Shows which died before their time

[Kielgasten]

Hmm, no love for Rome?
I would have loved for that show to continue!

Also, Kim Possible! Best cartoon comedy ever

 

[hyzaku]

Samurai Jack. One more season, and we could have finished the series. But no! Apparently children don't like shows with a more mature writing style than "There is the bad guy! Get 'em!"

He's hoping to one day make a movie wrapping it up, something that I will gladly pay to see myself. I enjoyed the show.

Wolverine and the X-men. Finally a good X-men TV show that I think was on par with the 90's cartoon show, and because of infighting with television stations, the show gets cancelled after one season. Anyone here seen the final episode? Tragic how the show just ends that way.

Also, Spectacular Spider-Man, Yin-Yang-Yo, Outlaw Star, and Reboot. I'm sure there are other shows, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Um, you do know that Outlaw Star finished right? As in they ended their story properly and were not actually cancelled. All 26 episodes can be found on DVD and on the internet.

 

[Titan Buttons]

Life on Mars, so many questions unanswered in a speedy finally
Life, finnished the second season and then they just decided not to make a 3rd

 

[Risingblade]

Baby Blues I freaking love that show

 

[Elijah Ball]

freakin legend of the seeker. should not have been canceled.

 

[Ickorus]

Heroes, I know some may argue it ran on too long but I wish there was a proper ending to it, it looked like it was about to get interesting.

 

[kingcom]

snip

Ok if you don't like it fair enough I know it departed far from the Stargate norm but I just want to make a point that the series was in decline anyway. If it wasn't the things like Ark of Truth and Continuum wouldn't of been the movies. SGA also did quite crap in its first and second seasons as far as I remember but back then the show had enough steam to keep it going to a point where it was viable. The problem I have with SGU being cancelled is that they needed to set up those big story arcs they planned for which is why it was shit at the start. It was only starting to find itself. So take from that what you will.

My big problem with the show is that i disliked, even hated most of the characters. It makes it very difficult to care what happens to them when you establish that mindset from episode 1.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

snip

Ok if you don't like it fair enough I know it departed far from the Stargate norm but I just want to make a point that the series was in decline anyway. If it wasn't the things like Ark of Truth and Continuum wouldn't of been the movies. SGA also did quite crap in its first and second seasons as far as I remember but back then the show had enough steam to keep it going to a point where it was viable. The problem I have with SGU being cancelled is that they needed to set up those big story arcs they planned for which is why it was shit at the start. It was only starting to find itself. So take from that what you will.

My big problem with the show is that i disliked, even hated most of the characters. It makes it very difficult to care what happens to them when you establish that mindset from episode 1.

I see what you mean and this is always a problem with spin off shows. I hated most of SGAs cast at the start but as they became fleshed out I learned to like them as much if not more than some of the original team.

 

[robotam]

The 4400.
Reaper
My Name Is Earl.
Arrested Development
The Unit (was it cancelled, or did it just end?)

I'm sure there are many more, but can't think of them at the minute.
Also, I've never seen Firefly.

 

[Temah]

So many people syaing firefly, how can there still not be enough of an audience for it to be viable.

 

[Gaiseric]

Thought of another one: Mystery Science Theater 3000. I know it wasn't canceled and even had an ending, but I would very much wish it would have kept going.

 

[thefire]

Pure Pwnage, that show was great but one of the cast died and that just destroyed it. If you havent seen this i would highly recommend it.

The Hollowmen, this one is a satire about the australian political system, doesn't sound interesting but believe me it is increadibly funny, only had 2 seasons and it is my favorite TV series of all time.

 

[kingcom]

snip

Ok if you don't like it fair enough I know it departed far from the Stargate norm but I just want to make a point that the series was in decline anyway. If it wasn't the things like Ark of Truth and Continuum wouldn't of been the movies. SGA also did quite crap in its first and second seasons as far as I remember but back then the show had enough steam to keep it going to a point where it was viable. The problem I have with SGU being cancelled is that they needed to set up those big story arcs they planned for which is why it was shit at the start. It was only starting to find itself. So take from that what you will.

My big problem with the show is that i disliked, even hated most of the characters. It makes it very difficult to care what happens to them when you establish that mindset from episode 1.

I see what you mean and this is always a problem with spin off shows. I hated most of SGAs cast at the start but as they became fleshed out I learned to like them as much if not more than some of the original team.

With SGA, i didnt hate, i found them boring. Problem is, i hate Scott, hes an ass and the first thing we learn about him is that he sleeps around. I hate Rush, hes a selfish prick who is willing to put everyone at risk for his own illogical purposes. I hate the governor/senator's daughter, she offered nothing to the team and immediately sleeps with the ass and then gets captured. I hate sergeant "deck angry marine everytime he freaks out", hes got daddy issues, fine, whats he doing being put on a top secret base on another planet then? Their psychological profiles are that bad?

 

[josemlopes]

Titan Maximum, only started to watch it recently but with only 11 episodes, one of them being 20 minutes and the others 11 its just kind of a 100m movie, sadly it ends in the middle of something that just screams "Continues".

 

[Azrael the Cat]

Stargate Universe. Hasn't been cut yet but it has been announced.
That show is awesome.

It didn't feel like stargate imo it was trying to hard at being BSG and a teen drama imo. I hope to the ancients that universe doesn't kill the franchise however. And yes I have watched every single episode of SGU and plan to finish it off however.

