It's that time again! The new fall season is here, where cynical TV watchers will again make that short-sighted cry, "I won't bother watching anything, because it'll just be cancelled anyway." Well, in your honor, I bring you my list of the Top 9 swiftly-cancelled TV gems. (In a list of shows cut short, how better to end it than on an odd number?) All of these shows aired just 10 episodes or less before unjustly meeting their maker. And darn it, I still miss every one of them.
9. The War Next Door (USA, 2000)
Of all the shows I've watched over the last two and a half decades, this has to be one of the most unique. The premise certainly hasn't been duplicated since: a retired secret agent named Kennedy Smith (Linden Ashby) and his wife Lily (Ashby's real-life wife Susan Walters) just so happen to live next door to his arch-nemesis, Allan Kriegman (a delightfully over-the-top Damien Young) and his amusingly named wife, Barbara Bush (Tara Rosling). Needless to say, hijinks ensued, and each episode had the unique conceit that someone always died at the end...only, of course, to come back the following week.
Admittedly, this show didn't always make a whole lot of sense, starting with the apparent immortality of its leads. That was never the point. The point was that it was just incredibly fun, from its jazzy theme song, to ridiculous episode titles (the pilot was called by the show's original title, "Kill, Kill, Kill") to trying to guess who was going to get offed that week. I still think back to a scene where Kriegman is making his to-do list ("Pick up dry cleaning, kill Kennedy Smith") and there's an episode where he later tries to go straight..as an employee of the U.S. Postal Service. It was just tongue-in-cheek, uproarious fun. I have to wonder how this show would have done if it existed now, given USA's more recent track record of fostering great original series. Alas, this was USA before "Characters Welcome" was a tagline, and these quirky characters lasted only eight episodes before they were pulled from the airwaves.
8. Spy Game (ABC, 1997)
Poor Linden Ashby. First they kill you off at the beginning of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (and it wasn't even you), then you get stuck with the first two shows on this list. Ashby also toplined this very short-lived ABC spy spoof in which he played Lorne Cash, a former member of the CIA coaxed out of retirement to work for ECHO (the Emergency Counter-Hostilities Organization). His partner was smart, savvy newish agent Maxine "Max" London (a pre-The West Wing Allison Smith), while the duo's hijinks were monitored by perpetually annoyed bureaucrat Micah Simms (Bruce McCarty) and occasionally aided by Lorne's old friend Shank (The Equalizer's Keith Szarabajka).
Spy Game really wanted to be America's attempt at bringing back something like The Avengers. It was light-hearted (the characters took themselves seriously, but for the most part, the show never took itself seriously), full of action, and it wasn't long before Lorne and Max started heading toward becoming more than colleagues (they even kissed in an unaired episode). The show also featured a guest appearance by a pre-NCIS Michael Weatherly as Lorne's (naturally) less than upstanding brother Jim. Yet audiences didn't find the show as funny as I did: it lasted a grand total of three episodes before ABC pulled the plug. This one stings a little bit more because the weekend it was cancelled, I was at a convention at which the cast was due to make an appearance promoting the show. As a result, the appearance was cancelled, and I've still never met Linden Ashby. ABC, I still kind of hold that against you.
7. Day Break (ABC, 2006)
Get out your notebooks, because here comes one you had to practically write down to keep up with. Day Break revolved around LAPD detective Brett Hopper (a pre-Private Practice Taye Diggs), who was damned to relive the same day until he cleared his name in the murder of state attorney Alberto Garza. Naturally, the fix is in, and anyone and everyone may be involved - from Hopper's possibly corrupt partner Andrea Battle (Victoria Pratt) to relentless Internal Affairs cop Chad Shelten (a pre-Chuck Adam Baldwin), who, in one of those "only on TV" twists, is not only Hopper's ex-partner, but also the ex-husband of his girlfriend Rita (Moon Bloodgood, in a performance far superior to her recent guest spots on Burn Notice and Human Target).
