Friday, November 25, 2016

Favorites –16 TV Shows That Ended Too Soon

With everything that’s going on these days, we may have something pretty good to look forward too: another season of Young Justice. This was one show that I felt got cut down too soon. It ended with a crapload of stuff left to talk about. When you have the Lord of Apokalips show up in the last minute of your show, you better do something with it! I hate it when shows get cut off too soon. It definitely sucks when they’re just one season in. Even when it’s lasted for a few years, something happens and it’s gone like a fart in the wind or something.

So, here are a few shows that went away too soon. If you notice some popular underrated shows missing, that’s because I can only do so much. Besides, Pushing Daisies didn’t sound like my thing. There were a couple of shows that went away before I could get invested in them like Almost Human and a couple of others. Whether they were animated or live-action, there have been ones that I was pretty sad to see go. The list isn’t in complete order, but the first few are ones that I still feel jaded on.

1. Spectacular Spider-Man – When I heard this show didn’t get renewed, I was sad especially after I saw the second season. This show did so many good things with Spider-Man and his world. I almost didn’t give it a shot because of the animation, but seeing the first two episodes changed that completely. The stories were good, it was well voice-acted, and the characters were well-written. I believe the Marvel/Disney buyout messed with this show. What makes it worse isn’t that it ended with a lot of untold potential. It got replaced by Ultimate Spider-Man, a show that I haven’t even tried to watch. Maybe it’s an okay show, but I doubt it did the things that Spectacular Spider-Man did.

2. Green Lantern: The Animated Series – This was another show that really got the shaft in my opinion. GL aired alongside the second season of Young Justice. I didn’t watch it during its duration since I was working. Plus, the animation seemed too juvenile to me. Then I checked this show out on Netflix a few years later and I was wrong. This was a good series and I should talk about it here one of these days. While the look had a kiddie feel to it, it was far from juvenile. The writing, the action, the voice acting, and even the animation was good. I believe the poor reception of the live-action movie caused the studio to not continue the show and that sucks. While the show did end its season well, it still had a lot of untold stories to tell especially since “The Greatest Green Lantern” hadn’t gone evil yet.

3. Wolverine and the X-Men – This was another X-Men show that got cut before its time. I’ll get to X-Men: Evolution later though. Wolverine and the X-Men got it worst in my opinion. The show wasn’t perfect but it did fill the X-Men quota well with an interesting storyline and decent animation. Unfortunately, it couldn’t last long. I think the studio that made it had financial problems and that caused the show’s cancellation. Whatever the reason, I think WATXM needed at least another season.

4. Star Trek: Enterprise - Yeah, I know you’re looking at me. I can say that I was a fan of the show even though it wasn’t perfect. The last two seasons (especially the fourth season) did a lot to turn the show around. Things felt better and it really began to feel like a prequel to Star Trek. Unfortunately, the ratings said otherwise. That and the fact it aired on a Friday killed the show. What’s worse is that we also got a horrid finale because of that. It didn’t deserve to go out that way especially since things were getting better. If it had gotten another season, I think I’d feel happier about the show.

5. Firefly - Yeah, you know this show is making it to the list. All it got was 13 episodes and that’s it. I think FOX just has something against sci-fi shows since it isn’t the only one that got the axe. The crew of the Serenity was cool. The stories were good and it was nice to see the Wild West in space. While I do think a couple of the episodes aren’t that great, the show was something unique and should have at least got a season or two. At least we got Serenity which made the cancellation feel a little better.

6. Kings - I doubt most people remember this show. Kings aired back in 2009 on NBC. It was essentially a modern retelling of the story of David from the Bible. It had a few faces like Ian McShane, Sebastian Shan, and Dylan Baker. I only got to watch a few episodes before I lost track with it while dealing with school. I think it also came on during a day where I was busy and I could only watch it on Hulu which wasn’t as fast then. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who lost track with it since it only lasted 13 episodes. I think the ratings and the fact that few knew about it played a factor in its cancellation. I also heard the show cost a lot to produce. It’s our loss, I think. I do need to check out how those last few episodes were one day.

7. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes - This was another show I was unsure on when it started. I saw the first two episodes and kept coming back to it. I didn’t get to watch the second season until it was on Netflix though. Like most of the shows on this list, it did a lot of things right. It had good representations of the characters from the comics and it also adapted a lot of the good stuff the comics too. It even had a nice ending but there was a lot more to tell. Unfortunately, that “52-episode” rule reared its ugly head again. Then, Marvel wanted to replace it with Avengers Assemble, a show that felt more akin to the MCU. I saw the first two episodes of that show and it didn’t feel the same. It’s a shame really since Marvel was producing A:EMH too.

