5 Cancelled TV Shows You Need To Watch

5 Cancelled TV Shows You Need To Watch

This is just a small topic I can approach today while I procrastinate my fiction writing, and it gives me a chance to talk about some of my favourite cancelled TV shows which I think deserve to be watched regardless. (NOTE: This isn't a top five.) So without further ado, let's begin with my favourite ever TV show.

ER (1994-2009, 331 episodes)

ER was created by novelist and doctor Michael Crichton, and is loosely based on some of the experiences he had when he was a trainee doctor rising through the ranks. If the name of Michael Crichton is familiar, it's because he wrote the original Jurassic Park novel, and later teamed up with Steven Spielberg on the film adaptation. They linked up together again for ER (although Spielberg left after the first season), and the show managed to continue for another fourteen seasons, eventually concluding in 2009 after 331 episodes and Crichton's death, which - as of this roundup's publication date - makes it the "longest-running primetime medical show in American TV history" and sees it sit EIGHTH on the list of longest-running scripted primetime television series in America. There are only three shows ahead of it still airing. Any guesses? Find the answers here.

ER's principal cast
BACK - Eriq La Salle; Sherry Stringfield
MIDDLE - Anthony Edwards; George Clooney; Gloria Reuben
FRONT: Julianna Margulies; Noah Wyle

Medical shows came before it and did OK, and medical shows have come after it and done OK, but ER is widely touted as being the medical show, and having set the standard for all that have followed, with its early seasons being especially praised for their storytelling and innovative directorial techniques.

Full of eye candy for men and women alike, ER's principal cast consists of Anthony Edwards (then best known for playing Goose in Top Gun); George Clooney (we all know him), Noah Wyle (recently played Tom Mason in Falling Skies), Julianna Margulies (of the late The Good Wife), and Sherry Stringfield and Eriq La Salle (both of whose most recent significant-ish role scame in the now-cancelled Under the Dome). (In the image, Gloria Reuben is included on the far right; she plays a Physician's Assistant in a recurring role in season one but is upgraded to main cast status in season 2.)

ER's final season cast
BACK - David Lyons; Angela Bassett
FRONT - Scott Grimes; Parminder Nagra;
John Stamos; Linda Cardellini

The main cast evolves immensely over time, so that you can see clearly by the end of its run no original cast member remains (although Wyle returns for five episodes at the end, including the two-hour finale episode), but big names drop in with fictional illnesses to guest star every episode, meaning pick it up now and you're bound to see one or twelve people you know right now from yonks ago when they looked so much younger and more innocent.

Not as gory as some medical shows nowadays but still not for the squeamish, and the early three seasons have a particularly 90s feel about the filming quality - but get past all of that and if you're a fan of medical shows you'll have a blast. And at one episode a day, it'll take you just under 11 months to binge. What's not to like?

Unfortunately, I don't have a trailer to put here, so search YouTube for teasers and snippets and see what you think!

LEVERAGE (2008-2012, 77 episodes)

The Leverage cast

You like Robin-Hood-esque shows about people taking from the man, sticking it to him and making him watch while his subordinates profit? Then you'll like Leverage. (If you've ever seen the British show Hustle, picture Leverage as basically a grittier, American version of that.)

Starring Tim Hutton as insurance investigator Nate Ford (the "mastermind"), Gina Bellman as con artist Sophie Devereux (the "grifter"), Christian Kane as Eliot "Mr Punchy" Spencer (the "hitter"), Aldis Hodge as tech know-it-all Alec Hardison (the "hacker") and Beth Riesgraf as sociopathic thief Parker (the ... well, the "thief"), Leverage has a diverse cast that tick all the boxes you'd need to fill if you were going to organise your own modern-day gang of Merry Men.

Hardison's catchphrase

Funny, witty, clever, well-written with great characters (who all have their own recurring catchphrases), and it can boast that it has a fulfilling and wonderful ending (which is probably in all honesty one of its best episodes, if not the best).

But there's not much else to say here to convince you this is worth your time, because a lot of what I wrote about ER was its renown and there isn't another to come on this list that quite reaches those heights - nor is it coated in the maltreatment of Firefly as we'll see below. But either way, if you like clever heists, great characters and rooting for the bad good guys, you should definitely be watching this. To get a feel, here's the second trailer that was released to promote season 1, because I preferred this to the first one that was released.

