Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
Tonight let’s complain about all the terrible decisions made by networks – and now streaming services – to drop a great show and/or keep a crappy one. I don’t recall what show they kept the year they dropped Numb3rs, but I do recall that their reasons were bullshit. They admitted that Numb3rs was the better show but they dropped it anyway.
And now CBS, cancelling the show with the one of the best female characters on TV, and the same franchise keeping the show with the absolute worst female character on TV. Arghh!
And the same network is cancelling another show because there’s not enough diversity!
Reading a bit today to see if some of my favorite shows are cancelled or renewed, I see a pattern. Sports and reality shows are super cheap to film as opposed to scripted series. Maybe the networks are deciding not to compete with the big streaming shops that are producing excellent shows?
In any case, they are pissing me off.
Anyway, tonight is TV Festivus, have at it!
Baud
Which two cancelled shows are you referring to?
WaterGirl
As I was cursing the internet this afternoon re: what’s cancelled and renewed, I saw that the CW is likely cancelling THEIR MOST WATCHED SHOW because they can make more money on sports or reality TV.
I’m sure I should have realized this long ago, but this feels like the moment decades ago when I learned that HR is not there for us!
AndyG
Deadwood. Cancelling that show before its time was a travesty, and apparently a clusterf**K of bad communications between the relevant parties…..
mrmoshpotato
I remember being bummed out about Showtime ending Dead Like Me.
weasel
Deadwood is second only to Firefly on my gripe list. Criminal that both those shows weren’t given the chance to properly wrap things up
WaterGirl
@Baud: NCIS is ditching NCIS: Hawaii and keeping NCIS:Sydney.
The female lead on NCIS: Hawaii is smart, tough, interesting, has a life outside of work, she’s a warm person, easy on the eyes, and dresses professionally – no sexy clothing at work.
NCIS: Sydney isn’t as bad as that awful CSI show we like to mock as the worst show ever. But it’s bad.
The female lead on NCIS: Sydney is basically an alpha male character in a female body. She uses so much botox that her face has basically no expression. Literally, I can’t stand to watch her because it’s creepy. She’s totally uninteresting, has no emotional IQ, and is totally unwatchable. She’s cold as ice.
And their “nerdy character” – is ridiculous. It’s all part of the formula now. Yes, I am cranky about TV right now.
MazeDancer
Really enjoyed NCIS: Hawai’i. Simple, unchallenging, entertaining, with likable characters.
Was a nice workplace family escape once a week. Though happy to see a lesbian pairing on TV, found Whistler & Lucy as a couple a stretch. No chemistry.
Will Trent is n the same category. But a bit darker.
WaterGirl
@weasel: Don’t get me started on Firefly. That was a travesty!
mrmoshpotato
@AndyG: My best friend loved Deadwood. I’ll have to give it a second chance.
Chet Murthy
@WaterGirl: Curse you, SciFi Channel, for your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
errg
It’s no Deadwood, but I was really enjoying Alaska Daily on ABC, and it got cancelled after just one season…
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Gotcha. Sydney has had a much shorter run. Half season essentially.
What’s the third show you mentioned?
mrmoshpotato
@weasel: What was the plot of Firefly? I remember Smallville was tied into the Superman story.
Scout211
From the way back machine, I still feel cheated that the network cancelled The Greatest American Hero after three seasons. What a fun show that my whole family loved. So many fans were shocked and disappointed.
I see that the three seasons are now available on some streaming services. But It was never sold into syndication because it only had the three seasons. So only the olds will remember it. Maybe streaming will give it new viewers.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: I like Will Trent a lot, too. Excellent show.
WaterGirl
@Baud: But they are bringing it back! The renewed Sydney and cancelled Hawaii!
Baud
@WaterGirl:
What’s the diversity show you mentioned?
ETA: I haven’t looked at the ratings to compare Sydney vs Hawaii. I was surprised to hear of the cancellation.
WaterGirl
@errg: Yes! Alaska Daily was smart, interesting, relevant, great characters, important.
So of course they cancelled it.
Ihop
Please forgive me for something mst likely topic adjacent, but has anybody of the netdy comicky booky glitterati noticed that the mask heath ledgers joker wore at the beginning of dark night is the same that Cesar romero’s joker wore as pagliachi (spelling) in his first appearance as the joker in the adam west batman?
Also, even though I know it was given a 2 season reprieve I said fuck this to all TV except cooking shows and sporting events after arrested development was jettisoned by fox.
So please, for all that is good and unholy, watch ‘what we do in the shadows’
Anonymous At Work
Paramount canceling Lower Decks without notice. It’s animated, so not the tallest lift to give it another year or partial arc.
We’ll segue into Better Off Ted, a show so funny, including to the network execs, that they thought word-of-mouth would work instead of advertising.
Moving to NBC, we have how horribly they treated Scrubs and Chuck (sorry, easy bait for this group). Forcing both shows to all-but including in-show advertisements to keep them on the air.
And yes, as always, forever, finishing with Firefly: showing that Fox executives were Dunning-Kruger before the two had graduated from college.
Steeplejack
What CBS shows are you referring to?!
ETA: Okay, I see you got around to it. I really like the female lead on NCIS: Hawaiʻi. The show’s just average, but she is good. Hope the actor lands somewhere else.
NCIS: Sydney looks like complete crap.
eclare
I was disappointed when American Gothic was cancelled. It was a truly creepy show. Gary Cole was excellent, and the show was cancelled after one season.
Ken
Ditto, and on a major cliffhanger.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I alluded to a few shows, I think.
Blue Bloods is being cancelled for “lack of diversity” by the network that just cancelled NCIS: Hawaii that had it all diversity-wise. It makes no fucking sense.
And Walker is apparently the most watched show on the CW, and it looks likely to be cancelled.
Not saying I am a big fan of Blue Bloods or Walker, just sharing some of the crazy I found.
I think you could pick a random adult 17 years or older, and they could make better decisions.
It’s like USA was so great back when they had White Collar and all those other great shows in the summer. And then poof. Did they no longer care about great shows? Did some good top guy leave and someone awful came in as decision-maker? I have no idea.
WaterGirl
@Baud: What was the name of that awful CSI show? Oh wait, it just came to me.
CSI: Cyber.
God, that was such a bad show.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I saw a brief promo for something like NCIS: Origins. Apparently it’s like Gibbs: The Early Days. Do not want.
evodevo
Ditto on Will Trent – like that show. STUPID CBS cancelled So Help Me Todd – I am so pissed…
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Never watched Blue Bloods, but that always seemed like a creepy show. I didn’t realize that CBS claimed lack of diversity. That show was on for a long time.
@WaterGirl:
Yes. Cyber. Although I thought the stories in Cyber were bad. The stories in Sydney are normal NCIS fare with hard to understand accents on top.
scribbler
@mrmoshpotato: Loved this show too. Quirky, a bit dark, inventive, so of course it was cancelled too soon.
Starfish
There were various things written about Family Guy, and it always seemed like such a terrible show. Here is an animated show where none of the jokes are funny. Why does this show still exist?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Agree about USA. I used to watch their shows all the time. Not sure what happened there.
Salt Water
This is going back a long ways but I’m still salty about “Soap” – talk about a cliffhanger!
“Wonderfalls” was another one I would have liked to see several more seasons of.
Nukular Biskits
Someone may have asked this already (I usually read the post, then comment, then read the other comments):
Does the list of shows to get rid of include the Sunday talking head shows?
Craig
MAX cancelled The Nevers 2nd season even though it was in the can. Grrrrrr
Steeplejack
@Ihop:
“[. . .] watch What We Do in the Shadows.” [Hulu.]
Also Wellington Paranormal. [Max.]
Starfish
@Nukular Biskits: No one asked this, but it is a fair point. No one wants to listen to all these people yammering about things they know nothing about.
Scout211
What!? Oh no! I am pissed now, too.