Day Break was good television. It was a relentless conspiracy thriller that honestly kept me guessing, because every single decision Hopper made - not just the big ones, but something so small as whether or not to stop for coffee - could change the day. A unique element was that while the day repeated, he retained any injuries that he had suffered, so when he was shot in an early episode, he had to spend the next several trying to hide the wound. It was a tightly-plotted thrill ride. It also had an ace up its sleeve in yet another scene-stealing performance by Adam Baldwin, who just chewed up the scenery and spit it out again. The show's best episode, "What If They're Stuck?", focuses entirely on Chad and Hopper in his office for the entire hour, letting Baldwin and Diggs go at each other. Unfortunately, I can't rank this one higher because it did itself in: the show's dense mythology meant viewers had to pay attention to every little detail, and most of them tuned out quickly as a result - only six episodes aired. Even I couldn't recap it without going through six pages at a time. For those of you with long attention spans, though, you can pick up the entire series on Amazon for $7, which is a steal for some great entertainment.
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I would add Journeyman to the list as well.
It doesn't qualify. In order to make the list shows had to run 10 episodes or less; that ran for 13.
It doesn't qualify. In order to make the list shows had to run 10 episodes or less; that ran for 13.
Oh, how I miss Journeyman.
How about Vr.5, the show that was supposed to replace X-files but only lasted 13 episodes.
Close, but as I said at the beginning, to qualify shows had to run 10 episodes or less. It's not just cancelled TV shows, but shows that were cancelled very quickly.
Close, but as I said at the beginning, to qualify shows had to run 10 episodes or less. It’s not just cancelled TV shows, but shows that were cancelled very quickly.
Thanks for the props to Cupid. I loved that show, and it was more than entertainment, it was enlightenment. Amazing scripts, wonderful direction and pacing, bright performances.
That's a great way to put it. Cupid was a show that just had a good heart, and in a cynical world like the one we live in, they just don't make shows like that anymore.
Where the hell was Firefly & Wonderfalls?
Ineligible for the list because they aired 12 and 13 episodes respectively.
Wonderfalls only aired 4 episodes. Firefly aired 11.
According to the information on epguides.com, there are airdates for 13 Wonderfalls episodes and 12 Firefly episodes. Wonderfalls was burned off throughout 2004, but they all aired from as far as I can tell (I never watched it myself).
Wow, I'm the headliner on the list… is that an honor or really bad luck? I loved both of those shows and thought they could have had a life, hmmmm. Oh well, no point in crying over spilt milk I had a lot of fun making them. Thanks for remembering. Linden
Hey, some of us had just as much fun watching you in them, so we're glad you did them regardless of how short-lived they were!
Thank YOU for taking the time to comment. It's been…wow, thirteen years, and I'm STILL disappointed that you and I have never met. So trust me, you definitely made an impact out there, because you made an impact in my life.
Now I'm feeling old.
Oh, that wasn't what I intended at all. I meant it as more of a compliment, because even after all this time, that's still one of the major regrets of my life, that we've never met. Maybe someday we will.
"Spy Game" is one of my all-time favorite shows. I'm a sucker for fun spy shows. I'm sad that I've never gotten to see the final 4 episodes. That'd be one of the coolest things ever for me. I've been inquiring to DVD distributors asking them to try to acquire the rights to release show to DVD, but so far, it's to no avail. I wore my VHS copy of the show out years ago. Please know that you did have fans out there. Thanks for the fun ride!
This is an excellent list… D.B. Sweeny has been in so many good shows that didn't quite make it. Anyone remember Strange Luck? That only made about 17 episodes, but I think it was another show cut short way too soon. Between that coming back one day (if only) and the imaginary 12th season of Firefly that's running in my head, I'd never leave the couch!
Probably a good thing . . .
Strange Luck was SO going to be on this list, until I realized that it had made too many episodes to make the cut. That was such a unique concept.
