Shows which died before their time

[Nouw]

I guess since you mentioned it OP, Roughnecks.

Snipped

+2 Internets for mentioning Starship Troopers and Roughnecks.
[sub]Here's a cookie [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/b/b4/20090502012306!Choco_chip_cookie.png] for your avatar.[/sub]

 

[Fangv2]

This isn't a show but it still should be mentioned:

Toonami

Now I'm sad.

 

[OhSnap]

No one has mentioned Stargate Atlantis yet?

I am disappoint.

Only one I can think of off the top of my head, other's usually come up when I'm bored and trying to think of old tv shows to watch.

 

[KarlMonster]

I've only seen one episode of Stargate Universe. It reminded me of the last seasons of the popular series Highlander and Star Trek TNG, where they presented very good stories featuring new characters in situations that were unique to the rest of the series. Just totally different stories from people who had become very good at writing that genre.

Also it was nice because SG1 and SG:Atlantis had both devolved into 1-hour team-building exercises. Boring!

I really, really, really wanted to like "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." because it had a lot of good talent behind it, but it just lacked something important. Something that I can't remember right now. Atmosphere? Grit? Maybe it was just too much 'blue sky' to make me bother to put on my disbelief suspenders.

My vote is for 'The Prisoner.' It wasn't cancelled. McGoohan just thought it up and did it. 12 episodes were planned, 13 (??) aired. It was pretty thick with allegory, which is mostly why A&E totally failed at trying to re-make it last year. Just because I have to wonder if more people would 'get it' now than when it originally aired.

 

[OhSnap]

No one has mentioned Stargate Atlantis yet?
I am disappoint.

Only one I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Ranchcroutons]

how about The Riches, it was on FX and had some of the most intriguing character relationships i have seen in television

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Fawlty Towers.

Better than anything mentioned in this thread so far and there were only 2 seasons of 6 episodes. John Cleese said he didn't want to run out of ideas and for the show to stagnate, I understand that line of reasoning but my god would I still love another 6 episodes to enjoy, even if they werent quite as good at the others.

 

[EdwardOrchard]

A Game of Thrones. I can't believe they're cancelling it already. After TWO episodes, are you kidding?! It looked so good too, I was really into it.



/horrible trolling attempt...

OP, I totally remember that Starship Troopers cartoon, I used to love it back in the day. It reminds me, though, of another show that I cant remember the name of... Maybe you other children of the 90s can help me out here... It was an animated GI-Joe-ish kind of show about this team that goes around hunting aliens... It was something like... 'B.A.D.: Bureau of Alien Detectives'...

Anyways, I'll have to agree that the all-time greatest prematurely canceled show is Firefly.

 

[magicaxis]

Drawn Together. Best show ever made by anybody of all time ever.

 

[Stammer]

Clone High: Cancelled because India found Gandhi an offensive character and even went on a hunger strike just to see the show eliminated.

Megas XLR: Cancelled because the station didn't like having an obese man for a protagonist because he was a bad influence.

Undergrads: Cancelled because MTV literally has no taste in good shows. [sub]Don't worry though, guys. The creators say they're going to make a graphic novel series to continue through and finish what they set up with the cliffhanger at the end of season 1.[/sub]

The Wrong Coast: Cancelled because one of the characters got sent to hell at the end of the season and a community of Christians protested against the show for being too dark.

Also, Futurama isn't cancelled. It's back. Season 6 is half over and it's set to finish its second half starting in June.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Tripping hte Rift.

I actually dont mind shows going, as long as thy have good finales. I mean, yeah, the ratings are crap, and no one will watch, but at least have some closure, even if its bad and has to be fitted into an hour.

 

[Not George Carlin]

King of the Hill died at the right time but god damn was that a shitty finale!

 

[aeroblaster]

Sym-Bionic Titan

Look it up, one of the best shows ever, never renewed for a second season.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Invader Zim. Seriously.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Penn and Teller's Bullshit

 

[Shilkanni]

Firefly I feel strongest about.
Better off Ted, Arrested Development, Dollhouse. Veronica Mars I wanted to see more of, but 3 seasons was a pretty good run, so I don't feel it got completely shafted. Most recently, Terriers. I was keen on 'Crusade', the Babylon 5 spinoff but it wasn't amazing.
I would have watched more Caprica but frankly the 5min ending Epilogue was the most awesome 5min to happen in Caprica or BSG and might not have been as awesome if dragged over many episodes.

Family Guy and Futurama were great choices for 'uncancellation', it seems like they were success stories so that's nice.

Cancellation-related mishaps:
Babylon 5 was told it was going to be cancelled at the end of the 4th season so they packed everything in to the 4th season and it was good and then the 5th season was shit. Would have been better if they didn't threaten cancellation or just went through with it!
Newsradio should have been cancelled when Phil Hartman died, or better still Phil Hartman shouldn't have died and it should have kept going.

 

[CaptVickHartnell]

Seeing as Firefly is a given.
There was a kids/early teens sci fi show on ABC TV in Australia in 2004/2005 called Silversun. They had about 40 episodes I think and it ended on an epic cliffhanger then never got picked up again. I loved it.

 

[krseyffert]

Firefly

my first choice.

also, a mention to Moonlight, i liked that show, but it was ended way before it's time.

EDIT: also My Name is Earl, personally i loved that show, but mostly because its ironic that the final episode ends on "to be continued"

 

[DarkhoIlow]

"Tripping the rift" was one of the shows I enjoyed very much and I'm sad that they didn't continue with more seasons.

Also "Mortal Kombat Conquest"(was decent enough,too bad it only lasted 1 season).

 

[PixelKing]

I have never seen firefly but it can go here anyhow. Because I can't think of any.