Believe it or not this lasted three seasons, but it was so hopelessly spaced out, no one noticed it came and went. NBC didn't want this show to last very long if you ask me, and it's a shame. This could have been the next "Wonder Years" if pitched to the younger audiences in the vein of a soap opera while sneaking in the nostalgia and history from the sixties. "American Dreams" had every chance to take off as one of the great nostalgia series on television and it was sadly cancelled just as the series writers were about to explore the moon landing and the summer or love/Woodstock events of the decade. One of the first introductions to Brittany Snow, currently being frowned on for "Prom Night" but showing she can act with the best of them in "Finding Amanda," NBC's series had the heavy theme of "American Bandstand" as a means of expressing the woes of the decade that saw Martin Luther King and JFK fall under the gun. With occasionally cheesy storylines, a fantastic soundtrack, and a growing adult theme to it, "American Dreams" was worthy of at least five seasons.
You know Firefly, I know Firefly, everyone knows Firefly, and it's a series filled with so much promise and incredible possibilities that it's still embarrassing to think what could have been. I wanted more of Saffron, I wanted more from the pirates, I wanted more from the men with blue gloves, I wanted to see if Jayne would betray the group again, I wanted to see Mal and Inara get together, and damnit, I wanted to see if Wash and Zoe ever had a baby. Instead we were given two mediocre graphic novels, a great movie, and really nothing more. While Whedon tried his best, it's still not the same as having a full fledged science fiction series that could have gone toe to toe with "Buffy" if Fox would have just given it a chance. Like almost any series that's brilliant, it's strictly one reliant on word of mouth, and I'm no exception. My best friend is a fan, I gave it a chance and I became one. This show was worth five seasons at the rate it was going. Damn you studios.
1999 was a year that saw the fall of many series and like much of the titles on this list it should have continued, even if wrapped up nicely. Creator Judd... Apa... Judd something’s intent was to go back to a time where he remembered school being split down to freaks and geeks while we were just about to get in to the eighties where the hard rocking freaks were utterly unwilling to accept the era of new music on the way. Set in 1979, "Freaks & Geeks" also had the power to be a new "Wonder Years" with season after season of genuine storytelling, hilarity, and some truly great looks back at the beginning of the eighties. But never fear, even if the series failed thanks to a network unwilling to give it a chance, the DVD was released years later with a perfect treatment while most of the folks here went on to big careers. Seth Rogen, Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Jason Siegel, and Judd Apa... damn, what's his name?!
One of the first series on the Sci Fi Channel to air as original programming, “Invisible Man” formed quite a passionate following when it was on television and even sparked a small variety of fan websites who tuned in every week. Starring the likes of Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben Victor, Ventresca plays a thief is caught breaking in to a condo and accidentally kills an old man, he’s given the chance to get out of prison to test a secret formula called quicksilver; this enzyme allows him the ability to become invisible at will, but if invisible too long, he becomes violent and psychotic thus he’s forever an agent of the government who holds the cure to that violent side effect. When yanked from the air, Sci Fi promised fans two television movies to finish the storyline off and we were all lied, too. Shocking. The series was never aired again, the website was pulled down and this year the first season was finally released on DVD. Thanks a lot Sci Fi.
Let’s face it folks, “Veronica Mars” is lucky to have even gone beyond one season because it was much too lively to ever compete with the likes of Tyra Banks and those anorexic bean poles. “Veronica Mars” was a show that progressively became worse and worse and that was due to the fact that season one was almost impossible to top. After the stellar premiere, the second season was much too elaborate to follow, and once the series was on the CW, it was changed drastically and became a moody piss poor shell of its former self. Kristen Bell was fantastic as Veronica Mars, a new age take on Nancy Drew, and I wish more people had seen what she accomplished with this character. Even Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith loved the show, and that must mean something to someone, somewhere.