I kind of agree, even though I think Universe was easily the best of the Stargate TV shows. SG1 and SG:Atlantis are pure popcorn+butter mass production television, written to a formula with no real surprises in store. And it addresses that market very very well, with competent acting (despite the character relationships being predictable and cliched), good pacing, tight direction and most importantly a hefty dose of humour. They kind of punched above their weight - the equivalent of a 3 minute pop song that is brainless but nonetheless catchy, and that folks with better taste will nonetheless find themselves humming along to and enjoying.

Stargate Universe was a better show in most ways - it was better written, as a broad cast there was more room for weaker minor actors but its frontline cast was far superior to the other shows, especially (and predictably) Robert Carlisyle, and it was more intelligent all round. BUT unlike the other two shows, SG-U isn't a pop show that's done well for itself. It's aspiring to be 'serious television', playing up there with the big boys just like the BSG remake did. And whereas SG-1 and Atlantis succeeded at being pop-entertainment, SG-U fails badly at 'serious television'. Its competitors aren't Star Trek and Chuck - they're shows like Dexter, BSG remake, Firefly, Sopranos and Caprica (not all sci-fi, but all aiming at darkly serious drama), and every single one of those shows wipes the floor with SG-U, even if you compare their weakest material to SG-U's best.

My suggestion, other than Firefly, would be the original run of Doctor Who (though the new 2005-on version is equal to the best eras in the original 30+ year run. The Sylvester McCoy had started off as possibly the crappest doctor ever, following the goddawful comedy of Colin Baker's 6th doctor. The first 5 doctors were all brilliant in various ways, and all have excellent claims to 'best Doctor ever'. Then you get this goddawful d-grade comedy substituting for it, and McCoy seemed to be a step further in that direction. Predictably, ratings continued to plummet and plans were made to cancel the series.

Then, with the series already pretty much confirmed to be in it's final year, something truly bizarre happened. The writers, free now to write whatever they wanted for the remaining series, suddenly started producing some of the best scripts in the show's history, swapping silly laser-fights with aliens to high-concept sci fi. McCoy's doctor changed completely, going from bumbling comic to what is now remembered as 'the dark doctor' - a genuinely sinister and ruthless version of the doctor, who manipulates the history of his companions in order to win timeline-crossing 'chess games' (metaphorically, though there is some actual chess playing there too) against his foes, who leaks timetravel tech to help one faction of Daleks defeat another and manipulate Dalek history to lead to the destruction of the Dalek's home planet Skaro, who essentially 'constructs' the life of his main companion in order to use her as a weapon.

The post-2005 show actually does some good nods to the McCoy doctor, both with the occasional 'dark moment' from Matt Smith and Tennant, (the deposing of Harriet Jones is pure McCoy), and most importantly the concession from David Tennant's doctor that he had gone too far and 'crossed the line' sometime during the time war, so between the McCoy 'sinister turn' and the time when we meet Eccleston's 9th doctor at the start of the 2005 series. It's a nice consistency nod to the direction that the doctor went in in his final series.

But I'd have loved to see where the show would have gone if that team had been left to their own devices a couple of years earlier. As it was, they were starting to drop hints that the Doctor was far older than most of the timelords, that his decision to leave Gallifrey was based on something more than just a desire to be free and travel, and that he had some connection to the original timelords Omega and Rassilon (explaining why the Doctor was able to - and expected by the Timelords to - be capable of defeating Omega, albeit by having his first three incarnations cross each other's timelines to team up on Omega). It was a neat touch - after all, we only ever get the Doctor's version of why/how he left Gallifrey, that he was just a student at that time, etc. There's plenty of occasions where the other Timelords use the Doctor as a 'special weapon' or 'special agent' against other races, most notably when the assignments to stop Omega in The Three Doctors, and to prevent the (then future and speculative)timewar by altering time so that the Daleks never evolve, in Genesis of the Daleks.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

snip

Ok if you don't like it fair enough I know it departed far from the Stargate norm but I just want to make a point that the series was in decline anyway. If it wasn't the things like Ark of Truth and Continuum wouldn't of been the movies. SGA also did quite crap in its first and second seasons as far as I remember but back then the show had enough steam to keep it going to a point where it was viable. The problem I have with SGU being cancelled is that they needed to set up those big story arcs they planned for which is why it was shit at the start. It was only starting to find itself. So take from that what you will.

My big problem with the show is that i disliked, even hated most of the characters. It makes it very difficult to care what happens to them when you establish that mindset from episode 1.

I see what you mean and this is always a problem with spin off shows. I hated most of SGAs cast at the start but as they became fleshed out I learned to like them as much if not more than some of the original team.

With SGA, i didnt hate, i found them boring. Problem is, i hate Scott, hes an ass and the first thing we learn about him is that he sleeps around. I hate Rush, hes a selfish prick who is willing to put everyone at risk for his own illogical purposes. I hate the governor/senator's daughter, she offered nothing to the team and immediately sleeps with the ass and then gets captured. I hate sergeant "deck angry marine everytime he freaks out", hes got daddy issues, fine, whats he doing being put on a top secret base on another planet then? Their psychological profiles are that bad?

Yes they are and I think it was just something they tried to experiment with. Although they have become much better characters towards the end. At least the writers saw the error of their ways in that department but I suppose the damage in that area was already done adn too extensive.

 

[Eisenfaust]

carnivalé... how i miss thee...

managed to get through 2 seasons, but left it on a REALLY annoying cliffhanger

 

[MasterMuffinMan]

Terriers. There was so much more they could have done with it.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

Carnivale. Arguably the best series since Twin Peaks. Killed after two seasons, because it was awesome and people just want to watch cheesy sitcoms.