Steeplejack
@evodevo:
Is So Help Me Todd good? Because the “mom and son detectives” thing put me off.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
Mom was a lawyer.
sab
@Craig: That was to punish joss whedon.
NotMax
Firefly was the replacement show when Wonderfalls was cancelled. Why couldn’t we have both, dammit?
(Actually I have a lot of problems with Firefly, but that’s fodder for another time. Not enough to make it unwatchable however.)
Nukular Biskits
@Starfish:
I just happened to see this on Twitter and, although I’m not a frequent viewer of said shows any more, I have to agree:
Reason for that outburst? SC Senator Tim Scott absolutely refusing to answer a clear and direct question.
https://twitter.com/NC5PhilWilliams/status/1789695955853300044
Steeplejack
@Baud:
I usually like Tom Selleck—especially the Jesse Stone movies—but I skipped Blue Bloods because it’s straight-up network copaganda.
Scout211
I really enjoy it. Lots of clever banter and quirky characters. Mom is an attorney and the son works for her as an investigator.
Brachiator
@Ihop:
Recently saw a YouTube short about this. A fun homage, if true. Also, I have heard that the Cesar Romero mask was modeled on the make-up of circus performer Emmett Kelly.
Another Scott
Back in the olden days when I still watched TV, I really enjoyed The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Sort of an update/spoof of The Wild Wild West and The Avengers and Get Smart and Gunsmoke and similar things.
Barely 2 seasons. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
I am pissed about the new Perry Mason show having been cancelled after only one season
ETA Sorry, two seasons.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
I’m usually ok with cop shows, but the ads for this one rubbed me the wrong way. But I’ve never actually watched an episode, so I don’t know if my reaction was justified.
HinTN
We loved Numb3rs but it sorta went around the bend the last season (or two). Character development can never overcome a lack of good show plot.
Scout211
@Another Scott: seconded on The Aventures of Briscoe County, jr.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yes, after 14 years, they decided there wasn’t enough diversity.
And cancelled Hawaii with, let’s see.
Female lead: Mixed race.
Two female major characters: lesbian couple
One of the male leads: maybe Hawaii, maybe Asian.
Baud
@HinTN:
I also liked that show.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Like that makes it better?! 😹
I meant “detectives” in the TV sense of crime-solvers, not official police titles.
sab
My haidresser, his wife and I were probably the only people in America that watched Rubicon back in the day, but I loved that show. And the replaced it with that stupid zombie show.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
The diversity thing sounds like an excuse for something else. Who knows?
WaterGirl
@NotMax:
Heresy! Please go to your room. :-)
Starfish
The Regime is so weird. Kate Winslet is the chancellor of some eastern European country who is completely off her rocker. She talks to her dead father a lot. Hugh Grant is the former leader of The Regime that Kate Winslet keeps locked up in the basement.
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
A Reconstruction Western set in Space, with out the racism, but with insane zombies, that were created when the evil “Union” tried to make a “passive” drug to make people passive. The side effects were that 90% of those exposed became so passive they just sat down and died. The other 10% became hyper violent.
So the plucky “rebels” went into “interspace” shipping in a class of ship called a “Firefly”, with some train robberies, smuggling, etc on the side, who am I kidding, I don’t remember a single legal shipment.
Connected Dr. frees his sister from a facility, where they have repressed her memories, and turned her into a physic lethal weapon. The Union comes after them, because she knows how “The Reavers” were created.
Luckily, “Serenity” got funded and provided a closure to the plots.
Chet Murthy
@WaterGirl: NotMax is not alone in that. But even still, it was a fun, fun show.
ETA: It had so, so, so many great lines, too.
WaterGirl
@sab: Rubicon was a GREAT SHOW.
Chet Murthy
@WaterGirl:
“I’ll be in my bunk”
Starfish
@Nukular Biskits: Oh, Scott has done this repeatedly. People have asked him this repeatedly. Refusing to answer this question should be disqualifying.
WaterGirl
@Chet Murthy: ha!
Baud
@Jay:
We should have listened to RFK Jr.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Maybe LL Cool J is a jinx. His character came over from NCIS: Los Angeles on a temporary thing and just kept hanging around. Don’t they need you back in L.A., bruh? Oh, right, that show ended a year ago.
Brachiator
@Anonymous At Work:
I agree that it is a shame that this show has been cancelled. But I think that the larger background here is that Paramount is struggling to survive. So there is a risk that all Star Trek shows might be in danger.
It would be interesting to see Disney acquire Star Trek and control another pop culture franchise. Unlikely, however.
Starfish
@Baud: Yes, there is a lot of “let’s conveniently blame diversity for our unpopular decisions.”
WaterGirl
@Baud: It’s the inconsistency that is so maddening.
WaterGirl
@Starfish: But this was lack of diversity!
frosty
Awesome! Firefly was in comment #5 and #8. That’s my big gripe. Favorite moment, on Big Bang Theory. Sheldon says “I know what I’ll be doing on Friday nights for the next few years; watching Firefly.” After it was cancelled, of course, but for him it was still running when he said the line.
ETA: @WaterGirl: I started at the top again. #8 was you!
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Yeah, I didn’t think he added much to NCIS: Hawaii.
eclare
@Starfish:
I read reviews of The Regime, and it sounded like HBO couldn’t decide what the tone or the point of the show was supposed to be. I haven’t watched.
Baud
@Brachiator:
Disney isn’t doing so hot in its streaming business, I hear.
Starfish
@WaterGirl: I thought that you were pointing out that the show that they said lacked diversity actually had diversity and had been on for years. So why blame lack of diversity now? What has changed?
Things have gotten more strict around some of the awards and diversity requirements to get considered for awards, but the people who get to choose what wins the awards still lack diversity.
Steeplejack
Nice to see all the geriatric love coming out for network shows. And here I was embarrassed last week to profess that I was liking Elsbeth.
On the edgy cable side I’m binge-watching Cardinal on Hulu. Canadian cops in Ontario, four seasons (24 episodes). Good writing and acting, nice scenery, has avoided most cop-show clichés so far. (Just started S3.) Some of the murders and crime scenes are not for the faint of heart.
Jay
@Baud:
It wasn’t a vaccine, it was “atmospheric modifications”
A comment on AGW?
Baud
@Steeplejack:
I don’t stream or do pay TV except for Amazon Prime. So the only shows I watch are network.
Nukular Biskits
@Brachiator:
I hope that doesn’t come to pass.
I’m not impressed with the way Disney is absolutely wringing the enjoyment out of the Muppet, Star Wars and Marvel franchises.
Jay
@frosty:
I liked Firefly, T hated it. She loves Star Trek Next Generation, me, I was MEH.
AndyG
Maybe a bit niche, but I loved “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” and was pissed when CNN canceled it after just seasons during its disastrous network shake-up. I hope Tucci can find some other channel to pick it up.
Nukular Biskits
@Starfish:
No disagreement there, but the hosts (and bookers) for these shows already KNOW these pols only use the Sunday shows to get out their talking points. Period.
So … why book them if there is nothing to be learned?
Tehanu
I used to keep a list of Great Failed Sitcoms, but it’s so old now … well, perhaps some of the older folks here may remember some of them. Here’s the top ten, anyway:
Bakersfield, P.D.
Doctor, Doctor
The Jackie Thomas Show (backstage at a sitcom)
Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Better Off Ted
Duckman
My World and Welcome to It
It’s Like, You Know … (general Hollywood in-jokes)
The Famous Teddy Z. (backstage at an agency)
Buffalo Bill (backstage at radio talk show)
Starfish
@Nukular Biskits: Nothing killed Star Wars day like Disney owning Star Wars.
citizen dave
I was going to joke about Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 1974-75. But google tells me it lasting one season was understandable: “The series was cancelled because Darren McGavin asked to be released from his contract. Not only did he become disappointed with the series’ scripts, but he ended up exhausted from the rigorous daily shooting schedule (beginning at 3:00 pm until just before sunrise) and his uncredited producing duties.”
