I would respectfully like to add Now and Again with Eric Close and Cupid with Jeremy Piven to the list. I loved them both dearly. Oh, and VR5 with Anthony Head.

redeem147 | February 04, 19:07 CET

Threshold love. Excellent.

Simon | February 04, 19:13 CET

I loved that both of our cancelled Whedon shows were mentioned, and I especially loved that nod to the Spike-Angel dynamic. Good article. :)

Enisy | February 04, 19:26 CET

redeem Cupid was on their Dramedies list of Brilliant But Canelled series.

Some of the shows on this list I really miss but some I just couldn't get into.

AliciaJo | February 04, 19:32 CET

Ah. I guess it depends on whether he was really Cupid or not. Thanks AliciaJo.

redeem147 | February 04, 19:41 CET

Twin Peaks made the list! I'm happy.

korkster | February 04, 19:53 CET

Awesome, they didn't forget about American Gothic and deservedly placed it second. Gary Cole, Sarah Paulson (who played the doomed hologram of Dr. Caron on Miranda in Serenity and has been awesome in many other movies and shows), and an uncommonly good TV child actor (who grew up to be hot) in Lucas Black, plus a very strong supporting cast and some genuinely dark and spooky stuff going on for a TV series at the time...equalled excellence.

Been eyeing that 4400 complete series set for a while. Is it more of a rental series, or a blind buy ? The individual seasons were always affordably priced too, especially Season 1's (which yeah, was short, but still--bargain).

I meant to check out Brimstone when it aired in `98, but I think I was too busy with highschool at the time. Peter Horton was excellent in the last episode of In Treatment's first season, as Sophie's father. I loved John Glover as Lionel Luthor on the first four seasons of Smallville that I watched (one of the three good actors in the mix, or at least the one who received the better material to work with), so I figure he'd be even more fun as Satan.

Okay, I did catch some Dark Angel (I remember the painfully uninteresting 2-hour premiere the best/worst), was it really overall good enough to deserve to be on this list ?

I don't even remember something called Dark Skies.

I promise to finally check out Farscape, I will blind-buy, when they release a complete set. I know it's not for everyone, but from what I've heard/read, I feel pretty confident I'll love it. And yep, I also caught that you have to bear with it for a bit in Season 1, apparently.

I caught one Invasion episode, but it seemed real mediocre. Kari Matchett is good (played the pretty lover of Jaye's sister on Wonderfalls, also the girlfriend/aide of Vice President Daniels in Season 6 of 24) and Eddie Cibrian is also easy on the eyes, but I didn't see much that appealed and felt alien'd out at the time. I didn't know it was made by Shaun Cassidy (American Gothic), otherwise I would've given it more of a shot.

I wanted to watch Journeyman purely for Kevin McKidd (Dog Soldiers and HBO's two season Rome that I still need to rent), but was swamped and missed it at the time.

Back and forth on whether I'll eventually catch Millenium in full. I think I only watched the premiere and a couple other scattered episodes, but seeing and feeling bad about the sorry state Frank ended up in in the X-Files crossover episode, plus seeing and appreciating a lot more Lance Henrikson films later on, got me thinking I might've missed something good. People seem a lot kinder to the show now, back when it was running I was just hearing more negative or boredly dismissive things.

Miracles hurt. I caught it on DVD, but I wanted it to go on.

Don't know Moonlight, don't know Pretender.

"Brilliant" is not a word I'd associate with Roswell. I watched all three seasons and enjoyed it very much at times, mocked it more of the time. There was the rare "brilliant" episode, plus most of the actors were/are very solid, but...in the end...meh. I liken it to Smallville.

I see a copy of Space: Above and Beyond at Future Shop for $19.99 taunting me all the time. I will buy it eventually.

That almost seemed like a list of everything sci-fi/supernatural that's been cancelled in the last decade, 'cause with some of the picks they didn't sing the praises of or mention even a bit of why they thought it was brilliant.

They missed listing Wonderfalls (but I guess it was on their Brilliant But Cancelled Dramas list?) and Carnivale (yeah, I guess it deserves to be on there). Probably a few others I'm forgetting. The list would be even bigger if they included prematurely cancelled animated sci-fi/supernatural.

[ edited by Kris on 2009-02-04 20:01 ]

Kris | February 04, 19:57 CET

Loved the first season of Witchblade...until the final episode. Of the second season we shall not speak.

Ahh, Farscape, how I loved thee. So glad they put up the pic of my favorite character, Pilot. Love love love Pilot.

Liked Pretender for one character: Ms Parker.

kazzmere | February 04, 20:35 CET

The 4400 I really loved, but as a rental. I'm not sure I'd want to re-watch all that often myself. Farscape, however, I loved start to finish. It hooked me almost right away. It's a shame it's hard to come by these days. When it was in print on DVD, it was horribly expensive. I second kazzmere's love for Pilot.

