10 Canceled TV Series That Deserve Another Chance

Every year, dozens of TV shows are canceled. And it's a part of the business. If everything worked then there wouldn't be room for new series every year. The problem is that nearly every show is somebody's favorite and there are some genuinely good or even great series that fall prey to either network interference, bad ratings or viewer indifference. In 2010 alone, there were numerous times that networks needlessly killed shows that could have gone on to become bigger hits.

Crave Online recently examined the list of this year's canceled programs to find ten series that deserve another chance to get back on the air and find an audience. These are the shows that had either the greatest potential or had already demonstrated their brilliance before being yanked off TV screens. But essentially, these are also the TV series that we'll miss the most.

10: UNDERCOVERS

Of all of the shows on this list, "Undercovers" is the only one that I actively disliked. The only reason it made this list is because it was co-created by J.J. Abrams, one of the most talented storytellers in Hollywood. So, imagine our surprise when instead of the next great spy series, we got Steven (Boris Kodjoe) and Samantha Bloom (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), two former CIA agents turned caterers (!) turned freelance operatives. And not only were their adventures flat and uninteresting, but they were also some of the most cardboard and bland characters to emerge in years.

Abrams and his partner Josh Reims believed that audiences wanted a light-hearted action series that was essentially a modern "Hart to Hart." But if that was true, it would still be 1983.

Then why does it deserve another chance? Abrams seemed to have realized his mistake and publicly mentioned that the series would begin using serialized stories to explore why the Blooms were really reactivated. If there's anyone who can course correct a series, it's Abrams. And I believe that given enough time, he could have made "Undercovers" into something worth watching every week. I don't think I could make it through another season like the first 13 episodes that were produced, but if "Undercovers" got the back nine episodes, who knows how far it could go?

9: RUBICON

"Rubicon" may have been the thinking man's conspiracy show. Instead of the usual car chases and action sequences, it featured James Badge Dale as an intelligence analyst named Will Travers who discovered that a secret society is manipulating events on a global scale. You'd think that it would be an exciting series to watch... but you'd be wrong. It was so slow and action free that it could have put insomniacs to sleep before the first commercial break. The first few episodes had long stretches of time in which little or nothing happened. And who wants to watch that?

Sure, adding more action would have been the cliched way to go, but the show badly needed something to change. Bombs, aliens, whatever... Anything that could hold our interest. If "Rubicon" got a second chance, would it have still been such a sleepy show? Possibly.

But if the showrunners had found a way to mix in more action with the conspiracy, I doubt that "Rubicon" would have been canceled in the first place. If it came back for a second year, maybe things could have been different.

8: LONE STAR

"Lone Star" was one of the fall's biggest punching bags for its cancellation after only two episodes on Fox. And to a certain extent, that's understandable. Who wants to see a show about a con man (James Wolk) living two lives. As Bob, he works for an oil tycoon and as Robert he bilks people out of their life savings. What's not to love?

Oh, and he's married as Bob and has a girlfriend as Robert. With general audiences, that went over so well...

But here's the thing, "Lone Star" had between three and four million viewers for both of its episodes that aired. On broadcast networks, that's an epic failure. However, it would have been a huge hit on cable. Given the anti-hero premise of the show, it probably would have worked better there as well.

And the reason that "Lone Star" deserves another chance is that it was actually quite good. I don't know how long it could have sustained that premise, but at the very least it was different from the vast majority of TV series.

7: LAW & ORDER

It's hard to picture a TV series running for 20 years and still ending prematurely, but that was the case with "Law & Order."

Ever since 1990, Dick Wolf's signature series has been telling stories "ripped from the headlines" about the cops who catch criminals and the prosecutors who try to put them away. "Law & Order" perfected its formula and quickly became the gold standard for procedurals, spinning off four additional series and even a British incarnation.

"Law & Order" was one season away from breaking the 20 season record of "Gunsmoke." So, of course, that was the perfect time for NBC to cancel the series. All to make room for "Law & Order: Los Angeles," which is essentially the same series, just set in LA.

The original "Law & Order" may not have been the ratings juggernaut that it once was, but would it have killed NBC to have given it one more season to break the record? Shows don't normally run for 20 years on TV and to replace it with another clone of itself is kind of insulting. After all that it's done for the network, "Law & Order" should at least get the chance to go out on top.

6: CAPRICA

The long-awaited "Battlestar Galactica" prequel turned out to something entirely different than what most fans were expecting. Initially promoted as the origins of the Human/Cylon war, "Caprica" instead focused largely on two families in a very melodramatic story that had vague sci-fi overtones and not nearly enough of the elements that the fanbase wanted to see. Also, the followers of the "One God" were shown to be crazed religious zealots who weren't above murdering hundreds of people in terrorist acts, which may have also alienated some of its audience.

But for all of that, "Caprica" still had a lot of potential and the producers did seem to be moving towards a larger Cylon presence as the series went forward. It had even been floated by the producers that the series might feature flashforwards to the Cylon War as a way to deliver some of the action and drama that had been missing from the series.

All of which could have been quite interesting had Syfy not canceled the series suddenly... with five episodes left to air. In fact, the network showed so little confidence in airing those final five episodes that it's burning them off next month as a marathon. And this is after it was brought back in the fall against network TV with little or no promotional buildup. What did they expect would happen?

"Caprica" should get another shot both for what it potentially could have become and because its demise hastens the transformation of Syfy into a network where science fiction is no longer welcome.

