made. I will second That '70s Show, except that I thought season 7 was also pretty bad, even if it did provide a good ending point.
I'm sure I'll be alone on this one, but I think Kings should have been given more of a chance. I enjoyed it, but that could be largely in part due to Ian McShane being in it. It was sort of like watching a network friendly "Deadwood". The Fry Guy brought up old 80's shows, and I immediately thought of Manimal which centered on a guy who could change into a hawk or a black panther. As a kid I thought it was awesome, but judging by a recent viewing of Sid and Marty Kroft's Land of the Lost my judgment as a kid was shit. Someone please tell me they remember those shows and reassure me I'm not too old to be here.
I watched a lot of that on the BBC when I was in Europe once because it was the only thing on in English. Here is every scene from Sports Night. I don't remember the character names, so let's call them Andy, Bob, and Charlie:
Profit -I fucking loved this show. It was about an executive in a large company who used every underhanded trick in the book and move his way up the ladder while ruining everyone else in his way. I'm convinced this show would be a hit today but back in the early nineties audiences just weren't ready for this kind of show.
I'm going to go with Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Both were Judd Apatow creations that involved a lot of the stars of today's biggest comedies and movies (Seth Rogen, Jame Franco, Jason Segal). Both were canceled after one season but were hits with critics.
Even though it wasn't canceled, Lost ended way too soon for me. The more I think of how they ended it with the peachy-keen "We'll always be together in the all-inclusive afterlife", the angrier I get. While I understood that absolutely everything wouldn't be explained, the producers promised a lot more answers than they delivered.Another season wouldn't have hurt.
Fastlane: A great cop show about two undercover detectives who had a huge warehouse of nice cars and virtually unlimited bankroll to use. Was one for one season, ended on a cliffhanger, then Fox canceled it since it was a fairly expensive show to film (heard $2.6 million per episode to shoot). Seeing Tiffani Thiessen play a lesbian in charge was never a bad thing either. Undergrads: An amazing cartoon about 4 childhood friends in their first year of college that aired in 2001. Was on for one season before The Comedy Network gave it the axe. The only fault the show had was having to listen to Good Charlotte doing the theme song.
I definitely have to second The Unit. The family, wife stuff got pretty old, but the secret unit, black ops shit was really solid. I also thought the actors were perfect for their rolls, again only referencing the military side of things. Pretty awesome show, I think I'm going to go watch an episode right now...and cry that they canceled it.
Focus: Jericho was up and canceled just when it was starting to get good. Seriously, post-apocalyptic second American Civil War? I think part of what attracted me to the show was the setting feeling so similar to where I grew up, and where I live now. It also appeals to a part of me that wants to use skills and knowledge that I have, but are just not called for in our society today where everything can be provided for us. Alt. Focus: CSI, Law 'n' Order, and all their inane spinoffs where the cops are always right and always lock up the guilty man.
Playmakers. It was the football drama that aired on ESPN for a year before the NFL bitched and moaned and had them remove it because it dramatized how awful the professional football life could be. I loved that show. This is kinda timely because I've spent the past few weeks lamenting the fact that my favorite TV show of recent years that hasn't been on HBO on Showtime, Greek, is about to come to an end on Monday. Its only been four seasons. The plots have gotten more compelling and more realistic....and then the stupid network just decides to end its run. Networks are fucking stupid. Case in point- Deadwood cancellation.
Focus- The Goode Family- I've raved about it before on here, but I think its lone season is right up there with the very best from The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, and Beavis and Butthead. It was THAT hilarious. The episode with the white supremacist prisoners is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen on a television. When Mike Judge created a funny satire of hill-billies called "King of the Hill", it ran for 13 seasons to unanimous acclaim. Sadly, when he created an even funnier satire of liberal yuppies, it gets canceled after just one. Fucking bullshit. Brimstone- A show that ran for one season on Fox before being played sporadically on Sci-Fi for the last decade, where I discovered it. A dead cop goes back to Earth from Hell to hunt 113 evil escaped souls, aided by a very humorous version of Satan. It had a standard "monster of the week" formula, but what distinguished it was the solid humor and action throughout, never taking itself too seriously, aided by both strong acting from both the cop and his sidekick Satan. It wasn't anything special, but it was an entertaining show that held my interest, something I can't say for 90 plus percent of the slop I have seen on the tube. Alt-Focus- The Simpsons; at some point (I think something like season 13), the shows just became chock full of idiotic pop culture references and guest appearances, meandering and unfunny storylines, and lost the humor and satire that once made it so great. Edit- I agree; that was a decent show. I also liked ESPN's "Tilt" which, despite a lot of problems, had its hilarious moments, especially Michael Madsen as a gangster, murdering top poker pro.
Alt-Focus:I'm surprised this thread went on for so long without mentioning Scrubs. The last season where they're all teaching in a classroom and James Franco's brother is the new Todd. It got stupid before that, but the last season or so was the worst.
Seconded. Oh so badly. Deadwood was unbelievably bad ass, and I was really ready for an unbelievable showdown between Swearengen and Hearst in a fourth season. Instead, HBO treated us to John from Cincinnati. Of course, I am biased: I could probably be entertained by a show with a premise of just this guy and Ian McShane saying cocksucker to each other.
Wiseguy was another one that got axed too young (but I think Ken Wahl's ego had a lot to do with that). Kevin Spacey was outstanding as Mel Profitt. Even with all the cable channels out there today, I've only seen this come around in syndication once, and that was ages ago.
Oh let the red dots fly with a fury that may have never be reached on this board. While I agree that, yes, Arrested Development was one of the best written and acted sitcoms ever, the straws of that show were being grasped long before they knew they were getting cancelled. To me, this is where the debate between AD and Firefly ends. AD told what it set out to tell in under 3 complete seasons, (yes they were rushed by the uncertainty of being cancelled halfway through the 3rd season, but that storyline was absurdly convoluted anyway). Did you really want to see the George-Michael and Maebe will they/won't they dragged on another 2 seasons? There was nowhere left to go. They had fallen back on every joke and call back already. It obviously makes sense that the show took off in popularity when it went to DVD and episodes could be watched back to back to back to back. Yes, it's far superior writing when you set up jokes that sometimes don't get paid off for several episodes but you can not blame any viewer for not laughing at the fact that Buster says "I never thought I'd miss a hand so much" when he gets his hand chair back and then a few episodes later gets his hand bitten off. Yeah, the show was written far smarter than average Two and a Half viewer idiot would comprehend but I have never understood why people believe it was the greatest injustice in the history of television. In stark contrast, Firefly is a show that could have gone on forever. They would never have needed to write themselves into corners. That show being cancelled is far more of an injustice. I'm just as big of a fan of AD as anyone, and recognize the rare gift of A+ writing coupled with every lead actor/actress playing their part as well as it could possibly be played, but enough with the bullshit. I'll keep the faith for the movie coming out sometime in my life but can everyone stop crying over the injustice and start watching Community before you idiots get that show cancelled then come back in 3 years and complain about how awesome that show was and never got the viewership it deserved.
Skyello Video Jokes directed at SheGirl: Could have gone on much longer, really... it never got old. Unfortunately there was some tension building among the cast, so it was dropped in order to keep the family functional. I hear there's a spin-off in the works though.