Tonamel on 16/4/2010 at 19:52
Sorry, non-USA folk, I'm going to be linking to a bunch of Hulu.So, there's a lot of TV out there. And sometimes really good shows fall through the cracks and get shut down before the public discovers how awesome they are. Of course there are shows like (
http://www.hulu.com/firefly) Firefly or (
http://www.hulu.com/dead-like-me) Dead Like Me or Carnivale that got the attention, but too late. This thread isn't for those. This thread is for the shows that were completely skipped over, and no one but you seems to know how great they are.
Warning: While these shows are absolutely worth watching, don't expect much in the way of closure. The whole point of this thread is that they were cancelled before they ever really got going.
I'll start my list with (
http://www.hulu.com/journeyman) Journeyman. If you only watch one of the shows in this list, watch this one. This is a show about a man who randomly jumps back and forth between the past and the present. Much like Quantum Leap, there seems to be a purpose to the various pasts that he visits. But this is a much more serious character-driven show than QL. In addition to helping people in the past, he has to deal with the chaos created in his present day life when he keeps randomly winking out of existence for unknown periods of time. Well written, well acted, watch it.
(
http://www.hulu.com/new-amsterdam) New Amsterdam. A show about a Dutch immigrant from the 1500s who cannot die until he finds true love. Now he's a policeman in New York. The show is a combination of him solving cases, chasing the woman he believes is The One, and having flashbacks to his various previous identities.
(
http://www.hulu.com/my-own-worst-enemy) My Own Worst Enemy. Christian Slater is a spy who has the perfect cover: his personality and memories are replaced with someone else's whenever he's not working. Something in the process has glitched, though, and now he can't control when he's a sociopathic secret agent, and when he's the regular guy. Shades of Dollhouse in the premise, but it's a far better show than that ever was. Sadly, it didn't even get through its first season.
Lastly, (
http://www.hulu.com/day-break) Day Break. This is, quite simply, Groundhog Day the cop drama. Detective Hopper has been framed for murder, and he's reliving the day of his arrest until... something. I'm still working my way through this one, but the premise takes it a lot farther than you'd expect.
So what hidden gems do you guys know about?
fett on 16/4/2010 at 20:03
Obviously Firefly and Arrested Development. Even more obscure is a sitcom called The Naked Truth that featured Tia Leone. Some might remember it from its "Must See TV" NBC run, but my wife and I used to catch it on Fox at 2am before they dropped it and it was picked up by NBC. NBC fucked it up, because when it was on Fox, it was great, wry humor that preceded both Seinfeld and Drew Carey, and it was 100x better than both of those put together. Once NBC got it, they added by-the-numbers plots and characters, laugh tracks, and a lot of suck. Can't even find the Fox run on DVD or the web anywhere, but would appreciate anyone who finds it letting me know.
june gloom on 16/4/2010 at 20:11
Brimstone. Had a brief tenure on Fox as a damned detective who is given a chance by devil to get out of hell by tracking down the hundred-some souls who escaped. The key part was they were basically invincible except for the eyes, as the eyes were a window to the soul. Ran for like, 13 episodes before getting shitcanned.
Now, this doesn't count but I'm still angry about its cancellation:
Shark. Surprisingly funny and brilliant legal drama on CBS starring James Woods and masturbation material Sarah Carter. Woods is a hotshot defense lawyer who has a breakdown and ends up working for the prosecution, bringing all his sleazy tactics to the position, and the embattled DA's office starts winning cases again. Ran two seasons, then was cancelled after the writer's strike. Season 2 has never made it to DVD. I am still pissed.
theBlackman on 16/4/2010 at 20:32
There ain't no such animal. If the mentality of the audience is the deciding factor, and it is, all such DIE because they deserve to.
If nobody watches, then any producer will kill it before it bleeds money.
So, like I said, "There ain't no such animal".
Al_B on 16/4/2010 at 20:41
Completely agree with Journeyman - very disappointed that they didn't take it further. From memory it was one of the victims of the writers' strike - but it may have been for other reasons.
A few others off the top of my head (sorry, no HULU links):
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dresden_Files_(TV_series)) The Dresden Files. Not perfect, but had a decent sense of humour and could have been taken further. (I keep meaning to try the books the series was based on but haven't got round to it yet).
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middleman_(TV_series)) The Middleman. Very silly, but still hugely entertaining if you're in the mood.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_(TV_series)) Moonlight. Probably more my wife's vote than mine (something about the lead character, not sure...). Vampire series that possibly was a little late, but had some decent characters.
june gloom on 16/4/2010 at 20:46
Quote Posted by theBlackman
all such DIE because they deserve to.
So you're saying that if it's not very popular then it's not very good?
Tonamel on 16/4/2010 at 20:51
That seems to be exactly what he's saying. Which is kind of ironic, given what website this is.
[edit] And I'm with you on Brimstone. I only ever saw reruns of it on Sci-Fi well after it was cancelled, and wondered why I'd never heard of it before.
dj_ivocha on 16/4/2010 at 20:55
Of course he does, he is FW:FW:FW: SO TRUE!!!, after all ;)
And seconding New Amsterdam, Moonlight, Journeyman and the Dresden Files. Great stuff.
Tone, while Day Break was great too, IIRC it did get a proper closure at the end and might even have been conceived as a one-season series. So one might just think about it as a miniseries of sorts and thus somewhat misplaced in this thread.
demagogue on 16/4/2010 at 20:58
Off-hand (and not mentioned) ... Max Headroom, Lynch's "On the Air" (if Mulholland Dr. had been made into a full-blown t.v. series rather than just the movie it would have been cool I bet, even sans some of the movie's "features"), maybe Pushing Daisies?, Futurama could have stood to go on longer.
Edit: Another forum also mentions "Lucky Louie". Never saw it; was it good?
Edit2: Another I remember I used to really like, Stark Raving Mad... Niel Patrick Harris & Tony Shalhoub in the same t.v. show. I really wanted to see that keep going.
