Television has been changing drastically over the
last decade. If you're not an instant hit, the writing is on the wall
almost immediately. Out of all of the shows that were prematurely canceled in the last
ten years, these are the ones that broke my heart the most.
10. Clerks: The Animated Series (Kevin
Smith & Scott Mosier & David Mandel, 2000)
In concept, an animated "Clerks" show
doesn't really make a lot of sense. In execution, however, we were treated to
something pretty wonderful in the way of adult animation. A mixture of classic
"Simpsons" and Kevin Smith's famous characters, "Clerks: The
Animated Series" was killed after only two episodes aired (with one being
aired out-of-order, really confusing the then 15-year-old Me).
9. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Aaron Sorkin,
2006-2007)
After one of the best hour-long television pilots
of all time, Aaron Sorkin's "Network: The Show" really struggled to
find itself for the better part of a season. It didn't help that "30
Rock" premiered the same year on the same channel. Axed as it was just
starting to find its footing, I still miss Matt Albie and Danny Tripp dearly.
8. Angel (Joss Whedon, 1999-2004)
This is an odd one - "Angel" may not be
as great as it is if it hadn't been canceled prematurely. "Buffy"
had gone off the air and "Angel" was beginning to truly stand on its
own when it was canceled, which caused Joss Whedon to end the show in the most
frustratingly brilliant way possible.
7. Undeclared (Judd Apatow, 2001-2002)
Not as good as Apatow and Paul Feig's brilliant
"Freaks and Geeks," "Undeclared" was still a great
character-driven show. Yet again, another show that followed the rule
"Just when it starts to become a truly great show, it gets canceled."
6. Stella (Michael Ian Black &
Michael Showalter & David Wain, 2005)
"Stella" is definitely not for
everyone, but those that love jokes about how funny words sound and obscure
literature references really understood how great the few episodes we saw were. "Stella" was able to effortlessly move between extreme high brow humor and low brow, sometimes within a matter of seconds. This, coupled with the show's "Anything can happen at any time" attitude lead to a show that was always fresh and unpredictable, and consistently funny from the beginning of its short run to the end.
5. Veronica Mars (Rob Thomas, 2004-2007)
Who doesn't love a film noir detective story set
in high school? People will Neilsen boxes, apparently.
4. Andy Richter Controls the Universe
(Victor Fresco, 2002-2003)
This was a great little show that tried to be
nothing but fun from beginning to end, and succeeded in a really great way.
3. Arrested Development (Mitchell
Hurwitz, 2003-2006)
Proof positive that there are original ideas left
in Hollywood. Though they did end up going a little too far into "meta, trying
desperately to save the show" territory, "Arrested Development"
stands proud as one of the finest comedies ever forged. Luckily the show's popularity is unwavering, and Netflix is bringing back "Arrested Development" for a fourth season to proceed a feature film in 2013.
2. Firefly (Joss Whedon, 2002)
There really isn't anything that I can say about
this show that hasn't already been said. Consider this proof of the age old
theory that "good things are not allowed to happen to Joss Whedon."
1. Freaks and Geeks (Paul Feig & Judd
Apatow, 1999-2000)
I'd rank the pilot of "Freaks and
Geeks" up with some of my favorite movies of all time. Though it did
have a few missteps as it neared cancellation (the hermaphrodite subplot
doesn't really work in any show, let alone this one), the entire 18 episode run
is largely perfect, and is one of the best American television shows of all
time.
Honorable Mention:
That's My Bush! (Trey Parker & Matt
Stone, 2001)
This one gets an honorable mention because, while
being officially canceled, it probably shouldn't have run longer than the six
episodes it did. What we got was the perfect execution of a great concept, and
anything more probably only would have weakened it.
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