FIREFLY (2002-2003, 14 episodes + 1 film, Serenity)

FIREFLY

Let's not beat about the bush here. Firefly is a sci-fi cult classic that, criminally, was cancelled after only 11 of the 14 episodes were aired. Reportedly, FOX wasn't too pleased with the writing of the show's central character, Mal Reynolds; preempted the shows with sporting events; demanded a new pilot because they disliked the original two-hour one that was filmed (hence 14 episodes not 13); aired the episodes out of order; and allowed only a small budget for the show's production (which doesn't matter, some of the effects and graphics are very, very good). If you want to know how much this show is loved, click the link above in the show's name and read the Wiki page about everything the fans did to keep the show alive, the awards its won, and the polls for best sci-fi series or shows we'd bring back, which it wins almost every time.

But apologies, I haven't addressed the show's premise. It's a space opera-comedy-drama-western-erotica ... OK, not that last one, but my point is it fits a vast array of categories. Its central premise is that there are a group of people who lost a civil war and now live on the fringes of space, forced to take odd jobs, legal and illegal, to get by, whilst avoiding the "Alliance" (the fusion of the two remaining superpowers that won the civil war, USA and China), a manoeuvre complicated when they take on passengers running from said Alliance.

The Firefly cast

Firefly's cast consists of nine main characters. From left to right, Adam Baldwin as brawn Jayne Cobb, Jewel Staite as mechanic Kaylee Frye, Ron Glass as Shepherd (Preacher) Derrial Book, Sean Maher as Doctor Simon Tam, Morena Baccarin as registered companion (high-class escort) Inara Serra, Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds, Gina Torres as Mal's right hand Zoe Washburne, Alan Tudyk as Zoe's husband and pilot Hogan "Wash" Washburne, and Summer Glau as brain-addled River Tam, Simon's sister.

(Apologies if that paragraph is hard to get through.)

It's a particularly light-hearted show in spite of its occasionally dark subject matter, and also includes recurring guest stars from Mark Sheppard and Christina Hendricks. However, it's important to remember that, at only one season and a film (which I will explain a little later), it doesn't build any momentum or offer anything to really dig your teeth into.

Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds

Nevertheless, so popular is this show that it's never going to be forgotten; even to this day TV shows are making throwbacks and tributes and homages to it: Castle (which starred Nathan Fillion) made dozens, as has The Big Bang Theory (including guest stars of the Firefly cast as themselves), Stargate SG-1, Community and Battlestar Galactica.

Alan Tudyk took the references one step further in 2015 when he created and starred in a crowdfunded miniseries called Con Man, which depicts the life of an actor who used to play the pilot of a spaceship on a TV show that was cancelled too soon as he visits different conventions. Nathan Fillion co-stars alongside him, and if you do decide to watch Con Man, I recommend you watch Firefly, Serenity, the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and then Con Man in that order, but do watch the Indiegogo video once you've seen the TV show and the film - you'll get all the references that make it so brilliant. (Firefly trailer below.)

SERENITY

Quickly, a short overview of Serenity. After a lot of campaigning, fan demand convinced Universal Pictures to produce the film Serenity, a nearly two-hour long feature which closes the main storyline that the Firefly show simply wasn't given the time for, and it is absolutely explosive. You'll reach the fourth quarter of the film and be on the edge of your seat wondering just how this could possibly all end well.

All nine of the principal cast return, although because of the nature of a feature film it does have to naturally sacrifice a focus on some of their defining characteristics (such as Inara being a companion). But that should not draw you away from just how terrific this film is. It's explosive, it's action-packed and there's a FOUR. MINUTE. Scene which travels throughout the entire Serenity ship, includes all of the cast currently on board and is shot in one single take. Now that is impressive, both directorial...ly and acting...ly.

THE EVENT (2010-2011, 22 episodes)

The Event is a hard one to describe and a hard one to recommend. It's definitely something that's worth watching, but unlike Firefly, it isn't a cult classic and it doesn't have the acclaim to be referenced in practically every current hit show going - and it also ends on an annoying cliffhanger.

