It's easy to dismiss entertainment-related commentary as frivolous when there are so many more immediate considerations, but I've been moved enough by some movies and TV shows to understand that sometimes they're not just entertainment: Sometimes they're art, and that's an entirely other level of discussion. As progressives, we understand that art is not frivolous - it's an essential component of human existence and expression, that should be not only appreciated, but supported and encouraged.
Unfortunately, in our society we basically depend on money-grubbing philistines to decide what we are shown, particularly on television (though this is changing for the better). Still, it's a lesson learned over the lamented corpses of works of genius canceled after one or two seasons for no better reason than that a marketing consultant decided some piece of crap would get slightly higher numbers. Here are some examples of TV shows that would have changed the medium if they'd been allowed to continue, and in some cases are still revered despite their short runs.
Some of these you know about, some you don't.
6. Terriers (2010)
You've seen Donal Logue around here and there, but you probably don't know his name. That should have changed with this series, because it should have continued for a long time. Terriers is a neo-noir comedy-drama-mystery detective series set in "Ocean Beach" - a fictional stand-in for San Diego. I'm not really sure how to describe it other than Veronica Mars meets the Big Lebowski with a sadder and more realistic tone. But it shouldn't have ended after one season. You know something's different just listening to the theme song in the intro.
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5. Joan of Arcadia (2003-2005)
I'm an atheist, but something about this God-themed show made me feel all warm and fuzzy. And having just recently re-watched it, it definitely wasn't a fluke. First of all, the acting power is tremendous: Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen are the parents of a teenage girl played by Amber Tamblyn who starts meeting random strangers who declare themselves to be God, and sending her on weird missions that always turn out for the best. The moral lessons are not the kind of things that fundies would approve of - they're real moral lessons, like not judging people, not closing your mind, staying open to new possibilities, etc. And the people are not stereotypes at all, but genuine characters with deep thoughts a lot of the time.
At times it was just plain beautiful and moving. Even if the idea of an anthropomorphic god is nonsense, the show illustrates deeper truths about existence that the creators obviously know while still being entertaining and sweet. You're never manipulated into hating anyone in the show - bad people are just sad and tragic, not repulsive. There's actual, honest theological reflections in the show over things like the nature of evil and the nature of good, and they're actually intelligent. It's a very powerful vision that should have been allowed to play out as long as the creators had ideas for it.
But, of course, because network studios are run by sick rats, it was canceled just as it was getting really interesting and the main character was being introduced to a champion of evil. It's like Batman meets the Joker and then you see a "To Be Continued" message...and then it's never continued! Bastids. I'm actually a little disappointed this show doesn't have the cult following some others do. It's really beautiful.
There were two seasons, so it's not exactly as much a crime against genius as some other examples, but it still died way too young. The upside of that though is that you can binge-watch the whole thing in a few days and know what I'm talking about. The pilot's on Youtube in pieces - here's the first:
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4. Action (1999-2000)
This show was the prototype for the style of Entourage, and ran for 1 season of 13 episodes at the turn of the millennium on Fox. It was foul-mouthed, which they corrected for by bleeping out all the proto-Ari Gold language on the part of the series' protagonist, Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr), and funny as hell at the time. Subsequent programs that achieved lasting fame have caught up with it, but it was the first.
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3. The Black Donnellys (2007)
Paul Haggis - screenwriter responsible for such massive cinematic achievements as Million Dollar Baby, Crash, Casino Royale (2006), Flags of Our Fathers, and Letters from Iwo Jima - created a TV series about a family of Irish-American criminals in New York with a cast of talented yeoman actors. You know the main-character kid from The Sandlot? In this show he's a heroin-addicted thug and basically an Irish-American version of a Joe Pesci character. The matriarch is Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager), and the guy who played the union boss in The Wire who gets whacked is...another union boss who gets whacked.
There's a driving urgency to the show that's very unusual, and a sense of impending doom that fits in perfectly with the Irish motif. But it's not depressing - it's invigorating. It's not a perfect show: There are times when cliches emerge, but they don't really detract too much from the originality. Who knows where this show could have gone if it had been allowed to continue? It had something original. Because it aired on a network there are times when the absence of swear words is a little disturbing, but most of the time you don't really notice.
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2. Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
It gets a little irritating at times that high schools on TV are portrayed by actors in their '30s playing stock characters acting out cliched plotlines. Freaks and Geeks flew right in the face of that phenomenon - a lot of the characters not only look like real teenagers, but act like real teenagers. They're all totally pathetic, confused, and desperate, and honestly reflect just about everyone's experience of high school. Some of them even were actual teenagers at the time (gasp). It doesn't romanticize being a teenager or turn it into something it's not - it just shows it in the real human context.
It takes place in 1980, but it's pretty timeless despite the occasional period references and great period music. They really shouldn't have canceled it after one damn season. WTF is wrong with people? Try to watch the intro to this show and not smile at least a little at some of the obviously stoned expressions:
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1. Firefly (2002)
This is the biggest "no shit" whenever the subject of series canceled too early comes up. Firefly was an unqualified work of Earth-shattering genius that at almost every moment of every episode was funny, insightful, engaging, exciting, and creative. Its cancelation was apparently the result of its original champion in the studio leaving for another job, causing other shows to squeeze it out - i.e., its loss was a totally pointless act of art-icide. I liken its cancellation to the Baby Jesus being eaten by dingoes.
It's one thing when a show that's good gets canceled for no legitimate reason, but when a show that's so good it would deserve its own channel is thrown away like it's nothing, you know the people involved in that decision are straight-up psychopaths. That show could have gone on forever. It could have spawned multiple franchises and an unlimited tree of movies, books, and spinoff series. It could have turned the crew of the Serenity into the 21st century's answer to Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura. The lost opportunities are so massive you would have to read Kierkegaard to fully appreciate just how awful it is that it didn't continue.
I had missed the better part of a week of assignments as a student at UC Berkeley in 2005 because I discovered Firefly on the school's file-sharing network, and I counted it more than a fair sacrifice. And so will you if you watch it.
6:41 PM PT: Honorable mention: Exosquad. Seriously, watch it. It's a cartoon, but it's the best science fiction cartoon show ever.