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Which TV Show Was Cancelled Just As It Was Getting Interesting?
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I watched Defying Gravity. I can't say that it was great, but I watched it.... Like several of the shows on that list, it seemed like they had a good idea, but just not enough to round out the whole schedule, so there's a few bits and pieces of a good show throughout the season, but individual episodes suffered from slow pacing and extraneous character development. Plus, there was a kind of formulaic "soap opera" mentality in the writing/production mix. Four men + four women in space. Everyone will eventually have sex with everyone, so there was a kind of forced tension on all the interactions.Still, I liked that there was a whole "star child" concept going on. The space-mythology aspects were intriguing. Like a lot of shows that have been coming out, I don't know if the writers/producers really had an idea where they were going. That's a definite trend in Sci-Fi TV shows. Throw out some bizarre factoids and mystical abstractions just to see what "sticks" in the audience's collective interest, try to create a buzz/water cooler discussion point, but then never actually resolve that mystery because... well, apparently, they never really had a clue themselves. It was just a guerrilla storytelling trick. (See, for instance, the flaccid show finales of Lost, Battlestar Galactica, etc.)
I'd argue the "Just As It Was Getting Interesting" premise of the article on several cases. Firefly was interesting from episode 1 in my opinion. (Either The Train Job that aired first or the actual premiere episode shown out of order.) Yeah, I'm one of those people who thinks the cancellation of Firefly was a crime against nature. I'm not into cosplay, but had I anything like the urge I'd pick up a brown trench coat....
Farscape was amusing, escapist Sci-Fi, and they actually did a few new and interesting story-arcs (the main character cloned and, rather than have them do a kind of "twins hijinks" the whole time, they go off on separate paths for an extended period of the show... never saw that happen on TV before or since.) It did, apparently, get cancelled early, but it got four full 22 episode seasons, a mini-series wrap up and--I'm told--maybe a movie.... That's a pretty good run.
I also watched Alphas. They just never seemed to get it together on that show. The premise had a lot of promise--it was, after all, pretty much ripped off pretty shamelessly from the various incarnations of mutants from the Marvel Universe. But the whole thing just kind of meandered aimlessly within that cribbed world building without adding much in particular and without really ever figuring out what they were doing. So, I don't know if that EVER got interesting, really.
Gary wrote: "Yeah, I'm one of those people who thinks the cancellation of Firefly was a crime against nature...."A lot of crimes were committed against nature when it came to the way Firefly was treated (IMHO).
Never heard of the rest except maybe "Farscape"? Was that the one the Henson studio was involved in? An Aussie production? Had this odd annoying short thing called "Pax" or "Paks" something?
Gary wrote: "I watched Defying Gravity. I can't say that it was great, but I watched it.... Like several of the shows on that list, it seemed like they had a good idea, but just not enough to round out the who..."Sounds like I would have enjoyed Defying Gravity. I'll try to hunt it on the interwebs.
I've been trying to remember the name of a show that only made it to the pilot. I was supposed to be aired on Fox and it was about a group of scientists that were on a ship on their way to either Jupiter or Mars, I'm not sure, but it was some kind of reality show and they were filmed constantly and it that kind of format. I thought the premise was good but it didn't make it past the pilot.
Another good pilot was for a show called Global Frequency based on the comics of the same name. That was in 2005 but I read last year that a new pilot was ordered. Let's see what happens with this one.
I watched the first two episodes of Alpha but I guess it wasn't my thing. I have never seen Farscape but I see that it's on Amazon Prime Instant Video, I think I will check it out.
I agree with the crimes against nature in regards to Firefly. What I just don't get is why spend the money on a show you are going to deliberately sink? Makes no fiscal sense...Farscape did have a movie that wrapped it up nicely BUT I still miss it. Such a great show, awesome characters and storyline. It was one of the greats that got scrapped before its time.
I liked Terra Nova enough to watch it. Not gonna say its my favorite but it kept my attention and entertained. Plus, it did have possibilities, the concept was awesome and getting a great writer or two on board could have given it the much needed CPR.
Almost Human, another one that suffered from poor marketing and Fox airing the episodes out of order. Fox should not be allowed anywhere near sci fi, first Firefly and then this. Anyone else thinking this is turning into a pattern?
And the Dollhouse, Flashforward, , and Jericho, I thought all were awesome shows and was stunned to see them cancelled.
On a completely opposite note, Netflix just picked up Trailer Park Boys, yay! However, I have not seen the new episodes yet so hopefully they won't ruin the show completely.