The cast of The Event, L - R:
Zeljko Ivanek, Sarah Roemer, Jason Ritter,
Blair Underwood and Laura Innes

The premise of the show is that an unknown craft landed in Northern Alaska, carrying extraterrestrials, the survivors of whom were locked up in a prison called Mount Inostranka. The newly inaugurated President decides to meet with and release the extraterrestrials, only for an assassination attempt directed at him to be foiled by non-human means - suggesting there are more of them out there living in society. So it follows three narratives: the extraterrestrials, led by Sophia Maguire (played by Laura Innes, of ER fame); the President (Blair Underwood) and the intelligence agencies' (in part led by Zeljko Ivanek's character Blake Sterling) attempt to foil the extraterrestrials' plan; and Sean Walker (played by Jason Ritter), an average Joe whose girlfriend's (Sarah Roemer) abduction puts them both in the middle of the unfolding plots, which are all thickly intertwined. The supporting cast include Ian Anthony Dale, Clifton Collins Jr, Hal Holbrook and Taylor Cole, so it's rich with top draw actors who put in top draw performances.

Unfortunately, it doesn't build up enough momentum to answer many of the questions it poses, but the main problem is its ending: due to the declining ratings, The Event was cancelled with just the first-season finale left to air, and it's cliffhanger was never resolved. And because of it's decline in ratings and the decline in interest, and a lack of fandom to support it or rally for it, it's not really at the top of anyone's list of first-season cancellations they would like to see return.

Given it only lasted one season it won't take long to get through it, and in spite of the negatives, it's strong cast and intriguing plots definitely make it one of the cancelled shows that you need to watch.

ALIAS (2001-2006, 105 episodes)

Alias, now here's a TV show that's difficult to pigeonhole. Sydney Bristow (played by Jennifer Garner), discovers she is not actually working for the CIA as she believed, but a branch of The Alliance of Twelve, a worldwide criminal organisation. Her boss at SD-6 has an unhealthy fixation (bordering obsession) on the artefacts created by a fictional 15th century prophet, Milo Rambaldi, who was believed to have uncovered the secrets of immortality. So I suppose it's kind of a mix of government procedural in reverse, as she becomes an undercover double agent inside SD-6, with moderate supernatural undertones.

Alias main cast season 1

The cast is exceptional, full to the brim with stars, who we can see below. From Ron Rifkin (second left standing) to Victor Garber (seated first on the left) to the now worldwide movie star Bradley Cooper (find him yourself) - and the unsung hero of the lot, Kevin Weisman (far right, standing), who played the bumbly comic relief tech support guy Marshall Flinkman (why are all comic relief characters tech guys?) Greg Grunberg, Mia Maestro, David Anders, Melissa George and Amy Acker (Root on Person of Interest) all join the main cast over the seasons along with others, strengthening its depth of character massively.

Marshall Flinkman, Alias
Occupation: Tech support;
occasional field buffoon

The show's settings also change drastically over just five seasons, but actually for the betterment of the show (I'm being vague but I can't say any more than that without giving away spoilers) and the writing is always top quality.

I was surprised when I went to plan this roundup and saw Alias only produced 105 episodes: it's so packed and the many setting changes over the course of its five seasons make it seem as if you're watching a lot more TV than you actually are, a nice feeling for any TV fan. 

It's story comes full circle - another plus for any TV show - which means you won't leave it feeling disappointed (in fact, of this list only The Event fails to carve a satisfying ending, since Firefly's comes in feature film form) - although I guarantee you'll never see the blissfully perfect ending.

I'm suddenly of a mind to rewatch this again. [No Sam, you have too much TV to watch that you haven't seen without rewatching Alias again!]

There isn't really a trailer to show here as there wasn't with ER, but please go to YouTube and view what you can. The teasers will show you just what you need to know about the show that I haven't.

BONUS - Castle (2009-2016, 173 episodes)

If you've seen my previous roundups you'll know Castle has recently come to an end. Starring Nathan Fillion as charismatic manchild author Richard Castle and Stana Katic as fun-hating Detective Kate Beckett, a cop burdened with the cross of her mother's unsolved murder, this is a hilarious, light-hearted police procedural that you simply need to watch.

Final words

OK, so there you have it: 5 Cancelled TV Shows You Need To Watch (plus one bonus recommendation). I hope you find something in here you like the sound of, and whether or not you do I'll see you next time here at TVR Roundup!

Thank you for reading!

Sam