For me the travesty was the cancellation of Freaks n Geeks after one season. I was sad when Homicide: Life on the Street was cancelled, but it had run its course.
A recent one is HBO cancelling the great and funny and poignant series South Side
Was really mad when CBS cancelled the Ernest T. Bass spinoff after half a season in 1970. OK, I made that up.
Nukular Biskits
@Tehanu:
The only one of those I think I recognize (and I’m an old) is “Buffalo Bill”.
Wasn’t Dabney Coleman in that?
Larch
CBS also canceled CSI: Vegas, which also has a diverse cast & decent writing. Bringing back one or two of the original cast members per season has been pretty effective.
Totally agree about Hawaii, Sydney, & Origins. Hawaii’s well worth saving. Sydney is terrible – dreadful writing! And the last thing I want to watch is Gibbs learning to be a b**tard.
Sigh
Brachiator
I think that the abrupt cancellation of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” is regrettable. It is one of the best of the new Star Trek shows. But as I previously noted, this decision may be related to Paramount struggling to survive. The streaming services were more connected to traditional movies theaters than the executives understood, and the collapse of movie going is having an impact on the entire industry.
Anyway, I also wish that they had found a way to save “The Orville,” the best Star Trek homage show.
I initially had trouble with this topic because I don’t watch much regular TV these days. And it’s been a long time since I watched any network show. Seems like an endless stream of interchangeable police/fire department/hospital shows, interspersed with instantly forgettable sitcoms and the umpteenth iteration of “Law and CSI NCIS SVU.”
Is the crappy reboot of Magnum PI still on?
Larch
@Steeplejack: I really enjoyed Cardinal, too!
errg
@sab: Perry Mason was cancelled??? No one told me, that sucks. It felt like it was really just getting started. I really liked the old Los Angeles sets.
SpaceUnit
@AndyG:
Someone showed him where Italy was on a map.
Baud
@Brachiator:
The new Magnum was cancelled a year or two ago.
Brachiator
@Baud:
The streaming business may be having problems. Sports and live entertainment might become more important than scripted shows.
@Nukular Biskits:
I agree that Disney might crush the remaining creativity out of Star Trek, should they acquire it, as they have done with so many franchises.
But Disney has had low moments in the past. I hope that they can find their way back to quality entertainment in the future.
Ken
Was the badness from character, plot, or realism? Because I’ve seen blogs that devote themselves to the flaws in the portrayal of forensic procedures — “Zoom! and enhance!” being a common one. I imagine a show with “Cyber” in the title could be particularly vulnerable to that.
There’s one that comes up fairly often, where two people are doing some computer work and sharing the keyboard. You’d think some of the actors would call shenanigans, and you’d definitely think that the writers would know how to use a laptop.
S Cerevisiae
@citizen dave: I was going to mention that 10 year old me was so pissed when they canceled Kolchack.
Anotherlurker
American networks are not alone in the tendency to cancel good shows. Take for example the BBC’s cancelation of “Dead Still”. It was a quirky show set in 1890s Dublin. It’s main character is a mortuary photographer. He makes his living photographing the dearly departed for the grieving families. The supporting characters were equally quirky and the writing and direction were solid and imaginative.
Sadly, it only ran for 1 season.
Brachiator
@sab:
I forgot about this show!
Yes. I am with you. Overall I loved this show. I think that Robert Downey Jr and his wife were series producers.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Steeplejack: I like Elsbeth too. Loved her character on The Good Wife, and now here’s a show with a direct homage to Columbo. What’s not to like? Although it was too light for my husband.
Cheryl from Maryland
I’m still upset that Frank’s Place, starring Tim Reid from the team that made WKRP in Cincinnatti, was cancelled in 1988 after only one glorious season.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
This will date me, but the first show I can remember being pissed about its cancellation was a WWII caper show called Garrison’s Gorillas (I think it was inspired by The Dirty Dozen movie). It was replaced by The Mod Squad (sigh).
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Baud: I have another old one that I only vaguely remember but like way back when. Buffalo Bill starring Dabny Coleman and a young and up and coming Geens Davis. I think one of the network execs said his greatest regret was not fighting for that show.
I still like all the USA Network blue skies era shows and ditto what was said above about Chuck and Scrubs. But at least Scrubs has a long run and was pretty much as funny in the last season the original cast was involved as in earlier seasons. In addition to the comedy it got medical drama more right than a lot of medical drama.
Also, not a TV network show but Amazon Prime’s The Tick based on the comic of the same name (also not to be confused with the Fox Network show which I’ve also heard good things about) was great and deserved more than two seasons. It had the same mix of action and humor as Chuck, Psych, Monk, etc.
Melancholy Jaques
I mostly watch sports and tend to pick up on series TV when someone recommends it, sometimes years after it started, sometimes after it is cancelled. I was made for binging or binging was made for me.
Two shows I watched when they were on that I was sad to see go: HBO’s Carnivale and Rome.
SpaceUnit
I usually prefer to watch a limited series rather than a show that just keeps going season after season. I want to know that the writers are going to wrap things up at some point.
I liked Downton Abbey because of the production values. I liked Cobra Kai because it was a hoot. I liked Stranger Things but felt they should have called it quits after season three.
I’d like to see a mashup of Cobra Kai and Downton Abbey where it’s the Downton characters but they all know Kung Fu and smash up the palace.
WaterGirl
@Starfish: Sorry! To be more clear, they cancelled the show with TONS OF DIVERSITY and at the same time cancelled one of their shows for NOT HAVING DIVERSITY.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
On the other hand, there have been a lot of shows which I watched for a few seasons and then got bored with, since all dramas have to have problems and after a while, it’s enough already, but the shows seem to run forever. For example, I watched Grey’s Anatomy for a couple of seasons, and also The Blacklist, and True Blood. Whereas we watched Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, Better Call Saul, The Wire etc. to to very end
ETA: Comedies have this problem too. I stopped with Friends after a while, since the will they/won’t they with Ross and Rachel got to be ridiculous.
p.a.
I just want to see an NCIS- set anywhere- where, when they flash a badge and say “NCIS”, the character says, “huh? What the fuck is that? You’re making that up.”
Jay
@Ken:
Realism.
Most of the plots were based around manufactured “Internet fears” with little connection to “Internet Reality”.
zhena gogolia
This is kind of OT, because I don’t watch any streaming series except Hacks (still great!). But we got on a kick of watching Bridget Jones for the 100th time (still great!), then went on to Bridget Jones Edge of Reason (which we’d only seen once — Hugh Grant great again). Now we’re doing something I never thought I’d do — we’re watching Bridget Jones’s Baby. Although it is a travesty when compared to the first film, it still has Colin Firth (although he must have put it in his contract that he would only do a scene or two), and it’s actually HILARIOUS.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Melancholy Jaques: Oh yeah, Rome could have run for a lot longer! I read that it was very expensive, and HBO cancelled it before they realized it was a hit.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
@NotMax:
I understand why many people loved this show, but it didn’t work for me. Liked the actors, but not the characters they played.
The Reconstruction Western thing is tiresome.
zhena gogolia
I’m still sad about Roger Corman. He lived to a ripe old age (98), but I owe him so many enjoyable moments of my childhood and adolescence.
NotMax
From the shows which should never have been greenlighted file:
The Secret Diary Of Desmond Pfeiffer.
Women in Prison.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I see Buffalo Bill got mentioned already. Another one… I’d have to see it again to see if it holds up but I recall thinking Get A Life starring Chris Elliott was really funny. Also someone mentioned Stark Raving Mad starring Tony Shaloub and Niel Patrick Harris. I recall that being pretty funny and I think it only made it one season.
