TV: hear the lamentation for those lost too soon

[sigma7]

Oh, look, patchsassy found a TV meme! Finally a meme I might actually finish and not skip half the questions.

Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Now this one starts off with quite the dilemma. I've got some problems with this meme -- a few questions I just might change between here and the end, for fear of repeating myself -- but the phrasing of this entry is intriguing. Not "your favorite canceled show," but "A show that should never have been cancelled" -- based on what criteria, exactly? Public good? Niche market underserved? Dramatic resolution unfulfilled?

First things first, Firefly is immediately excepted -- we can argue about its quality and its FOXification on its schedule and show order, but it did finally achieve closure (on the big screen, no less, with Serenity) and more importantly, a good number of its cast have experienced serious springboarding in their visibility since its cancellation; you could make an argument that it's been a more important show canceled than when it was still airing, if you can remember back to that span of a few weeks.

I'm going to omit a number of shows that met their dramatic potential by having appropriate -- if occasionally drawn-out or abbreviated -- send-offs. All of the post-TOS Star Trek series have them. Babylon 5 had two, the first much better than the second. BSG and Lost both went out on...let's say polarizing notes. No, we need a series where the full narrative arc didn't really coalesce -- if we're even doing "narrative" TV and don't want to cop out completely by saying "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" or something else appropriately episodic. Or maybe we could cop-out entirely by saying Futurama, the resurgence of which seems to indicate that its plug was pulled at just the wrong time (or maybe we all needed a breather to appreciate it?).

And I'm going to omit shows that had ample opportunity to find a lasting audience but still didn't. Much as I love Arrested Development, it had three seasons, three times longer than Caprica, six times longer than Firefly.

So it comes down to these three:

3: Wonderfalls. Quirky and fun to watch with an entertaining cast and a pretty solid faith that the writers knew where they were going with the mythology of the show.

2: Invader Zim. One-and-a-half seasons is enough time to not fault the network, isn't it? I was just appreciating the narrative arc building when then cancellation came down, though I don't think few people appreciated this show's idiosyncrasies as much as I did (one word: "Pustulio").

1. American Gothic. Was never a fan, myself, but (a) I know that I'll be murdered if I don't include it and (b) it's clear that it was a decade before its time. This is the kind of show I would've expected a marketing exec to come up with to create a post-Lost show for its network. If it'd caught on, if it'd found an audience and become the next big thing -- instead of, say, reality TV -- just imagine what the last 15 years of TV would've been like....

But I'll be interested to hear y'all's takes on this meme.

Comments

[purplesquirrel.livejournal.com]

I tried to like Wonderfalls but wound up hating the lead character more and more with every episode.

Shows that I liked that I wish were still around were Open House (feat. Ellen Degeneres), Key West, Inside Herman's Head and Flying Blind.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I probably don't watch anywhere near enough TV to really make a judgment, but I personally wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Firefly from the running for this one. Getting closure in Serenity was nice, but from a pure storytelling perspective, it frankly sucked - the need to cram most of the loose plot threads into a two-hour movie made the change in pace frankly jarring. And since a large part of what I enjoyed about Firefly was the way it let you gradually get to know its characters, I would definitely put it into the "should not have been cancelled" bracket - if there had been a choice, I think that story would have been far more effectively told with the additional time and character development a second season would have brought.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Part of this could be my reaction to later Whedon writing -- upon rewatching, later seasons of Buffy and Angel seriously lost the plot, and his work on Astonishing X-Men and Buffy: Season 8 hasn't done anything to reassure me that his long-form storytelling works anymore. Which is sad, because his work's going to figure into this meme a lot -- confined to an episode or two, he's one of the best at what he does, but longer-term...I worry.

I certainly didn't start watching Firefly -- partially because "space western" doesn't fill me with anticipation, and partially because I was perturbed that it was apparently becoming his priority over the other Mutant Enemy shows in production at the time. But I accidentally caught an episode at work and, well, that was enough to get me hooked.

And adding to that the fact that we never really got to see certain stories that were obviously waiting to be told -- particularly Book's -- yeah, I can totally understand this needing to be at the top of the list. But in its short time, it gave us much.

[rewil.livejournal.com]

I will not lie:

Pustulio still makes me shudder.

(Sports Night would make my list a few times.)

[beeform]

Pustulio... still won't watch it.

*shudders* too!

Aww, poor Sports Night. I need to rewatch those.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I anticipate a Sports Night mention or two. It'd be in the top three for at least half the entries on this list. And right now the closest to it that I can get is Onion Sportsdome, and it's just not the same.

[frito-kal.livejournal.com]

Would you like another one? Because Sports Night is right up there with me too. Also Technophobia, who if I pointed him this way would say SPORTS NIGHT about 56 times in ALL CAPS, possibly with the blink tag if he knew how to use the blink tag.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I seriously ♥ me some Sports Night. If it weren't for Dana Whitaker's simply inexplicable and indefensible "dating plan," she'd make a serious run for my favorite female character. That ABC couldn't make a show of that quality work was indicative that, as Calvin Trager put it, "Anybody who can't make money off Sports Night should get out of the money-making business."

Put it on Comedy Central -- not an ESPN/Disney/ABC channel, of course -- or another extended basic channel and it'd work. On a network, its failure speaks more to the audience's shortcomings than the show.

[technophobia.livejournal.com]

Since the blink tag on LJ doesn't apparently work anymore, I will learn to use the MARQUEE TAG

SPORTS NIGHT SPORTS NIGHT SPORTS NIGHT

[motteditor.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I suspect I'll comment a lot on this meme, possibly even doing it myself (though that seems like way more LJ work than I'm likely to do).

I think you have a good point about "Firefly" (which I think wasn't as good when it was airing, though that was in part because it was aired completely out of order). Even with three seasons, I do wish we had more "Arrested Development."

"Wonderfalls" is a great choice. I think the other one I'd go for would be "Pushing Daisies." I thought it's second half-season was just as strong as its first, but it never recovered from the strike.

hmmm

[(Anonymous)]

I'm very surprised you didn't list Sports Night. Mine would be Magnificent Seven (I was obsessed), Medical Investigation (caught my interest early on) and Firefly (even though I didn't catch on until eight years later). Oh, and I liked Dollhouse. I never would have pegged you as putting American Gothic on the list. I did like that show and plan on purchasing it. kmc

Re: hmmm

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Sports Night is in the god tier of TV. If Zim had a full second season, I probably would've put it behind Sports Night. All worth watching again, though, and all gone too soon.

You know, you really should make a free account. And make icons. And blog cathartically about...stuff. It's fun.

Re: hmmm

[kcopeland82.livejournal.com]

Haven't you already influenced me enough in the past five years (in 2 weeks will be FIVE YEARS, gross)?
Firefly, you
Roswell, you
icanhascheezburger, you
every time I see Todd smoking outside "Everybody Hurts" starts playing in my head, you
House, you

Re: hmmm

[kcopeland82.livejournal.com]

OMG, I forgot a very important one
Doctor Who, you