When Should A Show Be Canceled?

SyFy Portal has a list of the Top 10 most unjustified cancellations in the past decade, and, uh.... no. Some of the shows on their list just weren't very good, and others were sort of okay but simply petered out after a few years. Sci-fi fans tend to take a dim view of the cancellation of shows under any circumstances, approaching the networks with chips firmly planted on their shoulders, unwilling to accept any ending as valid. It makes me appreciate shows like "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" that chose their end date ahead of time in order to bring their story to a natural conclusion. Perhaps a few successful, carefully planned endings will help my fellow geeks see the virtue of cancellation. Because if we keep crying foul every time a mediocre show is canceled, people will stop listening.

Here's the SyFy channel's list of what they consider the most egregious cancellation sins, with our notes.

1. "Firefly" - No argument here, this is probably the most tragically mishandled genre shows of all time.

2. "Angel" - I own all five seasons of "Angel" and I love the show. I was disappointed that it was canceled, but I can't say that it was a horrible crime. Season 4 was pretty weak, and while Season 5 definitely bounced back, I have a hard time imagining where the story could have gone from there.

3. "Jericho" - Not just canceled, but canceled, rescued, and canceled again. The ratings were even lower the second time around. At some point you have to acknowledge that the audience isn't showing up.

4. "Farscape" - I'm a non-standard sci-fi geek here. I actually thought "Farscape" was more or less everything wrong with sci-fi tv. The show always looked like what people would make up to make fun of how cheesy and ridiculous sci-fi is. That said, canceling a show after the season has already been filmed and allowing for no resolution is a pretty crap thing to do to its fans.

5. "The 4400" - A mediocre show that was canceled after four seasons. This isn't even noteworthy.

6. "Moonlight" - This show might have been worth keeping around, if it had brought anything new to the genre at all. As it was, it was hard to tell of which vampire show/movie/book it was most derivative.

7. "Wonderfalls" - Totally egregious, much like "Firefly." This show never had a chance to get started.

8. "Dead Like Me" - I loved this show, as I've loved everything Bryan Fuller has done, but I have to acknowledge that it had some difficulty hitting its stride. Perhaps if it hadn't been on premium cable, it would have had a chance to develop a larger audience.

9. "The Lone Gunmen" - If you're not an "X-Files" nut, there's a good chance you had no idea there was a brief spin-off featuring the titular gunmen. There's a reason you don't know, and it's not just because the show lasted only a few episodes. It's because those few episodes were terrible. Spin-offs only work when the characters are interesting enough to carry their own show. Not the case here.

10. "Surface" - I have no idea what to say here, because I've never even heard of this show. It apparently aired in 2005, after which point it was thoroughly forgotten.

Of this list, there are six that I think do not constitute a significant loss, two that I think are arguable, and two that I think are genuine crimes of cancellation. My number one show not on this list? "Carnivale," the brilliantly weird 2003 fantasy series that raked in a bunch of Emmys but was too strange for audiences to come home to.

Are we sci-fi fans, burnt after our experiences with diamonds in the rough like "Firefly," too eager to find fault with a network for canceling some pet show of ours? Do we remember to question whether the show was really good and whether it had more story to tell? As you shake your fist over the latest loss of entertainment, remember that clearing out the deadwood makes room for new blood. "Buffy" was arguably one of the most significant sci-fi shows of the last decade, and it was a mid-season replacement. Without some network exec deciding that another show wasn't worth the effort, the tales of the Hellmouth could have very well died on the vine. With anti-cancellation protests popping up for every little show with five True Fans, maybe it's time to take a hard look at picking our battles. The truth is, some shows just aren't worth saving.

Comments

[Stephen]

I found the list to be a little over-sensitive. It's hard to say that Angel, 4400, Dead Like Me and Farscape didn't get a fair run. Were they cut off at an odd time or with things left unresolved? Yes but TV is a hard business and as you wrap filming long before you know whether you got another season which can lead to ugly cliffhangers. Even Jericho got a reprieve so it's hard to cry 'foul' to loudly.

To me the real shames are shows that are canceled before they are given a chance to get their feet under them; shows like Wonderfalls and Firefly. I also think of shows like Kitchen Confidential, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Clone High. Basically, if you had to buy the DVD set just so that you could see all the episodes they filmed then that show wasn't really given a chance.

[oakling]

I think that's a good rule of thumb. Arrested Development also comes to mind... shows where all the episodes were broadcast, but in constantly-changing, unadvertised time slots and such.

[Bob Notable]

Well I'm glad you don't have any say for the list because most people would say you're wrong. the 4400 was well liked by many people.