8. Stargate Universe/Stargate Atlantis – This was a tie for me. While SGA got five seasons, I wish it had gone a bit longer. Heck, Stargate: SG-1 went 10 seasons even though they could have stopped at eight.  I remember there was talk of a movie similar to the ones SG-1 had done, but nothing came of it. It was a pity since SGA could have went longer. As for SGU, I have to admit that I bowed out during the second season because of work. I thought it was an okay show that really felt like it was trying to get that BSG reboot audience. I heard it ended in a cliffhanger and that does sadden me since the second season (what I saw of it) was fine. I remember that it and the BSG prequel, Caprica (I bowed out after a few episodes) got the short end of the stick by being moved to different nights.  I’ll probably revisit it someday.

9. seaQuest 2032 (seaQuest DSV) – When I finally caught up with this show on Netflix, I was sad to see it go. Even though its second season wasn’t perfect (y’all were here for that), I thought it got better in its unfortunate last season. What sucks is they got cut off only a few episodes in! Ratings do end up doing a lot to save or doom shows. Oh well, at least FOX isn’t the only one cancelling shows I liked.

10. Battlestar Galactica (original) - Why yes, the original BSG did make it to the list! Remember that it only lasted a season and it was only one season. What is this Galactica: 1980  thing you want to bring up? Anyway, while this show was far from perfect, I would have liked to see it continue since at least another season. Yeah, it was cheesy and had that Star Wars feel, but it did enough to make itself different. Plus, I read on a couple of sites where the creators had plans for more seasons and those ideas didn’t sound bad. At least the 2004 remake got to do what that show didn’t do: survive.

11. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Because of the buyout of Lucasarts, the show came to an end at five seasons. After watching it all on Netflix, I can say it was a loss. This show did a lot to fix the problems that arose with the prequels. Not only that, it was pretty cool to finally see the Clone Wars. While the creators did do a lot, I know there were more stories to tell. At least we got the Sixth season on Netflix and Star Wars Rebels to fill the void.

12. Samurai Jack – I don’t remember too much about Samurai Jack. I did like it since it’s about a samurai in the future fighting Mako. That’s awesome to me! Unfortunately, it got affected by the 52-episode rule which I hate. I’ve railed on it here before and will continue to do so. We didn’t even get a finale or a final battle between Jack and Aku. Thankfully, we’re getting something next year with Samurai Jack. It’ll be back on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim and Genndy Tartakovsky is coming back to end Jack’s story. Man, Tartakovsky gets screwed over with animated series. Sym-Biotic Titan was another show he was involved in and that only lasted a season. It was a pity too since that show looked interesting.

13. Young Justice – Yeah, this cancellation didn’t tick me off too much. While I was sad to see this show go, at least it went out with a bang. We got to see the storyline with The Light come to some sort of end and things did get back to some semblance of normal. Luckily, we finally have Season 3 to look forward to. I hope it can live up to the hype you know is going to come.

14. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – I started out watching this show but lost track with it because of school. For those who don’t know, the show basically took place after the events of Terminator 2 and went places I didn’t even think it’d go. I definitely saw moments from this that were later copied in Terminator: Genysis… man, what a bad movie. Even though it lasted a couple of seasons, I think it may be remembered as being the only decent Terminator-related product of the 21st century. I’ll have to see how it all ended one day.

15. AngelAngel, the spinoff to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was a show that more or less had its run. The first few seasons were good. The fifth season made up for what the fourth season did. That fourth season wasn’t bad, but that storyline lasted too long in my opinion. Plus there’s a certain hookup that still creeps me out. Unfortunately, I do wish it did last a few more episodes to wrap up that finale. It was good, but to end it off like that was underwhelming.

16. X-Men: Evolution X-Men: Evolution had a nice run but it would have been cool to see it go on for more seasons. While it shuttled most of them to high school, I think the premise worked. The show just got better as time went on. Plus, it had good representations of all the X-Men in my opinion.  It probably had the best animated version of Cyclops I’ve seen. Unfortunately, it had that pesky “52-episode” rule that I hate. At least it ended in a pretty epic way.

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Well, that’s my list. There are more out there I could have listed, but these were the ones I could really think of. If you have any shows that left too soon, let me know. Well, I’m outta here. Peace, God Bless, and don’t get too overloaded on  that turkey and dressing.

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