The one thing that puzzles me about American TV is how many great shows are unceremoniously cancelled in their prime. Some shows don't even last more than a few episodes in the cutthroat US market, while many eek out a measly season before facing the chop.
Thanks to DVD, many of these shows get a second chance at finding an audience after their demise. In some rare cases the DVD sales could even bring reprise for a cancelled TV show (just look at Joss Whedon's Firefly evolving into Serenity). But, the sad fact is, most don't. They just acquire a cult status.
I thought I'd present to you, in alphabetical order, a list of some of the most promising TV shows that never made it beyond one season. Some of were deserving of the axe (but showed promise), most are good shows that just got unlucky, while a few are masterpieces that just didn't find an audience... *cough* bad marketing *cough* crap timeslot...
Some you may have heard of, but never watched. Some you might have been fans of, and remember the sadness when they weren't renewed for a second season. Whatever your relationship with these shows, hopefully you'll seek out the ones that grab your interest on DVD...
AMERICAN GOTHIC (1995-1996)Trinity, South Carolina. In this town not everyone are as they seem and everyone seems to follow their leader, Sheriff Lucas Buck... who might not be as human as he seems.
Who created it? The creator and writer was Shaun Cassidy, one third of the Hardy Boys. The producer was director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead).
Who was in it? Gary Cole (The Brady Bunch Movie), Lucas Black (Sling Blade), Brenda Bakke (Hot Shots: Part Deux), Sarah Paulson, Paige Turco and Jake Weber.
How many episodes? 22.
Why was it cancelled? CBS originally aired the show out of sequence, so events didn't make much sense to regular viewers. They did this to increase ratings by showing the more memorable episodes earlier in the season. CBS also never aired 4 episodes at all (Potato Boy, Ring Of Fire, Echo Of Your Last Goodbye and Strangler). In the UK, Channel 4 aired the episodes in a regular timeslot, in the correct order, and found they had quite a hit...
Did it end on a cliffhanger? Thankfully no. It ends in an appropriate way that would have been easy to continue into a second year, but also acts as a fitting finale for the show.
Where are they all now? Shaun Cassidy has recently returned to TV with Invasion, another show set in the Deep South. Sam Raimi went on to have mainstream success with the Spider-Man movies. Gary Cole starred in Office Space, starred in another one-season wonder Crusade, and is a guest star in countless things. Lucas Black starred in The X-Files Movie soon after, and is now a grown-up young actor. Jake Weber has starred in quite a few hits, including U-571, Dawn Of The Dead and TV's Medium.
Buy the DVD: from Amazon.
FIREFLY (2002)500 years in the future, and humanity has abandoned Earth for a new planetary system. Under the leadership of Malcolm Reynolds, a renegade who fought against the new unified central government (the "Alliance"), the crew of the Firefly-class vessel Serenity struggles to survive any way they can. They fly between the border planets to keep away from the Alliance and below its radar...
Who created it? Joss Whedon, creator-writer of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Who was in it? Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Ron Glass.
How many episodes? 14.
Why was it cancelled? FOX cancelled the show after just 11 episodes had aired, due to low ratings. Fans blamed the fact FOX had aired episodes out of order -- most notable when the second episode became the first episode shown! FOX also marketed the show as an allout action-comedy, and the show was preempted for sporting events quite often.
Where are they all now? Firefly was a rarity, in that strong DVD sales resulted in it being resurrected as a movie called Serenity in 2005. The whole cast returned, but unfortunately Serenity didn't perform very well at the box-office. Nathan Fillion has since appeared in Slither.
Buy the DVD: from Amazon.
FREAKS & GEEKS (1999-2000)A "dramedy" revolving around the lives of "freak" and "geek" siblings Lindsay and Sam Weir, showing the everyday fears, humiliations and little triumphs of adolescents past, present and, no doubt, future...
Who created it? Comedian Paul Feig, produced by Judd Apatow.
Who was in it? Linda Cardellini (Scooby Doo), John Francis Daley, Becky Ann Baker, Joe Flaherty, James Franco, Samm Levine and Seth Rogen.
How many episodes? 18.
Why was it cancelled? NBC cancelled it after only 11 episodes had aired, in view of poor ratings (due to timeslot changes and preemptions). Fan outrage managed to convince NBC to air four more episodes in 2000, with cable channel Fox Family airing the remaining episodes later that year.
Where are they all now? Linda Cardellini starred in Scooby Doo Too, while James Franco has carved out a career in the Spider-Man movies and Tristan & Isolade. Buy the DVD: from Amazon.
HARSH REALM (1999)After serving in Sarajevo, Lt. Hobbes is finally ready to settle down with his fiance... but the military has one last assignment for him. He must test out the newest in military combat training, a top secret computer simulation code-named "Harsh Realm". However once inside the "game", Hobbes immediately finds himself fighting for his life, and struggling to comprehend what is real and what is not...
Who created it? Chris Carter, creator-writer of The X-Files and Millennium.
Who was in it? Scott Bairstow, Terry O'Quinn (Millennium), D.B Sweeney (Strange Luck) and Samantha Mathis (Broken Arrow).
How many episodes? 9.
Why was it cancelled? The show had poor ratings from the start, and FOX cancelled it after just 4 episodes had aired. The remaining 6 episodes were shown on the FX Channel. Many people say the show performed badly because it seemed too derivative of The Matrix.
Where are they all now? Well, Terry O'Quinn now plays John Locke in smash-hit TV drama Lost. Chris Carter went on to create another one-season wonder, The Lone Gunmen, before overseeing the conclusion of The X-Files. He hasn't been heard of since.
Buy the DVD: from Amazon.
THE LONE GUNMEN (2001)Three computer geeks encounter various conspiracies and work together to solve various mysteries with far-reaching consequences and government agencies on their tails...
Who created it? Chris Carter, creator-writer of The X-Files, Millennium and Harsh Realm.
Who was in it? Tom Braidwood, Bruce Harwood, Dean Haglund, Stephen Snedden & Zuleikha Robinson.
How many episodes? 13.
Why was it cancelled? Unknown! The ratings were actually higher than the first season of The X-Files, but FOX cancelled the show in June after just 4 months. Interestingly, the DVD box-set is quite sought-after because the Pilot episode involves a plot to fly a plane into the World Trade Center -- 6 months before September 11th occured in reality.
Buy the DVD: from Amazon.
Part 2 of the list will be blogged soon, so watch this space...