Alicja wrote: "I agree with the crimes against nature in regards to Firefly. What I just don't get is why spend the money on a show you are going to deliberately sink? Makes no fiscal sense...Farscape did have ..."
Glad to know you're a fan of Trailer Park Boys, Alicja. Not to mention Firefly and Jericho. Whenever I learn something new about you, you seem to get cooler!
I actually only learned about Jericho thanks to Netflix, and felt a familiar tinge of "Fox, you f*cking idiots!" when I saw that it ended just as it was getting interesting. What is with those morons???
As for TPB, I can tell you, the show's actually quite good still, at least as far as season 8 is concerned. They brought in some new characters, and came up with some twists that were pretty funny. Can't say much for season 9 though, just found out about it myself.
Matthew wrote: "Glad to know you're a fan of Trailer Park Boys, Alicja. Not to mention Firefly and Jericho. Whenever I learn something new about you, you seem to get cooler!"
I'm the antithesis of cool. You could even go as far and say I'm boiling in the Florida steamy heat and my air conditioner on the fritz. :)
I think Fox's secret agenda is too kill sci-fi one awesome idea for a show at a time. Or at least it seems like it, they've used the same formula to mess up sci-fi shows too many times. Once is an incident. Two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern... O.o
Alicja wrote: "Matthew wrote: "Glad to know you're a fan of Trailer Park Boys, Alicja. Not to mention Firefly and Jericho. Whenever I learn something new about you, you seem to get cooler!"
I'm the antithesis o..."
Yep, and I for one cannot abide their stupid formula. The only thing I can venture is that they think science fiction is a bastion of "liberal" thought, which is one thing Rupert Murdoch is all his crotchety bs can't stand.
Have you've tried your hand yet at writing original science fiction?
I'm in total agreement about Firefly, but I'd like to add a couple more, in case anyone ever saw them - I admit these were a long time ago, but they both showed lots of promise which was summarily cut off, as so often happens.Earth 2 starred Tim Curry (Frankenfurter, of The Rocky Horror Show), which lasted only 8 episodes but was fantastic SF, and Earth, Final Conflict, which I think ran into 2 series but vanished with lots of threads left open, much to my annoyance.
Does anyone else remember either of those?
I did see Earth 2, or at least a few episodes, before Fox dumped it like a bad date. I thought it was a bit Disney-eque, but it had some solid points. Earth: Final Conflict I remember, but never really watched. Still, the premise did seem fetching :)
Matthew wrote: "I did see Earth 2, or at least a few episodes, before Fox dumped it like a bad date. I thought it was a bit Disney-eque, but it had some solid points. Earth: Final Conflict I remember, but never re..."Nice to know I'm not the only one to remember those 2 shows. Earth 2 had a lot of promise, with some quite unique aliens lurking, ready to be unleashed but sadly that never happened. Earth: Final Conflict started out as a promsing SF show before (I believe) the network started insisting on some changes to make it more 'acceptable' to the public which, of course, ruined it and then got it cancelled.
Anybody see Space: Above and Beyond? I got a kick out of that one. I don't know if it really qualifies as "Cancelled Just As It Was Getting Interesting" but it did have a rather rushed ending that still managed to be open-ended enough to leave a bunch of stuff unresolved.
I think I tried watching Earth 2 on Netflix once but got distracted and then never returned. Maybe I need to watch it again. Gary, I haven't even heard of that one.
You might like it, Alicja. It's definitely dated in a bunch of ways, but there are strong male/female characters. The character that winds up being the "squad leader" is a gal.Not sure where to find it these day, though....
Deborah wrote: "I'm in total agreement about Firefly, but I'd like to add a couple more, in case anyone ever saw them - I admit these were a long time ago, but they both showed lots of promise which was summarily ..."I remember Earth Final Conflict but never really saw it. Wasn't that the one where they changed the main character at one point?
Gary wrote: "Not sure where to find it these day, though...."On the "not so nice" parts of the interwebs... :)
Yoly wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I'm in total agreement about Firefly, but I'd like to add a couple more, in case anyone ever saw them - I admit these were a long time ago, but they both showed lots of promise whic..."The aliens in Earth: Final Conflict started off androgynous. The network seemed to find this unacceptable, so they changed them to gendered, which screwed up the existing story threads and changed the whole premise, hastening the end :(
Yoly wrote: "On the "not so nice" parts of the interwebs... :)"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy... and old TV shows.
Gary wrote: "Yoly wrote: "On the "not so nice" parts of the interwebs... :)"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy... and old TV shows."