5: THE GOOD GUYS

In theory, "The Good Guys" should have been a great series. Take one modern day, by-the-book cop (Colin Hanks) and partner him up with a crazed '80s style cop (Bradley Whitford) as they investigate minor crimes that lead to larger criminal conspiracies in Texas. And all from Matt Nix, the creator of "Burn Notice."

While "The Good Guys" showed occasional flashes of brilliance (particularly in the episodes written by Nix), the show never quite lived up to its fantastic premise. And audiences never really fell in love with it either. At mid-season, Fox tried to tinker with the show by bumping up the hilarious RonReaco Lee to a regular and bringing in Angela Sarafyan as the new CSI investigator with conveniently incredible skills. But the show still didn't work and it was quietly canceled by Fox, which still has yet to confirm its decision publicly.   

However, Fox doesn't have much in the way of action series right now (and "Human Target" will probably be on this list next year) and "The Good Guys" still has a lot of potential. With more tweaking by Nix and a little more time, "The Good Guys" could become a genuine sleeper hit.

4: DOLLHOUSE

Joss Whedon has created three of the greatest TV series of time in "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly." But you won't find many critics placing "Dollhouse" on that list. The series starred Eliza Dushku as Echo, a "Doll" who could be imprinted with the memories of other individuals to become whoever her mission required her to be. The first season was largely uneven but in the second season, things got a lot more interesting as Echo began to retain memories from her previous identities and  became more of a unique individual herself.

The series finally seemed to find itself in the last few episodes as the conspiracy behind the Dolls was exposed and Echo faced a betrayal from one of her closest friends. Given time, I believe that Whedon could have built it up into something just as good as his previous TV series. And though the decision to cancel the series technically came in late 2009, the great episodes that closed out the show in 2010 made the loss of "Dollhouse" even more acute.

Of course, Whedon went on to bigger things with "The Avengers" for Marvel Studios. But after seeing what Fox brought in to replace it, more episodes of "Dollhouse" would be extremely welcome.

3: BETTER OFF TED

"Better Off Ted" was a hilariously offbeat comedy about a man named Ted (Jay Harrington) and his quirky co-workers at Veridian  Dynamics, a company which was openly evil and wasn't above anything to expand its control and influence. Unlike several of the shows that appeared earlier on this list, "Better Off Ted" consistently fired on all of its creative cylinders and featured a great supporting cast in Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, Andrea Anders and Portia de Rossi.

The series was created by Victor Fresco, was also behind the brilliant sitcom, "Andy Richter Controls the Universe." Unfortunately, both shows suffered the same fate: cancellation after two seasons.

When a show like "Better Off Ted" fails, it seems to discourage other producers or network executives from also trying something new. On it's merits alone, "Better Off Ted" deserves another chance at resurrection. Forget "Modern Family," "Better Off Ted" was the best comedy on ABC this year.

2: STARGATE UNIVERSE

"Stargate Universe" may be a victim of Syfy's ongoing crusade against space based science fiction shows.

Despite a remarkably improved second season and a stellar cast including Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, David Blue, Alaina Huffman and Lou Diamond Phillips, Syfy abruptly canceled the series earlier this month, with the remaining ten episodes set to be aired next year.

The problem with this decision is that it came after the series was moved from the traditional sci-fi time slot on Fridays in favor of "WWE Smackdown" and couldn't find a large audience on Tuesday nights against much heavier network TV competition. Syfy has pointed out that "Warehouse 13" has done very well on Tuesdays, but that series only airs regularly in the summer against much lighter original programming. "SGU" had better ratings than "Caprica" and it's insulting that it was pulled before even giving the last few episodes a chance in a new time slot to see how it would fare.

Some "Stargate" fans have criticized "SGU" for its more serious tone and it did seem to be more heavily influenced by "Battlestar Galactica" than anything else. But it was also the most compelling series to come out of the "Stargate" franchise to date and with its demise, there are currently no space based sci-fi series on TV.

And as another gut punch to fans, there's little chance that the remaining ten episodes will wrap up the series' storyline about a crew trapped on an ancient ship in a distant part of the universe, since the season was almost finished filming before it even began airing. If nothing else, the fans of "Stargate Universe" deserve some closure, if not a fresh start for the show on another night in the summer.

1: TERRIERS

It's no mystery as to why "Terriers" was canceled by FX. People simply didn't watch it.

And that was truly a shame, because a lot of viewers missed out on one of the best TV shows of the year. Donal Logue starred as Hank Dolworth, a former cop who teamed up with his best friend (and ex-thief) Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James) to form an unlicensed P.I. firm that gradually uncovered a conspiracy to literally wipe their small community off of the map. "Terriers" had complex and compelling characters along with fantastic writing by Ted Griffin ("Ocean's 11"), Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") and Tim Minear ("Angel"), among others.

But would you watch a show based on this billboard? 

Amazingly, FX Chief John Landgraf has actually defended the marketing behind the show and claimed that he has no idea why the series failed to capture an audience. Landgraf also acknowledged that potential viewers didn't know what the series was about. As most of you know, it is traditionally the job of the marketing department to make sure that very thing doesn't happen. And I don't think that changing the name to "Terriers: P.I." would have helped, but that's definitely better than the name it went into battle with.

If for no other reason, "Terriers" deserves a return engagement for maintaining its quality throughout the entire season. And it's a credit to the show's writers that the last episode tied things up so effectively that the audience wasn't left hanging and it made for a satisfying conclusion. Even if we never see Hank and Britt again, their story will live on as one of the best modern noir stories to ever hit television.