Shalimar
I was really disappointed when early Fox cancelled Key West after half a season. All the episodes are on YouTube now and it isn’t as funny as I thought it was 30 years ago. Still an interesting concept though, factory worker wins the lottery and moves to where Hemingway wrote because he wants to be a writer. Quirkiness ensues. Would have been nice to see 2 or 3 seasons.
eclare
@Cheryl from Maryland:
My parents and I were upset, too. That show never had a fair chance, the network kept moving it around.
citizen dave
@S Cerevisiae: 14-15 year old me really liked Night Stalker–it was so different than all the other shows on tv then. I should do a re-watch–looks like it is available on Peacock. I don’t have that, but will probably get around to it at some point. Next streamer up for me is Apple.
Shalimar
Another show I really was getting into before it was killed by the 2007 writers’ strike after half a season was Journeyman. Involuntary time travel/love story that was slowly unravelling the mystery of what was happening to the main character.
lowtechcyclist
@Jay:
It was pretty ‘meh’ as far as I was concerned. A lot of wham-bang but the interaction of the characters just didn’t work the way it had in the all-too-short TV series.
Quiltingfool
This isn’t about a cancelled show, apologies. I’ve been watching The Boys on Prime, and hoo boy, does it capture some of the insanity of our political scene. There is A LOT of blood, guts, nekked people, sex, cussing — but…
The story is about superheroes, managed by a corporation. All kinds of powers, and the public was told they were born superheroes (spoiler: they weren’t). The most important superhero, Homelander, is an insecure, narcissistic and amoral man (sound like someone we know?). The conflict comes when a small group of guys (the Boys) who lost loved ones to the careless actions of superheroes decide to bring down the “supes” and the corporation that made them.
Many references to “fake news,” “deep state,” immigrants invading (meaning terrorist supes), how great America used to be, etc. There is an actual Nazi superhero in Season 2, tho nobody knows that at first! So many parallels to today, too many to point out.
Again, it is a very graphic show, and might be off putting to some, so just warning you!
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
I thought Edge of Reason was the weakest of those three films, even though I love Hugh Grant and am meh about Colin Firth.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Also hasn’t been cancelled yet but I will be bummed if Deadloch doesn’t get another season. Worked great as both a mystery and a comedy.
NotMax
A real oddball is It’s a Living which ran on network from 1980 to ’82, was cancelled and then resurrected as a new syndicated series from ’85 – ’89. Catchy theme song.
;)
citizen dave
A recent one cancelled in 2022 is Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim and Max). Highly recommended 15 or so minute episodes. Three seasons worth, they each have an overall plot running through the year. It’s a gentle and cool ode to life in the midwest (bean poles!), and specifically the UP.
schrodingers_cat
I have been streaming old shows that I missed in their first run or ones that I liked but only saw a few episodes when they were on. I recently finished going through the entire X-files. No I am going through ER.
Quiltingfool
I see someone here has an issue with NCIS Jethro Gibbs. I tolerated his character only because I liked the other characters in the show (Abby, Duckie, Ziva). He wasn’t bad (he was good with kids and dogs) but I got so tired of how everyone vied for his attention and approval. Gag.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
I really enjoyed the Roger Cornan obituary in the Hollywood Reporter.
It reminded me of how Corman was a master of low budget genre films.
He also had an interesting artistic aesthetic.
Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations were foundational to my love of movies.
RevRick
@WaterGirl: The bottom line is always the bottom line. The two factors that matter are advertising revenue and costs (mostly talent salaries). As series go on their audience usually declines, while at the same time what the leads get paid increases. With declining viewership comes declining ad revenue. If the $ going out exceeds the $ coming in, then no matter how great the quality, that show is history. Conversely, if a schlock show generates revenue, it will be kept.
CliosFanboy
@Quiltingfool: we watched season one, but that was it. Homelander was just too off-putting
Brimstone was an interesting show, but not only was it canceled, it’s never been released on DVD, nor is it avaliable to stream.
El Muneco
@Steeplejack: Can’t LL Cool J, Ice Cube, and Ice-T just fade away into hip-hop obscurity rather than hanging around in old man TV roles?
JaySinWA
@WaterGirl:
[conspiracy theory] They canceled Bluebloods using lack of diversity to give ammunition to anti DEI activists. The Rufo reach is vast and inscrutable [/conspiracy theory] /
ETA I have never watched more than a few seconds of Bluebloods. The copaganda didn’t seem to have any redeeming values.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
I’m still mad they cancelled “Gilligan’s Island”, now we’ll never know their fate.
NotMax
Mercifully fast given the axe was Manimal. “You won’t believe your eyes. He can turn into any animal. As long as it’s a jaguar or a hawk.”
On the other hand, cancelled too soon: The Time Tunnel. “Those flash pots are absolutely killing our budget.”
;)
Other MJS
@Anonymous At Work: @Brachiator:
Low-er Decks! Low-er Decks! Low-er Decks!
‘Nuff said.
zhena gogolia
@eclare: It’s definitely the weakest in the way they make RZ look. The script and direction are a big plunge from the original.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
This show was so bad, that I was hoping that it would be cancelled while I was watching it.
However, I loved the short lived T.H.E Cat, starring Robert Loggia.
Ihop
@Brachiator:
Thank you. I am uncomfortable with the thought I might have been the first sentient to notice anything. No snark.
Chris
Firefly is the obvious choice, but it’s the obvious choice for a reason. The network aired the episodes all out of order, aired the two-hour pilot last, skipped weeks after airing only three episodes, and never even aired the last three episodes. That show was effectively shot in both kneecaps before it could even take a step. Considering that it’s hard to think of a more solidly executed first season of any show, it’s hard for me to think of any show that was more unfairly canceled with as much potential on the table.
Other than that? Oh, The Finder, I guess. Never knew about it at the time, a friend showed it to me ten years after it aired, but all I can say is I really would’ve enjoyed having more of it.
raven
Julia
Quiltingfool
@CliosFanboy: If you found Homelander off-putting in Season 1, it’s probably good you quit watching as he is so much worse in the next 2 seasons. In one episode he is at a political rally for a Presidential campaign, and instead of talking about the candidate, he rants and raves about another supe who offended him. Off stage, the candidate remarks to his fellow congresswoman, “What in the Hell is he talking about?” Very Trumpy.
Omnes Omnibus
It is interesting that this is the second Medium Cool in a based on a negative premise.
Quiltingfool
@Chris: I liked the Finder, too. Very quirky.
Steeplejack
@Ken:
Forget “sharing the keyboard.” One of my big TV beefs is fake computer typing in general. Every actor should be able to type “the quick brown fox” or something to at least make things look semi-plausible.
Bonus: My other big film/TV beef is empty luggage. I hate scenes where people are carrying suitcases supposed to be holding big loads (“We’re emigrating to America!”) and they’re swinging them like they’re completely empty (which they are).
kalakal
Two I’m annoyed about
The Prisoner Basically cancelled half way through the one and only season so McGoohan had to come up with a final episode in about 2 days
Lazarus Was going to be the third installment in Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes. All was ready to go, script, cast, when the funding was suddenly pulled.
And one cancelled by tragedy not corporate idiocy
Father Ted The day after the completion of season 2 Dermot Morgan had a fatal heart attack. Rightly it was decided to end the show rather than try to replace him. I loved that program.
Steeplejack
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Elsbeth was too zany in the first few episodes, but they have dialed her back to just the right level. Maybe hubby should give it another look.
eclare
@raven:
Oh I hadn’t heard that.
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@Brachiator: I liked what I remember as the noir atmosphere of T. H. E. Cat. I think some episodes turned up on YouTube …
Does anyone else recall the hastily-canceled EZ Streets?
eclare
@kalakal:
NewsRadio was also cancelled by tragedy. RIP Phil Hartman. There was no way that great little show could go on.
It tried for one season with Jon Lovitz, but it didn’t work.
