TV Shows That Should Have Been Spared

[Matt1]

If I like a TV show I can usually be assured of one of two things happening:

1.) It will be canceled after six episodes
or
2.) It will struggle in the ratings for a few years before getting axed, right in the middle of a kick-ass storyline.

Prime examples: Sports Night and Firefly. Great dialouge. Great acting. Great storylines.

Both canceled. Sigh.

So what are some other shows that should be with us today, but are now resting in the grave?

[Razorback]

I actually cheered when Sports Night was cancelled. Some of my friends loved it but it was just one big cringe after another for me. I now watch it on Comedy Central because it's like watching a train wreck over and over. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

However, I know what you mean. Whenever there is a show I absolutely love and want to see last for years it ulimately gets dropped for poor ratings. Maybe that is why I mostly watch the History Channel.

RB

[Zens_7s]

Can't agree with you there, I was very upset when Sports Night was cancelled. Cringe free dialogue, strong female characters (note I did not say neurosis-free females), and great dry humor. I loved it.

I also knew it was doomed to failure by lacking the insipid crap the standard ABC, NBC, CBS watcher enjoys. {insert laugh track and isn't my partner annoying jokes here}

I will agree with you on one count...The History Channel rocks. Without the History Channel and City Confidential on A&E, I would miss TV programming completely.

[Razorback]

Well, we will just have to agree to disagree about how cringe-worthy that show was. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif I thought the "messages" in that show were very heavy handed.

As for dry humor... I watch Gosford Park. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

RB

[BrianLynch]

ED and ANGEL are both back, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

And if you guys ain't watching this season of SIX FEET UNDER, you're missing, easily, on the best seasons of ANY show EVER.

[Matt1]

I agree with your take on Sports Night messages. I mean, why not just turn to the camera and go, "Well kids, the moral of tonight's story is..." Sorkin carried that trait over to The West Wing (which I am not that big a fan of), big time. But on Sports Night the fact that the characters beared a passing resemblance to human beings compensated for it. Everyone on the West Wing is just too perfect. It's like the Stepford Whitehouse or something.

I've also noticed Sorkin recycled a lot of Sports Night stuff for the West Wing.

[Zens_7s]

Way ahead of you dude. It's called a theater, we have one in my town...large white screen where I saw Gosford Park.

Here in my town we also have these things called DVD players...where I also enjoy my extra dry humor, shaken, not stirred, copy of Gosford.

Wierd confession from the girl who defended Sports Night...I can't stand The West Wing. I have tried and failed.

[MonkeySpanker]

Family Guy and Futurama are two more examples of shows that were mad funny, but unfortunetly nobody seemed to watch so they got yanked. I don't understand how shows like Survior and those other reality tv shows are able to stay on the air. They're terrible, how can anyone stand to watch that crap. Sometimes I think this country is inhabited by monkeys who are just too stupid to realize when a show is bad, and when one is good.

[DarthMaulRat]

Clerks: The Animated Series anyone?

Actually, Contest Searchlight was one of the most ingenious shows I've seen in a long time, I was dissapointed when there were only six episodes.

But it seems animated series are always axed so quickly, for the amount of time it takes to make a show you think there'd be more than a couple episodes before the axe is dropped. I'm suprised no one's mentioned The Critic, which was leaps and bounds above Family Guy and Futurama.

[Denyse]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
And if you guys ain't watching this season of SIX FEET UNDER, you're missing, easily, on the best seasons of ANY show EVER.


[/ QUOTE ] I agree with you Lynch, and not just because I'm in two eps...I especially loved the eps that Kathy Bates both guest starred/directed. That and Alan Ball is my hero...

As far as my favorite show that should have been spared...Push, Nevada gets my vote...I loved it and only wish it could have had more of a chance to find it's audience. Disney really screwed the pooch on that one...

[ZStardust]

I have to agree that Sports Night should had been saved if Aaron Sorkin had put enough time into the 2nd season as he did the 1st. The moment he split his time between Sports Night and West Wing , SN 's humor just went downhill.

[JIM]

Two words: Pink Lady
It was way ahead of it's time!
well... no... actually, it was a piece of crap...
However I was a huge fan of that show, with that guy. Sometimes that lady was on too, They used to make me laugh and laugh. Oh, those were good times! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Ryall]

The Ben Stiller Show was cancelled way too early, just like Sports Night.

But in other news, Lynchie's right, this season of Six Feet Under is just depressing as shit and excellent, too. Of course, Curb Your Enthusiasm is still my favorite show on HBO, but Six Feet Under's pretty amazing.

[Tuskinashi]

Futurama wasn't cancelled last time I checked. It should still be running. It was just pulled off the air for a while, but since FOX owes its nuts to Mike Groening they probably brought it back.

As for Family Guy, it wasn't pulled so much for low ratings, but because it was so offensive. This I can understand. If you have ever seen that episode where Peter finds out about his long lost cousin who was black, and then he tries to fit in with the modern black community.. you'd get the picture too. Great episode? Sure, one of the best. Could it be taken offensively? You bet.

However Family Guy is back on Cartoon Network, not any new episodes though. But oh well.

Only show I can think of that was cancelled is easily Ren &amp; Stimpy. I've forgotten the history of what went down but I'm fairly sure it had something to do with the humor being too much for Nickelodeon.

[Dave]

I agree with most of these posts, but i don't think it matters why a show was cancelled just that it was, either for low ratings, or offensive content or because an exec. just didn't like the show. (this happens all the time, great show great time slot, moved to say sunday at 6:30 central and pre-empted by Football or Basketball or whatever.)

