Booray

I thought of this subject while watching the DVDs for Freaks and Geeks, a great show that, unfortunately, got cancelled after completing only one season, even though it garnered a lot of critical acclaim. I only caught on to the show after it had already been cancelled and reruns were shown on some cable network a few years back and I thought it was a great show. I decided to rent the DVDs to see the episodes again (and see if there might have been one episode to slip past without me seeing it).

If you haven't seen the show before, I highly recommend it. Here's the IMDB.com link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193676/

Any other one season TV shows that were really good but got the axe anyways?

Arrested Development almost had the same thing happen to it that happened to Freaks and Geeks, but, luckily, got picked up for another season.

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Willravel

There are a lot of anime series that only lasted one season, but that is normal. I liked "Now and Again", "Black Sash" (it lasted only 6 episodes), "Battlestar Galactica", "The Honeymooners", "Space: Above and Beyond", and "Dark Skies" just to name a few.

Frosstbyte

I'm not sure I'd call it a "really good" show that got the axe after one season, but I sure as shit liked a show called "Space: Above and Beyond" when it was on Fox for a season while I was in middle school. Cheesy space drama ala Starship Troopers. I had a lot of fun watching it. I'm pretty sure no one else did, though. Too bad.

Arrested Development, on a side note, is really really good. I'm very glad it didn't get cancelled.

StormBerlin

I loved Freaks and Geaks. Unfortuntely, that's the one I'd have to vote on... cuz I don't know any others.

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K-Wise

I really liked Wonderfalls..I don't even think that one lasted 1 season...more like 4 or 5 episodes..I was starting to crush on the lead girl..forgot her name...same thing happened to Cracking Up...I also liked that one...Fox really screwed those shows over.

Asta!!

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Guthumba

I enjoyed "The Mind of the Married Man" on HBO...it never made it to the second season but I found it quite funny and very much on-point (even though I'm single ).

Willravel

Really? The most famous sit com of all time, "The Honeymooners", lasted only one season. It is the dead beat father of shows like "Seinfeld", "M*A*S*H", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Freinds", and "Frasier".

Also, "Battlestar Galactica" was just as big as Star Trek for quite a while.

Catmandu

In case anyone is interested, a DVD of Wonderfalls is scheduled to come out on Feb 1. I also loved Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. What about Twin Peaks? Was it on more than 1 year? I know I didn't watch it after 1 year.

Kadath

Definitely Now and Again. I didn't even know about it until I watched it on SciFi.

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Suave

Undeclared was awesome, mostly because of that Chow guy (dude who played Harold in Harold and Kumar), and a bit because of the British guy. I loved this one part where that black dude who entertains is leaving and he's like "Ciao" and Chow is like "What?" Yes, I love that kinda crap. How many seasons did Family Guy last? I suppose it was more than one, but not very many at any rate.

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hilbert25

Kindred: The Embraced

A world of darkness primetime soap opera type thing. It was pretty cool.

Coppertop

I really liked Dream On from HBO back in the day. I don't know if it lasted only one season, but it didn't last long enough for sure.

fhqwhgads

I'm probably the only person that enjoyed "Murder in Small Town X". It was another one of these reality-type shows, but I throughly enjoyed it.

grendel

there was a show last year (or maybe the year before?) called Miracles that i thought had some promise. it didn't make it through the whole first season, if i recall correctly. abc pulled the plug on it for some reason...

Booray

I only saw a couple of episodes of that, but thought it was pretty good.

Apparently, the guy who won the whole thing on that show was a New York City firefighter who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center only a week after the final episode was broadcast.

I remember hearing about Now and Again some time in the first season and that it sounded pretty good. Unfortunately, I never caught an episode. It irritates me to think that good shows get cancelled for lack of viewership when there's probably an audience out there for them, if only it had time to catch on.

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Seething

I loved the show "John Doe", and Fox cancelled that right after it finished its first season. It had your typical "season finale", but Fox decided to axe it and it became the series finale. I'm still pissed about that one. Goddamn Fox.

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ngdawg

The original ER (also had George Clooney, but it was a comedy with Eliott Gould)
Hot L Baltimore
Cupid

mrklixx

Miracles was an excellent show. They kept moving it around and pre-empting it, and then wonder why it didn't get good ratings.
Another good one was John Doe. I'd like to strangle somebody at Fox for how they ended that one.

The problem is that networks don't give series' any time to develop a fan base anymore. If a show doesn't get stellar ratings in the first couple of episodes, they pull the plug, sometimes mid-season. The ironic thing is some of the most classic long running series' had poor ratings the first couple of seasons.

Bill O'Rights

Damn...I remeber that show. Late 70's wasn't it? That was funnier than hell.

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KnifeMissile

I think the modern "classic" example of this phenomena is Firefly.

Everyone who has seen the show really liked it but there wasn't enough of these people to support the show and it was cancelled in its first season...

braisler

Witchblade had a really, really good first season. Yancy Butler is a hottie anyway, but I thought the character development was good and the otherworldly plot lines were good to follow. I thought that a couple of their episodes in the first season had as good production values as many of the movies I have seen. Unfortunately, the producers apparently didn't anticipate it gathering the huge fan following that it did and didn't have a second season ready to roll. By the time the second season rolled out (something like 12 full months later) some people had lost interest and the writing had gone lousy. I also heard rumors about Yancy Butler having some problems with alcoholism. If true, so sad.