Chris
For a more unique case, Stargate SG-1, which somehow was both canceled too early and too late. Season 8 had all the hallmarks of a good finale: they spent all of it wrapping up the threat that the heroes had been fighting for the first seven seasons, culminating with it being all but destroyed and the revolution victorious, all at the same time that the first season of the show’s spin-off (Stargate: Atlantis) was finding its feet and making its mark, which meant there was now someone else to carry the weight.
… But, the Sci-Fi Channel decided at the last minute that the show was too successful to cancel, so the new show that they’d been thinking of doing (Stargate Command) was hastily retooled into the next season of the old show, with a half-new cast, and brand new Big Bads.
Ah, but wait, there’s more: after only two seasons, they decide they’re going to cancel the new show after all, forcing them to hastily resolve the new Big Bad plot as best they can and then tie it off in a TV movie. Despite the fact the show at that point could easily have gone for two or three more seasons, and probably should have if they were going to give the new war the space it deserved.
It’s funny, I really love that franchise on the whole, but damn if they didn’t make some bad decisions. Don’t get me started on the choice, after a fairly successful two shows covering fifteen seasons, to throw out the book in favor of Grimdark Dime-Store BSG. Oh, Stargate fucking Universe, now there’s a show that was canceled two seasons too late. (Yes, it ran for two seasons).
Melancholy Jaques
@Chris:
Has anyone ever explained why they did that to that show?
zhena gogolia
@Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: I LOVED EZ STREETS!!!
Salt Water
@Tehanu:
I thought I was the only person who kept a list!
Bakersfield PD is on there. Doctor Doctor and Better Off Ted too. Working was similar to Better Off Ted and I liked that one as well. The Job had a great ensemble cast although I didn’t care for the lead in that show.
NotMax
@Brachiator
T.H.E Cat. Oh yes. Also great theme music.
And that use of initials sparked recall of another fun watch which went away much too soon, :Q.E.D..
Spanky
This is your PSA to remember to check your skies for aurorae tonight. No promises, but it could be a replay of Friday night.
A hefty moon and pretty substantial cloud deck out there right now. Need to check every hour or so, I guess.
Sure Lurkalot
@SpaceUnit:
Me too. I have the attention span of a flea.
Only Murders in the Building is my kind of multi season show because there’s resolution at each end (even though there’s a cliffhanger too).
Palm Royale ended with 5 or 6 cliffhangers and no decision about a 2nd season. Bummer!
Steeplejack
@citizen dave:
I liked Joe Pera, but it’s definitely a late-night Adult Swim kind of thing. But a nice change of pace.
Adam Lang
How about Tales of the Gold Monkey?
As for shows that went on for too long, well, Taggart is kind of an extreme example. The name character was really the only one who was very interesting, and then the actor died, and instead of recasting him or cancelling the show, they went on calling it Taggart for like ten more years (averaging two or three eps per year IIRC!) while making completely unremarkable characterless episodes.
Buckeye
I’m still pissed that Fox cancelled Bakersfield PD back in 1994.
Brachiator
@RevRick:
In traditional network TV, a show might continue because it was popular with a desirable demographic. And for a time, producers would want a series to reach at least 100 episodes, because this might make the series valuable in syndication.
Some oddities. The network was willing to renew Bewitched for at least one more season despite declining ratings after Season 8, but Elizabeth Montgomery wanted to do something else.
The Rockford Files got cancelled in part because it supposedly was very expensive, but James Garner ended up suing Universal, which had claimed that the series had incurred massive financial losses. Universal and Garner settled.
Studios often had a way of moving the bottom line to their benefit.
And both The Smothers Brothers show and Lou Grant got cancelled because the networks were assholes.
Another Scott
@raven: +1
Family Affair, on the other hand, … ;-)
Mr. Fwench!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Annamal
If you have a chance, check out the 1 season sitcom Enlisted (and maybe watch the episodes in the intended order rather than airing order).
It’s a lovely thoughtful little show with a lot of heart and a very similar potential to Brooklyn 99, also Keith David…
The single season is a good viewing experience.
My partner and I still quote it.
Another case of Fox not knowing what they had.
CaseyL
@Another Scott:
Brisco County! I was extremely upset they cancelled that one. Ahead of its time, it was, with all kinds of Easter eggs and references to things not in the show’s universe.
Nowadays I only see shows on the streaming services I subscribe to, and damn few of those. I’ve gotten pretty much out of watching any series, because a) I’d have to subscribe to eight or more services to see all the ones people rave about; and b) too many past experiences of shows I really like being cancelled way too soon.
Don’t fall in love with anything commercially produced. With private equity investor syndicates taking over the studios, they’ll cancel and/or abort more “properties” than they air, for the tax write-offs.
weasel
@Chet Murthy:
Classic reference! Think it was Fox that torpedoed Firefly though, showing episodes in the wrong order and shifting the time slot at least twice during a 14 episode run which they cut short after only airing 11. But I’m not bitter, oh no…
Steeplejack
@Quiltingfool:
One thing I notice looking at occasional NCIS reruns is what a complete sexist swine Tony DiNozzo was. Some episodes almost unwatchable. I kept wanting someone (Ziva!) to kick him hard in the nuts.
SpaceUnit
@Sure Lurkalot:
I lose interest when I start to feel that the writers don’t have any idea where the story is going.
And that’s pretty often.
WaterGirl
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Sad news about Deadloch.
It says “cancelled / ended”. Bastards.
Chris
@Another Scott:
Seconded on Brisco County Jr.
The other show of a similar nature and the same period that I enjoy is Legend. It’s a fun show to watch if you like Richard Dean Anderson’s two more successful shows: his character in that one is basically Jack O’Neill by personality (cranky wiseass), but is forced by circumstances to put on a MacGyver persona (do-gooder Eagle Scout).
The other thing I like about both shows, being steampunk westerns, is that the whole premise is so antithetical to what Westerns have become. So many Westerns portray the twilight of the Old West and the coming of modernity as a tragedy. So there’s something nice about a show where the cowboys embrace the coming of the twentieth century (personified in all the steampunk technology) with enthusiasm rather than dread.
WaterGirl
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Surely the 3-hour tour is over by now?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: What was the first one?
edit: If it was last week, I will confess that I got the idea for this one as I was putting together last week’s. I also came up with a third topic while I was putting last week’s MC together, so if you are referring to last week, I will have to check on next week’s topic. :-)
weasel
@CaseyL: Never got to watch much Brisco Co, but loved the ones I did see. Another classic Bruce Campbell performance!
Chris
@Brachiator:
I think Firefly aired at the very tail end of the era when the “Reconstruction Western” thing could still be gotten away with. I’m not even sure it could have if it hadn’t been disguised by the sci-fi genre.
WaterGirl
@Chris: Loved The Finder.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Speaking of late night, I’m suddenly remembering some after midnight light interview/conversation TV show where I heard Tori Amos live for the first time. She played Winter (5:42).
The host guy was basically speechless afterwards. Like she had gently opened up his chest and taken his heart and broken it into a million pieces and then put it back.
It was a great moment, and he clearly didn’t expect anything like it. :-D
Cheers,
Scott.
weasel
@mrmoshpotato: Space Western is the best short description. Typically great Joss Whedon team driven drama (too bad he turned out to be such a creeper). Band of scrappy rebels trying to scrape by in an increasingly controlled galaxy that end up getting mixed up in BIG THINGS!
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
The stuff of nightmares!
eclare
@Sure Lurkalot:
I thought the last season of Only Murders was especially good. Paul Rudd was a revelation.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Yes, I left out “in a row.”
weasel
@Scout211: Loved that show! I local band back in my college days in Tallahassee used to do a cover of the theme song so an encore every now and then. Big crowd pleaser with my generation :)
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: I think a lot of these decisions are financial. I’m sure filming in Hawaii is extraordinarily expensive, so they need more return on the show.
Canceling a show because it doesn’t have enough diversity is dumb, because that’s easy to solve. Any show set in Hawaii has to be diverse or it would be unrealistic.