The problem with “Freakazoid!” was that it was much too intelligent for kids on a Saturday morning. So many of the jokes referenced the likes of “Ed Wood,” and the classic movie serials and clearly only geeky fan boys (i.e. me) with knowledge of obscure trivia could really understand what they were going for. I recently watched “Freakazoid!” with my nephew and he simply didn’t get it. “Freakazoid!” had a good chance at the prime time slot, and in spite of the controversy with it being a rip off of “Madman” sported a cult following and inevitable DVD release. I wish we had more of the blue goon on television, but I think even the writers knew they didn’t have long to go on television.
Only the first season is on DVD? What’s the deal Warner Bros.? During the switch over to the CW, Warner painted themselves in to a corner. They started cutting out their best shows in favor of the new series being pulled from the UPN, but once those shows fell, they were left with empty time slots, and revived garbage like “Seventh Heaven,” “Smallville,” and “Reba” when “Everwood” clearly had more seasons left in its storyline and character. It’s a damn disappointment that “Everwood” was cancelled after such a great run stemming from a hokey storyline about a dad moving to a small town with his kids after the death of their mother in a car crash. A cast of seasoned actors as well as talented young actors filled “Everwood” is great warmth and gripping story arcs and it’s just sad the WB couldn’t leave it on for another two seasons to test its performance in their revived image.
Showtime’s original series only lasted two seasons but it was a pair of seasons that many fans are still talking about. In spite of the continued promise of a television movie sans the heart of the show Mandy Patinkin as the head reaper Rube, “Dead Like Me” had a very interesting premise about a bitter young girl whose life is dragging along when a freak accident causes a violent death. Only when she dies does she discover what life is when she’s assigned as a reaper, a figure in the world who is dead, but not really. They’re minimum wage workers who are given the task to take a life and pass them over in to death and eventually earn their place in the after life. Ellen Muth led one of the better series to ever air on the cable channel with episodes that ranged from funny to just plain heartbreaking, all of which ended with a child killer on Halloween eventually foiled by the gang. “Dead Like Me” occasionally airs on the Sci Fi Channel, but fans are wondering if Showtime will ever deliver on the promised movie, even if it has to happen without Mandy Patinkin.
A lot of people don’t really remember but back in the late nineties there was a surge of animated programming on every channel trying to re-capture the glory of “The Simpsons” and thanks to the cost effectiveness of animated programming over live action, many series from “The Oblongs” to “The PJ’s” came and went before anyone could even furrow a brow. “Mission Hill” was one of the series that barely lasted a season but had plenty of room for a good five seasons at best. “Mission Hill” sported the executive producers of “The Simpsons” but that didn’t help it too much. A young geeky high schooler moves in with his slacker brother in Mission Hill, a complex filled with artists and performers who try to get along with two other wacky roommates and eccentric neighbors. While a routine premise, “Mission Hill” was constantly a source for hilarity with some great voice work and a humor that was edgy enough to keep even the most cynical viewer laughing. “Mission Hill” still plays occasionally on Adult Swim in America.
Yet another failed attempt at a series that obscure writer Judd Apatow seemed to want to relaunch “Freaks & Geeks” except… in modern times, and with a slew of college students. Even in spite of the guest spot from friend Adam Sandler, and with his best buddy Seth Rogen starring yet again, “Undeclared” barely made it past it’s first season, and it’s rather astonished that not even FOX was willing to bring Apatow’s college comedy to audiences, because it was also a series worthy of a great run. A symbolic title based around a group of freshman still unsure of what to do with their lives, Jay Baruchel is Steven, a young awkward man who arrives at college and tries to survive amidst a new group of friends, a romance with cute Lizzie (Apatow regular Carla Gallo) down the hall, and trying to get through college without losing his mind. Filled with the same basic Apatow themes of men coming to age through the love of a good woman, “Undeclared” sported all the Apatow suspects but still couldn’t really make it past a year. Don’t worry, I hear Judd Apatow is making movies now or something.