So, my nomination would be for the first season of Witchblade. I don't even really consider the second season as part of the same show.

M.T. Promises

"That's My Bush!" - Talk about a good, goofy comedy. From the loud mouth maid to the wacky neighbor, it had everything you'd want in a sitcom. I think it was brilliant making a sitcom about the sitting president, with no real political satire.


Do British shows count? If so "Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge" and the "Brass Eye" are two great examples of what can be accomplished in just one season.

"Knowing Me..." is a spoof talkshow; with fictional 'celebrity' guests and an incompetent, annoying and uptight host who usually manages to alienate, upset and/or fight with his guests. The guests themselves are also hilarious: the french clowns, the "Bald Brummies" and even Minnie Driver playing a model with one too many appendages.

"Brass Eye" with Chris Morris is a satire with a strong bite. Similiar to Ali G, there are alot of fake interviews with celbs and politican types. The difference being Chris Morris really makes his guests look like idiots, the joke is most certinally on them.

irateplatypus

oh man, my vote goes for "Space, Above and Beyond." it was a made-for-tv scifi show back in 95. it probably sucks now (i was 12 or 13 years old back then) but i sure liked it at the time.

no one else i've talked to remembers it... one of my most effective conversation killers. however much i liked the show... i was probably one of its few fans.

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K-Wise

The Cut & Lyricist Lounge on MTV...I don't think those lasted longer than 1 season..Neither did "The Brothers Grump"

Asta!!

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It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys! - Asta!!

radioguy

Cupid - with jeremy piven, late 90s......i think it was only one year.

diergray

A second vote for John Doe. I couldn't believe the way they ended it.

There was another show where the sheriff of a small town was the devil. The sheriff was played by the actor who now plays the VP on West Wing.

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mrklixx

I just remembered another one from '99 called "Brimstone".

FngKestrel

Yeah, I'll give Space: Above and Beyond another vote. Liked Cupid quite a bit too. I'd have to give Nowhere Man a vote too. Loved all the conspiracy theory stuff.

And this probably sneaks a little past the one season thing, but I love Sports Night.

Xenomorph

Space: Above and Beyond had "the sarge" in it...he's in Full Metal Jacket, he hosts the History Channel's Mail Call, pretty sure he's done some work in videogame footage. The most typecast actor in the history of the performing arts, but the show gets my vote because I like him.

I watched 5 or 6 episodes of it in a row one day when the Sci-Fi channel was playing the whole season/series in one run. It's been a while, but I liked it.

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FngKestrel

R. Lee Ermey, he is totally the man. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000388/

Tophat665

The Original ER! I remeber that one. It was a scream. I remember the episode when the head nurse's, Thor's, husband the country song writer showed up on her birthday and sang "I Want A Woman With Love Handles" to her. Great Show.

Herman's Head. "Brrrritsky" is still part of my vocabulary.

There were some good shows killed in the WTC:
"That's My Bush" was hysterical. "The First Lady's Peepsqeeler" in which they investigate euthanasia and feminine odor is one of the funniest sitcom episodes ever.
"The Tick" had the misfortune of having the episode that would have gone to air on 9/11 titled "The Terror."

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Rodney

Brimstone was great! I still miss it. John Glover, who plays the elder Luthor on Smallville, played Satan, and he was great: not just evil, but a monstrous and bitter prick with a smooth facade. The whole show was funny and downbeat at the same time, and very, very intelligent. The producer liked to call it "Touched by a Devil."

A new programming chief came in and cancelled a lot of stuff that had been put in by his predecessor. He cancelled Brimstone because the ratings weren't good enough, but nothing Fox put in the Friday night slot since has done better.

I should add that Fox seems to put a lot of quality shows on Friday night to die. Puts them out there with minimal advertisement and promotion, and they go away. John Doe and Firefly, mentioned earlier are two others. The only good Fox show to escape Friday night alive was the X Files. And _that_ had low ratings, too, but Fox was so desperate in those days they kept it on. They should show that kind of patience these days; they'd be rewarded.

flat5

On The Air

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2093/air.html


The Slap Maxwell Story (might be two seasons)

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet...Maxwell_Story/


Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet..._Mary_Hartman/

that's enough

CinnamonGirl

Definitely Freaks & Geeks. Awesome show...

I was also a big fan of Rock & Roll Jeopardy. Sigh.

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FngKestrel

You see that one episode where Mark McGrath totally dominated the other two players? That was hilarious.

Tempboy

Another vote for Space: Above and Beyond.

And also another one for Dark Skies.... haha.. it's been a while.

skier

Greg the bunny.

YOu get it? He's a puppet, and he says naughty things!

I can't understand why it was on for only one season....

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Grasshopper Green

I'd totally forgot about Herman's Head, but I loved that show.

I loved My So Called Life when it was on, but I don't remember if it made it to two seasons or not.

Don't watch much TV anymore though, so don't know about any current ones.

frankgrimes

I kinda liked that one too, had a "Twin Peaks" feel to it. Also in the Reality vein, The Mole was good, it lasted, I think, 2 seasons and was replaced by the awful Celebrity Mole. I liked a show called Young Indiana Jones which was cancelled too soon, and long, long ago a high school misfits show called Square Pegs.

mattevil

seems like almost any show of quality on fox only lasts a season now