You can make it a top 10 and add Drive… man did Fox ever fuck that up. i think it made it 4 episodes.. with 2 more being released online.
Why does the link have a picture of the Firefly cast if the show isn't mentioned?
Why does the link have a picture of the Firefly cast if the show isn’t mentioned?
I've never seen a picture of the Firefly cast displayed with this article.
It wasn't displayed with the article but it was displayed with the link for the article. It's what made me read it.
Right here: http://bit.ly/aCy7m5
That explains it. That's not our site it's hosted on, so it's not something we have control over.
your missing Blind Justice which was that show with the blind cop
The qualification for the list was to have aired 10 episodes or less. That aired 13.
They aren’t around for the same reason that we have all our other problems; most people are stupid.
Why show a pic of Firefly when it didn't even make the list??? Firefly should be number one!! It did have total of 14 episodes but not all of them aired. Maybe that's the difference?
Nevermind, just read where it aired 11 episodes. Seeing the pic with the link though was disappointing when it wasn't on the list. :(
You forgot Comedy Central's Secret Girlfriend. Everyone I've talked to that's seen it wants it back.
I've never seen it, so I couldn't say.
freaks and geeks?
I think you skipped over the qualifications at the beginning of the article. To be eligible a series had to have aired 10 episodes or less. That series aired 15.
You missed My Own Worst Enemy. That was a great show that NBC pulled after a single short season.
We'll agree to disagree on that one.
Agreed, My Own Worst Enemy was one of the best huge budget TV series I've seen in many years.
I totally LOVED The Unusuals and agree that it should've been a hit–if only the networks would give shows a chance. It's not like the old days when Cheers was on and wasn't an immediate hit. The networks used to give the audience a chance to find the show and fall in love with it. You can't even say it's the lack of great writing because many of the shows above did have wonderful, witty writing–and great casts.
This list leaves out the best choice… Freaks And Geeks
Simple. I don't watch anything till it reaches the 2nd or 3rd season.
Arrested Development? That was canceled before the third season ended, and it was funny and intelligent
There is nothing like your favorite TV show disbanded upon transmission system without mercy who are only interested in the bottom line ..
I'd add a bunch to your list, including "Twin Peaks" and "Freaks and Geeks" (plus a bunch of HBO). I made my own list of eleven here: http://shootthecritic.com/features/eleven_shows_t….
It's sad but I haven't heard of half of the shows you listed. Probably because they were canceled so quickly. I guess that's why it's important to make these lists– so we can keep those shows going, being viewed by the unlucky who never got to watch them while they were on air. Everyone should get the chance to see David Lynch's "Twin Peaks," for example.
- Shoot the Critic
Dollhouse
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Cape
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
Starring Bruce Campbell
I sort of liked the Jeremy Renner show. I'm surprised it didn't last, considering it was a cop show…
I'm not going to talk about the shows that didn't make the list, but rather praise you for choosing 6 of my bemoaned losses!
Harsh Realm: At least this is one that got released to DVD. This dark series was great. I don't understand why it never took off.
Sons and Daughters: Great comedy and was one of the reasons I got into another greatly missed show, "Carpoolers."
The War Next Door: I only got to see about 2 episodes (was at college and didn't have cable) of this, but the quirky premise made me want to see more.
Cupid: Another show I didn't get to see much of, but I love Rob Thomas' work and thought the cast was great.
Traveler: A friend of mine just lent me his copy of this show and I was hooked. I wish they could have tied this up. Now I can't watch "White Collar" without thinking that Neal is just Jay's new secret identity.
And finally, my favorite show on the list… Spy Game: For a long time I've wondered if I'm the only one who actually remembers this show. I've worn my old VHS tape down so much that it's pointless trying to burn a copy to DVD, so I've contacted multiple DVD distributers trying to find one interested in trying to acquire the license to release this show. I understand why it didn't catch on, but the campiness of this show was what made me love it so much. It was such a cool show. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone!