Brilliant But Cancelled

Shocho recently offered a link to a somewhat questionable list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows. While I haven't quite got the energy to muster building a list of my own right now, I did decide on a halfway measure I could offer up:

The Top 10 Shows That Only Lasted One Season
or 10 Most Brilliant-But-Cancelled

I wish I could claim to have spent a lot of time on this, but the truth is, I got this mostly looking through my DVD collection. Nevertheless, I think it's a pretty worthy batch of entries.

#10 - Undeclared

Before everything Judd Apatow touched turned to gold, everything he touched turned to cancelled. This half-hour comedy about a group of college students had a great mix of humor and heart, and starred several of the actors who to this day remain part of the Apatow Acting Company. There were some missteps here and there in the stunt casting of some comedians I'm not particularly fond of (Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler), but hey, a struggling show does what it can to survive.

#9 - Miracles

Many TV fans think of Jericho and the infamous "nuts campaign" when they think of Skeet Ulrich. But many years earlier, he was the star of this very strange, very cool, often unsettling little show that should have been the heir to The X-Files throne. It had a similar format of a believer and a skeptic paired together to investigate unexplained occurences. The significant difference was a major one: while The X-Files dealt with the supernatural, Miracles revolved around religious... well... miracles. This difference permeated every detail of the series, leading to provocative discussions of faith and God. The show kept getting better as it produced more episodes, but it was sadly cut down after just one year.

#8 - Action

This show starred Jay Mohr as a scumbag Hollywood producer, screwing people over to further his own career. The show was crass and funny and brilliant. It aired on FOX, making extensive use of bleeping. It should have run on HBO in all its glory. And if it had, I'm quite positive it would have enjoyed a five or six season run.

#7 - American Gothic

This show was almost too cool for words. It's set in a small North Carolina town where the sheriff is the Devil himself. Well, perhaps not quite literally -- the show remains slightly vague on this -- but certainly an embodiment of pure evil, and vested with supernatural powers to further his agenda. Gary Cole played this character, and made every single second of screen time an absolute joy to watch. The cast also included Sarah Paulson (long before Studio 60) and Jake Weber (long before his largely thankless role on Medium). The show had a compelling, serialized story. And best of all, this one season wonder has an ending! The producers saw the writing on the wall, and rather than roll the dice on "maybe we'll get renewed," they decided to roll the dice on "we'll figure out what to do with a season two if we get one."

#6 - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Speaking of Studio 60, here it is. There's no question that this show wasn't as great as The West Wing or Sports Night (which ran two seasons, so it can't make this list). Still, it was a little slice of near-perfection. The show had some kinks to work out early, but it finally did, finding the right balance of comedy and drama, the right level of focus on the "show within the show," and how much Hollywood-ese to portray. But, by the time it had figured all this out, no one was watching. It's still a great place to see Matthew Perry do something other than Chandler Bing, and other great work by Steven Weber, Amanda Peet, Timothy Busfield, Sarah Paulson and more. (And perhaps the biggest shock, Nate Corddry, formerly from The Daily Show, shows some decent acting chops too!)

#5 - Police Squad!

Before The Naked Gun, Leslie Nielsen played Frank Drebin in this half-hour series. Truth be told, it might be a good thing that this show didn't actually make it, because I think it likely the schtick would have worn out pretty quickly. But since it only ran six episodes, each one of them is loaded with more rapid fire jokes than even the spin-off movies deliver per minute. Very funny stuff.

#4 - Wonderfalls

Before Bryan Fuller made Pushing Daisies, he created the equally quirky Wonderfalls, the tale of a misanthrope souvenir-shop employee who sees knick knacks all around her come to life, prodding her into doing good deeds. Actually, on many levels, you could call this Pushing Daisies "season zero," the sensibilities are so similar. But the show also had this sort-of Quantum Leap vibe, especially funny because the "heroine" was so reluctant (to put it mildly).

#3 - Profit

Adrian Pasdar (now known for Heroes) lights up the screen as the most rat bastard central character ever to appear on television. Today, after Swearingen on Deadwood, or House (on House... duh), it doesn't seem unusual to have a character ranging anywhere from mean to evil as the protagonist of a television show. But in the 90s, it was so revolutionary, it only lasted 9 episodes. There's a lot of computer-related material in this show that looks laughably dated today, but in every other respect, this show is phenomenal, and could probably find success if launched today. This show is just dark, disturbed, and demented, and I love every minute of it.

#2 - Freaks and Geeks

Before Judd Apatow failed with Undeclared, he failed with Freaks and Geeks. Starring more members of the Apatow Acting Company, this show focused on high school students coping with the pressures of teenage life. It had lots of humor and heart. It's hard to describe this show in any way that doesn't come off sounding like Undeclared, and on paper, about the only major difference is that this show was an hour long instead of 30 minutes. But all the parts just clicked better in this show. The sentiment is more genuine, the laughs funnier, and perhaps the setting more relatable (for those who grew up in the 80s, anyway). It's a perfect season of television.

#1 - Firefly

If you didn't know this was going to be #1, then you A) have never watched this show, and B) haven't really been reading my blog very long. To date, this is Joss Whedon's master work. Brilliant as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel were (and they were!), this show transcends them. It's simply unbelievable that a show could fire so perfectly on all cylinders so quickly. The cast was phenomenal, the writing matched, and in general this feels as polished and natural as many shows in their third or fourth seasons (traditionally, the golden years). I think I could watch this series from beginning to end, one episode every night, for the rest of my days and never get tired of it.

So, there you have it. Challenges? Alternate suggestions? I'd love to hear them.