I’m still salty about “Sports Night”.
Tim in SF
My family used to love watching network shows in the eighties and even going into the nineties. But by the late nineties, I had mostly stopped watching it.
Firefly was the last straw.
Steeplejack
@Larch:
I am really liking Lise Delorme, the female detective (played by Karine Vanasse). She’s on top of everything, unflappable, and pulls more than her weight.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Yes! I was never a big Tony fan, but as the years went by, he just seemed like more of a pig.
I would kill to have Ziva back, thought!
Except I read that besides the NCIS origins shows that’s coming next season, they are also plotting a new NCIS with Tony & Ziva as the stars.
I am thrilled about Ziva, but “Tony” just doesn’t play well anymore.
So it looks to me like whoever is in charge of the franchise at the moment is fucking up 5 ways to Sunday.
Chris
@Quiltingfool:
This probably didn’t mean much to anyone who wasn’t a very big fan of a very particular piece of eighties pop culture, but I loved the fact that The Finder had one episode where they gave Michael Des Barres a role where he was playing the same character, in all but name, that he was on MacGyver thirty years earlier. Complete with the obligatory “you thought I was dead, didn’t you? Catch you next season!” ending.
MazeDancer
@Chris: Loved The Finder. RIP, Michael Clarke Duncan.
Soprano2: Sports Night was the beat.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Not sure if you saw my edit?
Now I definitely have to look at the 3rd idea I came up with last week.
edit: Nope, that one isn’t negative. The words “Top 5” are in the title.
Chris
@Melancholy Jaques:
Not that I know of. I didn’t discover the show until a couple years later on DVD, so I didn’t hear what was said at the time, but thought it was batshit insane when I heard the story later.
glc
@weasel: Came here to see when Firefly was mentioned. Didn’t take long. I’ll have to come back later to see the rest.
I would have liked to see where Crusade was headed. After one season the setup was starting to get clear (in the same very gradual sense as the first season of Babylon 5). I’d have liked to see that actually play out. It didn’t last long enough to constitute a rug-pull, but still.
Harrison Wesley
I was a big fan of Black Mirror, but it wasn’t a series with ongoing plot and characters so I guess it doesn’t exactly fit in here.
WaterGirl
@Spanky: Thanks for the reminder! I missed Friday because I wasn’t feeling well.
Just checked now, nothing happening yet.
Chris
@Steeplejack:
When Michael Weatherly got hit with the sexual harassment accusations in the #MeToo era, I remember my only reaction being “sometimes it’s who you most expect.” Based on what I’d seen on NCIS, he always struck me as a guy who was just at the line between sleazy and charming. He might fall on the right side of the line, but that’s with professionals writing his lines and deciding the story: take that away, and all of a sudden, not so much.
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Starfish:
Of course. Problem is, every time we Dems think something is disqualifying, Republicans make it a requirement. That’s their definition of pwning the libs.
weasel
@Chet Murthy: Agree with both all the great lines AND that people had problems with it. It just had SO much potential I was expecting it to turn into something really special after another two or three seasons. In my experience, it usually takes the actors in those Joss Whedon shows at least a season before they settle into the characters and their relationships to one another. As someone else said earlier, at least they did the movie to wrap things up (something we had to wait, what more than a decade? to get for Deadwood)
prostratedragon
@kalakal:
The Prisoner is an old favorite of mine too. Opinions can differ on this, and I’ve no idea about the history of the ending, but it always seemed to me that the show at that point had finished the story it wanted to tell. Looking over the trivia at imdb, it seems that MacGoohan had originally envisioned 7 episodes. To get it made, he had to sign for two 13-episode seasons, and of course it was ended at episode 15 or 16. At the same time, several principals including MacGoohan had pre-existing committments coming up. Mix all that with the poor reception of the last episode and there’s room for all manner of kayfabe to be spun.
Another Scott
Speaking of shows, … Something I only found an hour or so ago.
NOAA.gov – Aurora 30 minute forecast.
Pick your hemisphere, play the video, then grab the “thumb” and drag it to your time of interest. It might help to know when it’s best to go outside and look up (if it isn’t cloudy where you are).
Cheers,
Scott.
weasel
@glc: OMG, Babylon 5! One of my absolute faves and so glad it got to be wrapped up properly. Agree that Crusade had good potential and I’m still hoping the B5 reboot that got derailed by mergers can still happen. One of the few things I miss about leaving Twitter was the JMS updates on the show.
Jackie
@Scout211: The theme song to The Greatest American Hero is still a great song – and ear worm!
My oldest kiddo LOVED that show! I enjoyed watching him enjoy it 😊
weasel
@kalakal: Ah, The Prisoner! Another one of my all time faves. It did seem to conclude rather abruptly, but I never knew why
Princess
I’m still miffed about Square Pegs. With that actress, Sarah Jessica something. Wonder what ever happened to her?
geg6
Worst? Freaks and Geeks. Haven’t read any comments yet, but that show was so excellent, almost every actor in it became a huge star. Plus, one of the first producing gigs for Judd Apatow (plus the show where he found the actors he worked with forever after) and it was a creation of Paul Feig. Just stellar in every way. I had James Franco on my bingo card for “gonna be a huge star” from the moment I saw him on that show.
kalakal
@glc: I’d have like to see where Crusade was going too. I’m a huge fan of Babylon 5
@prostratedragon: That’s roughly my understanding too. The last episode is something of a mess. There’s so many stories about that series
weasel
Oh wow, can’t believe I forgot about Max Headroom! Talk about a show ahead of its time
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
I saw Tori Amos live in Chastain Park in Atlanta one time. She was great.
Chastain Park is a great venue: open-air amphitheater, picnic-friendly, with concerts usually starting a little before sunset. I saw some other great shows there. Sting circa “Fields of Gold” comes to mind.
(Another version, by Eva Cassidy.)
Peggy
I haven’t had a TV for 20 years (and yes, I was a bit of an ass about it for a time) but have probably watched more TV online in the ensuing years then as I did prior to unplugging.
I’ll join the choruses about Firefly, Num3ers, Stargate Atlantis and probably many others I missed in the comments. Has anyone mentioned Warehouse 13? What a fun show! I also really like StarTrek Discovery (Lower Decks is too frenetic for my taste); both shows being cancelled before their time. Now with Paramount’s future in limbo, what will become of the Star Trek shows that are in the works (Academy and Section 31)?
A current show on Paramount+ that I’m enjoying is A Gentleman In Moscow. Since it’s based on a novel it appears to be a single series. Very good storytelling and acting
On the plus side, many of the shows are now on some streaming service or another, some of them free to watch. I admit that I don’t seek out new programming as much as I used to; revisiting old friends works just as well.
Brachiator
Not a TV series, but I miss Los Angeles area TV station KSCI Channel 18, which used to broadcast a variety of Asian and Middle Eastern programming before it was sold or went out of business.
I particularly enjoyed Japanese historical dramas and martial arts series like the marvelous Yagyu Conspiracy, starring Sonny Chiba. On weekends the station would show substantial clips of Indian movies, which gave a taste of the richness of the industry. Some great dance numbers, too.
I wonder if some of the programming is available on any of the streaming services.
RSA
@CliosFanboy: Brimstone was great. Peter Horton is always solid, and I still think John Glover played the best Satan on TV.
prostratedragon
@raven: I liked that one. Saw a few I’ll Fly Away episodes and wanted to see more, but it ended and hasn’t been syndicated far as I know. Maybe streamjng somewhere.
NotMax
@weasel
The draw was it was so unlike anything else out there at the time.
My pet theory at the time of its first airing (dashed) was that the diminutive mute butler was the real Number One. Trivia: the actor in that role was a mute in real life.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: 👍
Cheers,
Scott.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@WaterGirl: Damn!
Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
I loved Sports Night. Feel like it got canceled because it was too smart.
