Canceled

What series cancellation broke your heart?

Veronica Mars

Easily one of the best written shows of all time, and the first successful neo-noir teevee series.

TSCC

ADD: When I was a kid, It’s Your Move with Jason Bateman.

Deadwood.

We no longer have Al Sweringen to improve our vocabulary. We didn’t get to see Hearst get his comeuppance. And, while Tim Olyphant effectively moved Seth Bullock to modern day Kentucky for Justified, the Black Hills suited him better. Did Alma Garrett ever get laid after Bullock dumped her?

@Walking Still: Deadwood was so good – AND it reminds me of Carnivàle, which was very good and had the amazing Adrienne Barbeau and her magnificent chichis talent.

“Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp” and “Time Tunnel”.

I gave up on TV when they fucking cancelled The Night Stalker. In the US, a protagonist who goes to the library is just goddamned doomed.

@Walking Still: Cocksuckers at HBO won’t bring it back.

I feel like Mad Men has been canceled.

I never watched “The West Wing” because I never forgave Sorkin for abandoning “Sports Night.”

The remake of V ended with a huge cliffhanger. As much as people derided it, it was satisfying mindless entertainment for me.

@flypaper: If you’re going there — and I didn’t know about the Lusitania until the Time Tunnel landed on it — then I raise you Star Trek.

Oh, and final-season single-episode Batman sucked.

@SanFranLefty:
MAD MEN? Haven’t even started it, but somehow I am angry that they would stop it before I got involved ….

@tom.streeter: Sports Night was quite wonderful. I liked how they made the show’s doom a plot line.

Also, since I was a West Wing addict, I really enjoyed Janel Moloney’s (Donna Moss) one episode appearance.

I never adjusted to the cancellation of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

in 12 posts, you got me covered.

ahhh, DEADWOOD. i loved that motherfucking show. Sweringen had a glorious vocabulary. take heart Lefty…after the stunning series ending, they brought back DEXTER, much to my delight. and it’s even BETTER.

will never get over Moose and Squirrel. i watched it every morning when i lived in israel, where it’s still aired. the rat would have to take my calls. “she’s watching cartoons and can’t be disturbed” i still call nojo Fearless Leader.

STAR TREK…I…I…can’t– talkaboutit.

loved WEST WING, but it always left me with a whiff of despair that TV writers were smarter than the actual inhabitants of the west wing.

BOSTON LEGAL…Shatner has never been better, a tremendous cast and cameos and written by the brilliant David E. Kelley. laugh out loud hilarious with serious undertones of current events. can’t believe it hasn’t been picked up for syndication. why weren’t you people watching? it would still be on!!! it was easily the best show on network TV.

The Good Guys on Fox. Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks as a pair of mis-matched Dallas cops. But Fox ALWAYS kills good shows.

@blogenfreude: It’s not been canceled, but AMC and Matthew Weiner (Mad Men creator and driving force / guy responsible for putting AMC original programming on the map) can’t agree on a new contract, so the start of season five has been pushed back from this fall to next spring.

@Walking Still: I liked how they made the show’s doom a plot line.

Speaking of, how has no one yet mentioned Arrested Development?

@mellbell:
Exactly.

@mellbell: Forgot about that one … didn’t watch it live, but watched on DVD late in the game.

There are a few shows I was sorry to see end, but there are far more that were extended well past their sell-by date. Red Dwarf is one of those. The reunion episode was especially painful. When they were good they were very, very good, but …

I really appreciate the British for their willingness to do limited-run series. I’m currently watching a very funny one on Netflix called The Worst Week of My Life, about a couple in the week before their wedding. The bride-to-be is played by Sarah Alexander who was “Susan” on Coupling, another really funny Brit-com of longer duration but which ended before it got stale.

I tried to like Firefly, I really did, because I love sci-fi (did I mention that?), but there was a lot about it that really irritated me. Same with the seemingly endless Stargate franchise. The first several years of SG-1 were pretty good, but that cow got milked way past dry.

Arrested Development, sadly, ended long before it should have. That was some funny shit. I keep hearing that they really are going to make a movie, but because it’s been so long and Michael Cera is no longer a kid I’m having a hard time believing it’s going to live up to the greatness of the original series. I would love to see David Cross, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett do something else together though.

Rocky & Bullwinkle, fortunately, is on Netflix and Hulu. I never get tired of re-watching it. I am especially fond of the Fractured Fairytales.

Seinfeld, I thought, was remarkable for how long it went without losing the ability to make me laugh. The final episode was brilliant.

It’s a shame when series die premature deaths, but their brevity leaves opportunity for brilliance to pop up elsewhere. I loved the British The Office and appreciated that it was a limited run. Better to walk away leaving the audience wanting more. The American version was great the first couple years, but how long has it been on now? Seven years? I stopped watching at the end of season three, I think. Amusing? Sure. Compelling for more than three years? I don’t think so.

@karen marie has her eyes tight shut: Coupling was very good, but now the BBC is running American shows like BSG, Star Trek Next Generation, and X-Files. WTF?

Arrested Development, Sports Night, Freaks and Geeks

Monday Night Football.

@baked: In the summer of 83, I was shacking up with the soon-to-be Ms. Still and studying for the California Bar. Every morning at 8:00 am, I got to watch a Moose and Squirrel rerun before going off to bar review classes. Made my day.

Somewhat surprisingly, Ms. Still put up with this and married me.

Is it unreasonable to still be sad that MST3K had to end? I think no–no it’s not.

@Benedick HRH KFC:

. . .

. . .

I know you’re being sarcastic, what with it being Sport and all but, well, yeah. That too.

. . .

I’ll show myself out now.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Ain’t no shame.

Speaking of football, JoePa just can’t catch a break.

@flippin eck: It’s not like that MST3000 cost a fortune to produce …

@karen marie has her eyes tight shut: The final episode was brilliant.

And yet they spent a whole season apologizing for it on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

@¡Andrew!: OK – added Season 1 of Veronica to my Netflix.

@blogenfreude: You will absolutely love it, I promise.

@nojo: I saw part of an episode of that show and turned it off.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Freaks & Geeks was awesome. I came late to Arrested Development, but it’s great. Checked out the first few episodes of “Sports Night” last night – it seems to grow on you, and I was very glad they jettisoned the laughtrack after the pilot.

ADD: @karen marie has her eyes tight shut: Wait, of “Curb…”? That show is freaking brilliant. Now what is lame is Paul Reiser’s network show which tries to channel CYE but without the good writing.