your favorite shows...that didn't make it

[SemperFly]

Being the group of gangly nerds and geeks you (yea, we) all are, I know that many of you will understand what I'm talking about. Those TV shows we watched that were just so fucking cool in our eyes but for whatever reason got canned. We thought the shows were genius but either crappy syndication, overt cheesiness, or a simple lack of mainstream fanbase led to poor ratings, a cult following, and thus cancellation.

I hereby give you my list of the shows I loved to watch (even if I had to wait until some fucked up timeslot at 2am on Tuesday morning because pre-syndication ruins shows like these :o) but now exist solely in the minds and hearts of geeks like us.

These are in no particular order; I list them as they come to me.


1. The Sentinel - UPN, usually Wednseday nights at 8PM followed by Voyager.

This was a great show. From the first episode to the last I enjoyed every moment. Cheesy at times but in that good way. Y'know, Grade-A 100% all natural cheese. The gimmick was, while inplausible, not entirely unbelievable and thus made for a good cop show. Many episodes made the show feel like any other typical cop show but the addition of the scifi formula was just enough to add that extra spice. Ended anti-climatically when UPN decided that it was going to focus all its' energy on black specific shows.

The idea of a guy being lost in the middle of nowhere and coming out with super-sense is pretty asinine but it worked here. It was set in the fictional town of Cascade, Washington (which, amazingly enough, looks a lot like Vancouver where it was filmed ^_^) and featured a lot of typical cop-show fluff. In the midst of the normal episodes once in a while they would center on an episode where the anthropology student and sidekick Blair Sandburg would end up saving the day because his knowledge of the mystical side of the star's condition proved invaluable.

Wonderful show, I couldn't get enough.






2. The Invisible Man - The Sci Fi Channel, 9PM Friday

Another great show. The reason I enjoyed this one was the same reason I enjoyed The Sentinel. In addition to the sci-fi ascpet of the show it had great character interaction. Small jokes between the stars on screen, life-like conversations. With most shows I watch these days you can tell that it's written dialogue. These shows made it seem like they threw the actors into these situations and this is what was said. Made it feel more real.

I also loved the Sci-Fi channel's attempt to appease the obsessive fans with their writeup of the "quicksilver gland" that they put up on their since. For a while the show's page remained even after cancellation but recently it was taken down. this was the best I could find (geo-cities site, btw). If anyone knows of a replacement for the page that used to be at http://www.scifi.com/invisibleman/classified/c0101.html I'd appreciate a heads up.

The Sci Fi Channel canned this show despite its' decent ratings. They felt shoving more mnoney into Stargate (which I love) and Andromeda was better than keeping a show the fans loved. For a while there were rumors that UPN would pick it up but it had been a good year since UPN had been known for its' science fiction shows so it seemed highly unlikely. Another good show meets its' death.





***Note: Shortly after the announcement of the show's planned cancellation, a musician that posted on scifi.com's forum recorded a song in honor of the show. The band was called Aliens Among Us and it seems that their Ampcast and MP3.com sites have since been taken down. For your listening pleasure, Aliens Among Us - Breakdown.


3. Soldier of Fortune/SOF: Special Ops Force, Syndicated, various timeslots.

Let me start of by noting that the producer of this show was Jerry Bruckheimer. Yes, the Jerry Bruckheimer of Top Gun, Crimson Tide, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and so many other insanely action packed movies. The man took the same attitude toward movie making and over-production and put it into this show. Massive explosions, fast paced shootouts, hair raising rescues; basically some of the most intense action scenes to ever grace television.

The show had two names for some odd reason. In its' first year is was called Soldier of Fortune but in the second season the name was changed to SOF: Special Ops Force. It's safe to assume that the magazine of the same name didn't want the show to be named Soldier of Fortune. After the first season two of the supporting characters left later to be replaced by Nick Delvecchio (David Eigenberg; some of the girls may know him as Steve Brady from Sex In The City) and then, believe it or not, Dennis Rodman.

Yes, the Dennis Rodman actually attempted to "act" and was brought onto this show. He was the guy that saved the day left and right and tossed out the ever-so-convenient witty phrases in the middle of a fire fight. Despite the big buck cast and crew this show floundered. Like Deep Space Nine a great show was practically choked to death by immediate syndication. With no supporting fanbase to force the networks to supply a decent timeslot, the show was thrown into the most ridiculous of air times. When I lived in Atlanta I was able to watch it 1AM Sunday morning or 11PM Thursday. On two different networks.

An incredibly entertaining show marred by Rodman's abysmal acting and an inability to build a fanbase because it's practically impossible when no one knows the show even exists. I hold a special place in my memory for this show because my first ex, Jessica, enjoyed it as well. I later learned, a little too much. But still a damn good show.









4. Pensacola: Wings of Gold, Syndicated, various timeslots.

James Brolin, best known for his role as Barbara Streisand's husband, starred in this one. Another good show that floundered because of poor timeslots. I believe 1am Tuesday was when I watched it. Genius.

Given my fascination with naval aviation, this show was an instant hit with me. Though the first season was slightly different (it centered around an already established military unit) the second and third seasons were more defining to the show, in my opinion. Naval Air Station Pensacola is where the Navy and Marine Corps train their fighter pilots. This show was based around one particular class of Marines, VMFAT-107 learning to fly the F/A-18 Hornet.

Good character development and decent acting. I'm told by many that's it's a bit more true to life than JAG but that's not really saying much. A lot of stock military footage was used though most of the episodes were centered more around the characters and their changes from the training rather than the training itself. Good action, good drama, good comedy. Had all the elements of a damn good show. But again, syndication wouldn't allow it to build a fanbase.

That and the fact that even though it's set in Florida it was filmed in California and thus is loaded with scenes of them flying over deserts and mountains. Good job, guys.









Honorable mentions: 7 Days (worst science in a science fiction show ever, loved it), Team Knight Rider (surpassed even the cheesiest of the cheesy), Freedom (another UPN failure, looked promising though), Viper (that show rocked, it really did), Earth: Final Conflict (I considered that show dead after the third season...ugh)....


Many of the shows I listed can be found on Jump The Shark though being cult hits many don't have as much information as more popular ones and some are simply not there. In my mind the first four shows never jumped the shark and if they were still being aired I'd be capping them every week.

Thanks for listening.

[wilse]

WTF

[Jason]

Greatest show ever to be cancelled early... Sports Night. That show was amazing. It barely even made both of it's seasons. I have the full series DVD set. It deserved at least as much recognition as Aaron Sorkin's project after it, The West Wing. It was actually better.

[wr3kt]

Ew.

[ryokurin]

Wont be that detailed but

1. Undeclared
2. Andy Rickter
3. Mantis
4. Parker Lewis (before they fucked it up the last year)
5. In Living Color (before they fucked it up the last year)
6. Babylon 5
7. Firefly
8. Dark Angel
9. Street Hawk
10. Max Headroom

[pxc]

wow, i've never seen any of those programs. looks like it was a good choice.

[zz6549xq]

Futarama

Family Guy

[wizzfish]

Push, Nevada
http://abc.go.com/primetime/push/show.html

forget the whole contest part, it was a weird crazy twin-peaks-like show.

[The_Brad]

Seinfeld


man, i wished that show made it.

[LiLFLiP]

The Clerks: Animated Series

[kbs]

oh man


in living color was SOOOO good

[mARY]

Wonder Falls

[Kabn]

of course:
Futurama
Family Guy

yeah, Sports Night was pretty good. i can't think of any more; my tv watching is pretty limited.

[Planters-Nuts]

Hey Dude

[De7|ro|i7]

Sliders

After the second season it really died.

But before that....GOLD!