MagdaInBlack
@weasel: I had forgotten that one too. It was weird and fun, wasn’t it??
prostratedragon
@kalakal: Oh I liked it, especially “Ezekiel” and the chaos the jury disintegrated into. Handed No. 6 his soul back.
geg6
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Another Elsbeth fan here.
Parfigliano
Freaks and Geeks. Duckman. Sports Night. All killed off too soon.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Maybe available on the >a href=”https://www.viki.com/”>Viki (Rakuten) streaming service?
NotMax
Whoopsie daisy. Fix.
@Brachiator
Maybe available on the Viki (Rakuten) streaming service?
piratedan
I fondly remember a show in the mid 70’s called SEARCH which had a rotating cast of leads (Hugh O’Brian, Tony Franciosa and someone else) and they all were in constant communication with Burgess Meredith as the boss. Kind of a cross of Man From Uncle and Mission Impossible.
Quark was a funny SF spoof starring Richard Benjamin, twas almost an audition for Conrad Janus to move to Mork and Mindy.
Sliders was a lot of fun while it lasted, as was The Lone Gunmen, the X-Files spinoff.
I really enjoyed Leverage as well, was sad when it shut down.
JoyceH
Some miscellaneous responses to various other posts:
Was Tucci’s Searching for Italy cancelled out from under him, or did he decide for himself that he was all searched out? He’d searched for Italy and by golly, he found it. He also Exec Produced Eva Longoria’s Searching for Mexico. Causing me to daydream that maybe I could pitch to him a show where I discover the exotic food of MY roots. Joyce Harmon Searching For England. “I’m here at a London street vendor, about to sample the iconic British street food, the chips buttie…”
NCIS – I watched seventeen seasons of that on streaming. I didn’t watch it on network television because it didn’t appeal to me. Back in MY day, NCIS was NIS and they had a horrible reputation as the gang that couldn’t shoot straight or maintain chain of custody on evidence, etc – so the idea that the new model NIS would actually successfully solve crimes just struck me as laughably implausible.
Stargate – loved SG-1, really loved Atlantis, loathed Universe. I watched about five or six eps of Universe, realized there wasn’t a single character I liked, and gave up on it.
I just can’t watch network television anymore. Advancing a story by 42 minutes a week, which once seemed entirely normal to us, now strikes me as intolerably slow. I’ll watch network television later, when there are a number of seasons in the can and available on streaming. Of those, recently I’ve really enjoyed The Rookie (but not The Rookie, Feds – the lead canNOT act!), the Good Doctor, and Station 19.
columbusqueen
@Other MJS: Yep, want more Lower Decks!
Also want Apple+ & Amazon to start issuing DVDs of their major shows. Some of us still rely on physical media, dammit!
Steeplejack
The three cancelations that hit me hard (all one season):
The Good Guys, 2010. Colin Hanks as a young straight-arrow cop assigned to ride herd on old-school out-of-control cop Bradley Whitford. Really good cast chemistry, just needed a little more time to get on its feet.
Battle Creek, 2015. Josh Duhamel, Dean Winters (the “mayhem” guy from commercials), Aubrey Dollar, Kal Penn. Same story: good chemistry, needed a little more time.
Backstrom, 2015. Rainn Wilson and a really good, quirky supporting cast. Cops in the Northwest (Seattle?). Really thought this one was going to go, but apparently it was too subtle for the suits.
Hmm, they’re all cop shows. 🤔
Dadadadadadada
@Chet Murthy: Fox, not SciFi, killed Firefly. Like many others on this thread, I am going to be mad about it until I die.
RevRick
@Brachiator: I doubt that The Smothers Brothers and Lou Grant got cancelled, because the networks were assholes. Far more likely, it’s because they were afraid… of viewers or advertisers.
All those people listed in the credits as producers have one ultimate job: to produce money. And, by in large, they are herd animals. And herd animals will stick with the herd at all costs. Why do you think Hollywood generates so many sequels? It made money for us before, let’s see if we can milk it for more.
Chris
@piratedan:
You know it came back, right? Leverage: Redemption has two seasons out, with a third one on the way.
kmeyerthelurker
Anyone mentioned HBOs Carnivale? Man I liked that show, & it had a ton of juice left. Clancy Brown at his best.
JohnC
@citizen dave: MeTV shows “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” every Saturday 11PM Central.
TEL
@Chris: Another Finder fan! I thought I was the only one!
SpaceUnit
@JohnC:
That was a good one!
pieceofpeace
@raven: Oh, hell, yeah… Sarah Lancashire, as is her usual, was so good as Julia.
TEL
@Peggy: Loved Warehouse 13!
John Revolta
Anybody remember Action? It was a sitcom about Hollywood that ran on FOX about 20 years ago for 8 episodes before they cancelled it. Jay Mohr, Ileana Douglas………. very dark and very funny.
Jackie
@Starfish:
IF Scott isn’t selected as TIFG’s VP, will his wedding/engagement be canceled? 🤔
kmeyerthelurker
@John Revolta: Even a dog can shake hands. Ileana Douglas was a huge crush of mine way back when.
Chris
@JoyceH:
Oh yeah. With you all the way.
Yeah, honestly, this has always been how I do television. Even when I jump on a currently ongoing show, it usually won’t be until it’s been on for several seasons and there are a lot of episodes available to feed my addiction. It’s how I got into SG-1 in the early 2000s – sure, new episode every Friday night at 8, but also, reruns every week night at 6, plus Monday was SG-1 night with four more “old” episodes from 7 to 11. I got hooked really quick!
Soprano2
@weasel: I wondered what happened to the reboot. What I want is something about the Telepath Wars….
Timill
You’d think the BBC could have renewed I, Claudius for a few more seasons… I, Vespasian, I, Hadrian and so on…
NotMax
@Chris
If you liked Leverage, you’ll really, really like the British series Hustle.
Chris
@JoyceH:
Separate response because different topic –
I never served, only did a couple years of ROTC in college before deciding it wasn’t for me, but I definitely remember the day they did their version of a career fair, and once of the guys invited was there to speak for the OSI (Air Force version of NIS). I chiefly remember him for bragging about having “personally” had three “proponents of an alternate lifestyle” run out of the service.
I mean, think about the sheer number of things that the OSI is at least theoretically responsible for investigating. Espionage. Black market trafficking. War crimes. Not to mention the usual big crimes like rape, assault, murder. Now think about the context: this is a recruitment event, it’s where your job is to put your best foot forward and present your employer in the most appealing light. This, out of all the things he could have talked about, was what he decided to brag about: “join the OSI, then you too can be a licensed pervert who sniffs through people’s underwear for a living!”
It’s a great insight into the cop mentality in general, too. I’m pretty sure he knew exactly what he was doing: the people the OSI wants are, indeed, exactly the kind of people who would listen to that recruitment pitch and be turned on rather than repelled by it.
John Revolta
@kmeyerthelurker: I can relate………..
Ken
One warning, all those late-night MeTV shows are edited for time — meaning they chop out about 8 minutes of the Kolchak episode so they can squeeze in more commercials for generic ED pills, home security lighting, knee braces, and scratchless cookware.
Lucidamente
NBC screwed the pooch a few years back when it canceled Debris after half a season. The show could have been the next X-Files.
piratedan
@Lucidamente: too true, I thought it had some promising threads to it, could have done with less government intrigue and more WTF are we dealing with.
Belafon
@Another Scott: speaking of Gunsmoke, Gilligan’s island was doing much better in the ratings, but the wife of the head of CBS convinced him to keep Gunsmoke.
pieceofpeace
@prostratedragon: Forgot about this one – loved it long ago and probably still would.
NotMax
@Lucidamente
NBC screwed its audience with shows such as Supertrain and Hello, Larry.
Chris
@piratedan:
Now that I’ve googled that, I think I’d enjoy it quite a bit. Alas, doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere, or even uploaded by anyone to YouTube.