Brimstone sounds awesome, and I can't believe I've totally missed that. I'll have to hunt it down. Really wish they would have found a way to finish Carnivale (and I think it belongs more with supernatural shows than with regular drama, but hey, I didn't make the list).

Twin Peaks, however, possibly more than Firefly has haunted me with it's early cancellation. Possibly because I've lived with it longer. I remember at the time they lost viewers because they revealed Laura Palmer's killer, but that was never the point to the show. Sadly, it's easier to have a pop culture hit about a murder mystery than a quirky supernatural soap opera. Particularly since Season Three (spoilers, but the show has been canned for long enough it should pass the spoiler statute of limitations) was supposed to be about Cooper battling through the Black Lodge in order to get to the White. Series gets canned, so they do a movie. Finish the story? No, of course not, we'll make it a prequel! *sighs* Doubly irksome because in the last scene (again, spoiler) it is clear that Cooper HAS made it to the White Lodge, but the hows and whys are forever lost. I've heard it told that the original cut of the film was close to 3 hours, but all those extra scenes seem to be locked away or lost.

narse | February 04, 21:49 CET

Frankly, some of those (non- Whedon) shows desrved to be cancelled.

chazman | February 04, 21:51 CET

Yes, Parker was cool. Really, even though I sympathized with Jarod's (sp?) plight, in some ways I liked the team hunting him - Parker, Sidney ...um, the computer guy... - better than the sometimes kind of annoyingly arrogant super-genius manchild hero. (Of course, Sid was always pretty benevolent; and separation between this group and the Center (?) itself would grow as the series went on.) A quick sum-up of the show, Kris - which aired for - three or four seasons? - on NBC - might go: part Quantum Leap (our hero fills new jobs and identities each week, while trying to help people); a little bit Doogie Houser (child-prodigy mega-intellect - and while he's a fully-grown adult at the start of the show, he spent several years growing up insolated from society and is still socially and culturally maturing); a bit The Fugitive - or The A-Team (on the run from a pursuing party he has to thwart almost every week); and a little X-Files (overarching conspiracy involving shady government group; some episodes are "standalone", some more "arc-centric"). I wouldn't call it an outstanding show, personally, but I would say it was a good one, and I do remember it fondly.

I didn't really watch the other two "mystery" shows, but I can i.d. them. Moonlight was the "second-rate Angel rip-off" which aired on CBS last year, and with which David Greenwalt was briefly involved. (I wasn't too impressed with what I saw of it; but I really didn't see it enough to give a fully informed opinion, to be fair, and it did have its fans, including my father-in-law. Actually, it's currently re-running on the SciFi Channel... unless there's a line-up shift, it's SciFi's timeslot competition for... Dollhouse.) Dark Skies was another NBC Saturday night show, like Pretender, but only lasted one season. I think Eric Close was the lead? - alien visitations in the era of JFK; probably most notable now for a pre-Voyager Jeri Ryan (the season before she became Seven of Nine?).

ETA: Broots! That was the name of "the computer guy", wasn't it? Funny what memories can get stirred up thinking about a dormant subject for a bit... Oh, and I also have some fondness for American Gothic (though I wasn't a fan of every plot direction), and have recognized Sarah Paulson from it ever since. (Edit further for typos.)

[ edited by LKW on 2009-02-04 22:01 ]

[ edited by LKW on 2009-02-04 22:31 ]

LKW | February 04, 21:54 CET

Please, LKW. Be fair. Moonlight was a second rate Forever Knight rip-off.

redeem147 | February 04, 22:09 CET

"Brilliant" is not a word I'd associate with Roswell.

The first couple of seasons were pretty cool. It got so horribly, horribly hokey when they decided to ramp up the Sci-Fi/Mars Attacks side of it in the last season that I think that colors one's memory of the whole. I guess it always had a built-in problem about what to do once they left high-school, though. You can't keep playing the "I don't belong here/I just want to be like everybody else" teen-angst metaphor forever; although does teen angst ever actually stop, I wonder?

snot monster from outer space | February 04, 22:10 CET

Kris: What think a lot of people fell for with Dark Angel was the potential that it had -- a potential it never actually reached. Season one made it seem like the show could eventually build into something really good, but season two was a mess, and its only redeeming quality was the casting of Jensen Ackles.

As for the list... I would remove quite a few of those series from the list, starting with The 4400. I would also add Charlie Jade, which I am still hoping will be released on DVD in region 1 at some point.

deathisyourart | February 04, 23:15 CET

Yeah for the Farscape love. It was especially hurtful the way it was canceled. Thank goodness for the movie. :)

resa | February 05, 02:28 CET

Loved the 4400, own them all! Glad to see Threshold get a nod too. Invasion now that was a tragedy it got only 1 series! Got that for Xmas re-watching that now, pretty sure it's going to really frustrate me again that there won't be a conclusion!

Kris - buy the 4400, for me it's a series I know I'll watch again and again!

SmileTime | February 05, 10:02 CET