My favorite shows that were cancelled are(in no specific order):

Under Suspicion - this was a CBS cop drama that aired in the mid 90's (94 i believe). It was great, way ahead of its time. The main character Rose "Phil" Phillips was always involved in these wacked out twisty murders, you never new where the show was going to go. It might last today, with all the Law and Orders on but i think that it was just too smart for itself when it came out originally. Anyway it ended with a cliff hanger, Phil was shot and looked to be diein'. I guess since it wasn't picked back up she's dead as a hammer.

the single Guy - One of the few Must See shows that was sandwiched between friends and Sienfeld that i actually enjoyed. I think the first session was better than the second but i really enjoyed Ming Na Wang and that Curly haired guy who played her husband.

Spencer - This starred Chad Lowe and was on in the Mid 80's sometime. I just really remember liking it alot, but not really much else.

anyway that is my three.

[JK]

I really enjoyed "Hidden Hills" on NBC- I don't understand how it got dropped and that god-awful piece of crap "Good Morning Miami" stayed on the air...

[jjcourtright]

Two shows that were "great" to my junior-high mind were "Tour of Duty" and "Herman's Head". Like Chris said, "it had both Homer and Lisa". How could it be bad?

[BrianLynch]

Wait, who did the voice of Homer play on HERMAN'S HEAD? Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy, etc.) was a regular, but was Dan Castelenetta (spelling, sorry) too?

[jjcourtright]

Sorry, I was typing without thinking. I meant Apu and Lisa. Homer and Lisa flows a little better than Apu and Lisa.

[JIM]

I loved Ren &amp; Stimpy!
TNN is bringing them back and everything!
Lot of bad blood between Spumco and Nick. Episodes were so heavily edited you could see the bad cuts they made, the close-ups all of a sudden, etc. Just BLAH.

[MonkeySpanker]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
As for Family Guy, it wasn't pulled so much for low ratings, but because it was so offensive. This I can understand. If you have ever seen that episode where Peter finds out about his long lost cousin who was black, and then he tries to fit in with the modern black community.. you'd get the picture too. Great episode? Sure, one of the best. Could it be taken offensively? You bet.

[/ QUOTE ]

A show being cancelled for being too offensive angers me. First of all, I dont think the show was offensive at all. In this specific episode, any competent person would realize that this was a social satire, and not an offensive joke meant to degrade the black community. I think we as a society need to be better able to distinguish between satire and true discrimination. A satire is a social critiscim on the way our society is run. Without this kind of satire, how could something that is wrong be changed. The results of this kind of censorship is scary. The only result is a society that is completely brain-washed into believing everything is ok, when in fact it is not. For proof just look to the to the cable news channels that I feel only show a one-sided view of Bush's policies. It is almost impossible for anyone to critize anything this man does, which will make it almost impossible for postive steps forward for this country to take place.

[BrianLynch]

FAMILY GUY was NOT cancelled because it was offensive. That's silly.

[MonkeySpanker]

It wasn't? Oh well, whatever. I still think cancelling shows because they're offensive is stupid.

[DangerSeeker]

Shows don't get cancelled because they are offensive. They won't get made or aired because they are offensive, but they get cancelled because of either low ratings, or (and this one pisses me off) some executive doesn't like it. Family Guy stuggled in the ratings, and FOX gave it chance after chance to find an audience because of the very vocal fan-base, but the ratings just weren't picking up enough to be profitable.

And yes, Futurama was cancelled, quite some time ago. The reason you're seeing new ones (and probably more next year) is because of how far in advance they were in production, due to the amount of work going into each ep. The stuff you're seeing now was already done or almost done when it got the axe.

[DangerSeeker]

Cancelled too soon: Get a Life, Sledge Hammer, Freakylinks, Lone Gunmen, Beans Baxter, Action, The Job, Invader Zim, Brisco County, On the Air, and... um... Wheel of Fortune.

[Dave]

Wheel of Fortune? what... I just saw it the other day, and i don't think that Vanna was turning the letters (or really just pressing the screen, whatever). A gameshow i think that was never given its due was "Card Sharks". We surveyed a hundred men with erectile disfunction.... HIGHER!!!

Also cancelled far too soon, any show with Bonnie Hunt. I think she is brilliant, but her shows never last, Davis Rules, Bonnie, i haven't seen her new show lately either, has Life with Bonnie been cancelled already? anyone know?

[Denyse]

It's only on hiatus...For now. They have been filming additional shows for mid-season, so if it has been cancelled, they're throwing lots of money away...

[Omaru]

can I just sadly add "two of a kind" to the list, I know the girls sorta aged rapidly beetween tv projects but now I'll never know if (or see the cute) kerry went out with the girl's dad, I liked it more than alot of kids shows of that time.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweeb]

The best show that I've seen that was cancelled too soon was Freaks And Geeks. It had an excellent cast, believable writing and great music. I hope it will be released on DVD, but the music rights will be expensive to secure. The songs were an integral part of the show and it wouldn't be the same without them. I'm glad I taped them all when I had the chance.

[Dave]

Yes! that was a great show. there was also a sitcom by that same crew that go canceled way before its time, but i don't remember its name, just that they were in college and it took place mostly in the dorms.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweeb]

The name of that one was Undeclared and it was a great show, too. It was canned just as it was getting good. You're right about it being from the same crew (Apatow Productions) and many of the Freaks And Geeks cast also made an appearance as well. Some shows are just too good for television.

[Efexeye]

Single Guy was great.

Hiden Hills- also great, much better than Good Morning Miami (BARF)

Undeclared- precursor to "Scrubs", anyone?

FUTURAMA- Fox really screwed themselves with the time slot they put this in. I guess they were trying to distance themselves from the Simpsons time slot, but still, they killed this show, which has higher ratings in reruns at 11 p.m. than KOTH does in Futurama's old time slot. 130,000 people signed a petition at gotfuturama.com and Fox ignored us. Oh well, we still posess the capacity for logic, which explains why we aren't network heads!