Lucidamente
CBS made another huge mistake when it let Clarice go.
piratedan
@Chris: had to go and wiki it, Doug McClure was the 3rd lead
here’s what my YouTube kung Fu led me:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=search+hugh+o%27brian
Leslie Stevens, the driving force behind The Outer Limits, developed it.
billcinsd
@WaterGirl: Yes, neo-Confederate nostalgia is a travesty
kmax
just got home
for me, it was the cancellation of Zen on PBS after 3 shows. ugh
Uncle Cosmo
Now hold on a sec. Just out of curiosity, just when do you believe that happen??
IIRC what actually happened was that Joe Straczynski had B5 structured for a 5-year story arc, and then got told at the end of year 3 that he was getting one more season, period. So he did everything he could to cram two seasons’ worth of story into one – and after accomplishing that, Joe got told OK, you get a fifth season after all. And had to turn around and gin up enough after-the-fact content for what in essence was a season-long postscript. Am I misremembering that??
(Saddest thing about B5 is the number of actors in significant roles who came to tragic ends – died way too young, or in Michael O’Hare’s case, descended into mental illness.)
2liberal
amazon prime has it for sale, $9.99 for 13 episodes.
Brachiator
@Uncle Cosmo:
You got it right.
I remember talking about B5 with other fans on a Compuserve forum. JMS would often participate, which was wild considering all the other projects he was juggling.
John Revolta
@2liberal: Hot dog!
wrog
@Chris:
Stargate Universe was a great show on its own terms — I think they did a lot better than usual at getting the science right and building the ensemble cast — but I get the sense that it was originally conceived as a standalone series,
and that at some point somebody decided to gamble that it would do better shoehorned into the Stargate franchise, where they’d be able to skip some of the worldbuilding to get to the action more quickly, cameo various familiar characters, and thus have a guaranteed audience
… and they lost that bet because it was just Too Different for the long-term fans to deal with.
nasruddin
@sab: Whedon was long gone by the time that axe fell. The official story was something to the effect that the company, after a merger, was hemorrhaging money and had huge debt, and there was a huge tax and residuals savings by burying it and several other shows (like West World), some like Nevers sight-unseen.
Of course the fans got nothing but imagine having worked on such a project and having your work buried in an IP graveyard for tax purposes!
wrog
also sad about Lockwood & Co.
Brachiator
@RevRick:
Fear can sometimes be the mark of an asshole. The Smothers Brothers show was controversial, but was popular with younger viewers. A little more about its final season…
I think that the brothers sued CBS over their treatment. And won.
Hollywood is run by ego and stupidity even more than money. Incoming executives have killed series shepherded by the previous regime. Network executives fought with Johnny Carson because he wanted to cut the Tonight Show from 90 minutes to an hour and take Fridays off. The feud continued for a while even though the show was the biggest generator of revenue at the time for NBC.
ABC executives didn’t think that viewers cared to see whether Richard Kimble would catch the one armed man. The series finale, in which Dr. Kimble’s fate was shown, currently holds the third rank for the all-time highest U.S. television household share, at 72%.
Fear. It is easier to get approval for something that was a proven winner than to risk being creative.
And the public feeds the lack of creativity. Look at how many hollow exercises in nostalgia keep pouring out of Hollywood.
sab
@nasruddin: It is such a shame. That was a weird wonderful project.
sab
@nasruddin: It is such a shame. That was a weird wonderful project.
sab
@nasruddin: It is such a shame. That was a weird wonderful project.
sab
2 am edit breakdown. Sigh.
Dangerman
Late to the thread.
I really enjoyed Joan of Arcadia.
I also enjoyed Person of Interest until it jumped the shark. Well, the zoo; it must have had some sharks.
wrog
@Anonymous At Work:
The problem with a show like Lower Decks is there comes a point where you run out of jokes and it’s not always easy to spot. I look at what happened to The Simpsons — still going 30+ years later as a zombie version of itself that badly needs to be put out of its misery. I’d much rather see LD go out on a peak even if there’s still a lot of life left in the concept.
Meanwhile, Strange New Worlds can’t be cancelled fast enough (I really like the casting but the writers’ conception of what Star Trek is about has gone badly off the rails; they’re retconning all of the wrong things and all they’re accomplishing is making it More Stupid [hint: If it’s only taking you two seasons to get to The Musical Episode, you’ve officially run out of ideas]).
Discovery would have been better as a stand-alone series where they could have just made their own rules and been done with it.
Picard should never have attempted a 3rd season.
Really the whole franchise could stand to lie fallow for another decade or two. But of course that’s not going to happen.
wrog
They really need to change that tax rule.
Tehanu
@Nukular Biskits: Yep, the great Dabney Coleman. I imagine the cancellation was because his character wasn’t a “nice” guy.
Pinkpuppy
@Steeplejack:
Nice choices: I was mourned all three.
I’d add Terriers, Awake, Journeyman, Life
And the Rome and Deadwoods ends were badly handled…k
Pinkpuppy
@Pinkpuppy: And Kings: a family/political drama based on biblical King David. With Ian McShane as the king. Brain Cox played McShane’s deposed predecessor: I would pay money just to hear those two read the phone book to each other…
Alessandro Machi
@errg:
Kosh III
Current upsetting cancellation is So Help Me Todd on CBS, a clever and enjoyable lawyer dramedy.
I will join the Firefly chorus of complaints.
Anyone else remember the talented and clever Frank’s Place that lasted 1/2 a season CBS?
Chris
@wrog:
Frankly, I would’ve been perfectly fine with Star Trek being left to rest in peace. As far as I was concerned before new Trek got off the ground, TOS, TNG, and DS9 already made for a perfectly cromulent bunch of stories, and VOY and ENT were already more than was needed. Not every franchise needs to run forever, and I’d have been perfectly happy to let that one rest in peace after its first three shows and let other space opera continue to take things from there.
(Of course, that last one partly explains what happened: by the late 2000s space opera fatigue had hit. There were comparatively few space opera shows after that and the ones that did show up weren’t big hits. That left the door open for Star Trek to come back: with its massive built-in audience and the fact that its competition was now all gone, the time was right for it to make a comeback).
Miss Bianca
@Another Scott:
Bruce Campbell!! Yes, that was a really fun show.
UncleEbeneezer
Underground is the one I miss most. The second season was just getting into a Harriet Tubman plot that was shaping up to be awesome. Unfortunately it was a VERY expensive show and ratings were solid but not enough to justify keeping it going. And the streaming rights to the show were also incredibly pricey so nobody could really afford to buy it. There were rumors about Oprah saving it but it never happened.
The other one I was really sad to see cancelled is G.L.O.W. About the short-lived Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, from the 1980’s. One of the best dark comedies of the past few years. Super fun and hilarious but also very feminist and not afraid to tackle stuff like racism and xenophobia, but in a funny way. Allison Brie, Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin were all really great in it.
Westlake
Paper Girls on Amazon Prime :c
(The original graphic novel by Brian K Vaughan is a quick and completed story and I highly recommend it)
louc
Of the oldies, WKRP.
Of newer shows, one I loved was the remake of the Wonder Years that featured a Black family in the late 1960s. It combined gentle humor with biting commentary. It ended rather abruptly last year.
Nelson
@Brachiator: “She Gods of Shark Reef” has got to be the best title ever!
Captain C
Totally dead thread (got home too late last night to do anything but start it), but I agree on Leverage and Firefly (though from what I’ve heard of possible plans for season 2, perhaps it’s better we didn’t get there). My partner introduced me to Leverage, and we’ve been enjoying the reboot immensely. She’s also started me on the Librarians; we’re one season in so far.
Also, I kind of zipped through the thread so maybe it was mentioned, but I really wish there was more of Pushing Daisies, rather than the two shortened seasons which kind of act as one full-sized one. I remember seeing ads for it in the NYC Subway when it was a going show.
(ed. for grammar)