We must be cautious....
Deborah wrote: "The aliens in Earth: Final Conflict started off androgynous. The network seemed to find this unacceptable, so they changed them to gendered, which screwed up the existing story threads and changed the whole premise, hastening the end :("Why am I not surprised?
Gary wrote: "Anybody see Space: Above and Beyond? I got a kick out of that one. I don't know if it really qualifies as "Cancelled Just As It Was Getting Interesting" but it did have a rather rushed ending tha..."I did! And I liked where it was going, dammit! And you can always download it if you're looking for it. That's what I did, as I never got to see the series premier. Still think about the way they ended it from time to time. The Chigs and the human race... distant cousins!
And I can recommend two places that are really not-so-seedy. Not that I know my way around the wretched hives, of course ;)
Apparently, the whole thing is up on Youtube.However, the premier is heavily dubbed in Russian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KMVx...
The rest of the series seems unaltered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGdkj...
Due the vagaries of when the episodes aired, I managed to see a very odd assortment of the Space: Above and Beyond episodes. So, I didn't fully get the world building. It was a couple of years before I binge-watched the whole thing. It was a more developed show than I had realized.
Gary wrote: "Apparently, the whole thing is up on Youtube.However, the premier is heavily dubbed in Russian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KMVx...
The rest of the series seems unaltered: https://www.yo..."
Yep! They had AIs, a war fought with said AIs after their designer programmed them to "take a chance", the whole creation of "in vitros" to replace them, and of course, political and industrial conspiracies, and some mysterious FTL capability that I never heard explained.
Gary wrote: "Anybody see Space: Above and Beyond? I got a kick out of that one. I don't know if it really qualifies as "Cancelled Just As It Was Getting Interesting" but it did have a rather rushed ending tha..."Wow! I haven't heard anyone mention that show in years! I used to love it. I remember being so excited when it was on, something I really looked forward to...even though I was probably too young to really get it haha
Owen wrote: "Never heard of the rest except maybe "Farscape"? Was that the one the Henson studio was involved in? An Aussie production? Had this odd annoying short thing called "Pax" or "Paks" something?"Yup, that's the one. It kind of bridged the puppet and digital production period that lasted... well, about the length of that show.
Gary wrote: "Yup, that's the one. It kind of bridged the puppet and digital production period that lasted... well, about the length of that show."Thought so. My housemates watched a few episodes. It didn't seem to catch on. Kind of too bad, in a way.
I wouldn't hold up Farscape as "must see" sci-fi... but it had some amusing bits to it. And they took the premise seriously even when they were joking about it. I always appreciate that kind of consistency.
Did Farscape have a "wormhole weapon" in it? I recall hearing something like that (unless is was from something else -- my housemates have very eclectic viewing habits). Whichever show it was, it sort of stuck with me because I got the impression whoever wrote wasn't quite clear on what a "wormhole" is (theoretically).
I don't remember a wormhole weapon. The premise of the show is that an Earthling astronaut gets transported through a wormhole (I think it was called that) to some far region of space, and he spends a lot of his time trying to get back.
Gary,Through the "magic of search engines" (which almost never occurs to be me until after the fact), I discover this: "Final Episode of 'Farscape: The PeaceKeeper Wars'. Crichton (after finding Moya equipped for the wormhole weapon by the DRDs) decides to launch this..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSqpmU...
That must've have been what I randomly encountered.
Ah, OK. That fits into the series. I watched it a few years ago, so my memory is going to be hazy.
I loved Farscape, it was quirky, action-filled, and the aliens were inventive and very different from the standard looks-like-a-slightly-deformed-human because hey-the-actor-is-hot.But I also had a special place in my heart for Lexx so maybe I'm just into quirky.
Gary wrote: "Anybody see Space: Above and Beyond? I got a kick out of that one. I don't know if it really qualifies as "Cancelled Just As It Was Getting Interesting" but it did have a rather rushed ending tha..."Loved that series, good story lines and characters who matured as the series went on.
I had never heard of this show called Defying Gravity, did anyone see that show?
There are lots of good shows I hated seeing get cancelled on that list including Kindred: The Embraced (I even bought the VHS back '99 and then the DVD in 2005. Odyssey 5 was also a very cool show and unlike the rest of the world I has happy to see Flash Forward get cancelled, the series was OK but it kind of butchered the original novel. Alcatraz, Dark Angel, and of course there's Firefly...
http://io9.com/which-tv-show-was-canc...