The Dude’s High 5s: 5 TV Series That Ended Too Early.
High 5s are a new weekly column that I plan to keep up every Wednesday. They are categories of my own choosing and based solely off my own opinions and experiences. I encourage you all to participate and add your thoughts, suggest a topic for the future, or rip me apart for my choices. So let’s dive in shall we?
This week’s high 5s are all about TV series that were cancelled too soon. Shows that never got a fair shake. Shows that did the best they could, but ultimately were canceled.
5. The Invisible Man (2000 — 2002; 46 episodes)
PLOT: The Invisible man was one of the first Sci-Fi original series to run. Vincent Ventresca stars as Darien Fawkes, a brilliant career criminal that was used a guinea pig for a covert government project. Fawkes is facing life in prison when his brother, a government scientist, offers him a way out. The plan is to insert a synthetic gland into his head that produces a substance called quicksilver. Quicksilver covers the subject and bends light around it, rendering them invisible.
THOUGHTS: This was one of my favorite shows when it was on, I never missed an episode. Some of the computer effects were cheesy, yes, but the story lines were always entertaining. I also loved both Vincent Ventresca as Fawkes, and Paul Ben Victor as his partner Robert Hobbes. The show ultimately was too expensive and was cancelled. It’s a real shame because it had a good overarching story along with good writing. The biggest crime is that it’s nearly impossible to find on DVD.
4. Rubicon (2010; 13 episodes)
PLOT: Rubicon focused on an intelligence analyst named Will Travers (Played by James Badge Dale). Following the death of his mentor, Will Travers slowly pulls at threads that leave him to believe that he was killed because he found out a secret that no one was supposed to know. The show was heavily influenced by conspiracy theories of the 60’s and 70’s.
THOUGHTS: I enjoyed Rubicon’s pacing. It was almost a dead crawl at times, and other times it was moving faster than you could believe. This show for me was something that I understood other people weren’t watching. It was made for me and me alone. I know that’s not entirely true as I will get the occasional message from Caff out of the blue (Sometimes at 3am) asking “Dude, why the fuck did they cancel Rubicon? I wish I knew friend, I wish I knew. This became even more of a dick to the eye when The Walking Dead turned out to be utter shit. I signify AMC canceling Rubicon as their first mistake in a slow decline in programming. Once Breaking Bad and Mad Men end, will anyone give a fuck about AMC anymore?
3. Drive (2007, 6 episodes)
PLOT: Drive was a very short lived series on FOX. Its basic plot was a cross country race between several interested parties. At the heart of this was Alex Tully, played by Nathan Fillion, as a man with a dark past who just wanted to be left alone. When his wife is kidnapped, he is told that if he wins the race, he will get to see her again.
THOUGHTS: The premise seemed stupid and hackneyed at first, but when I watched the show I found myself liking it. I remember when FOX was promoting it, I shat all over it. It was like the smelly kid who’s new to the school. You tell your friends you are going to beat him up and leave dog shit on his porch. However, when you get to his house, he’s got a pool table set up in his front lawn and he offers you a beer. I had no idea what was going on. Then I saw it. The credits read “Created by Tim Minear.” If you don’t know the name, he’s also partly responsible for number 1 on this list. This show never had the chance to be good, and I don’t encourage you to watch it because it won’t make sense. All that I want to point out here is the potential it had.
2. Jericho (2006 -2008; 29 episodes)
PLOT: Jericho is named for a small fictional town in northwest Kansas. In the wake of a nuclear attack on the US, the people of Jericho must pull together to survive. At the center of the show is Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich), a man who has spent the last few years away from the town, and Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) a new resident who was a cop in St. Louis a few days before the attack. The challenges the townsfolk have to face are dwindling food stock, power conservation, raiders, and even one another.
THOUGHTS: Jericho’s first 7 episodes are rough. I stuck with it because I love the post-apocalypse setting. Once the 8th episode aired, this quickly became one of my all-time favorite shows. This is also Skeet Ulrich’s best work. If you can’t stand him in anything else, that’s fine, neither can I, but god damn he’s good as Jake Green. The other main player is Lennie James, and I’d watch that guy read the phone book. The show delves into some heavy themes, and gets rather political. Jericho was actually cancelled after 1 season, but CBS was mailed over 20 tons of nuts in protest to the decision (If you watch the season 1 finale, you’ll get it). The second season ran for eight episodes and was ultimately canceled again. Season 3 currently exists as a graphic novel, and continues with the story.
1. Firefly (2002; 14 episodes)
PLOT: Chances are you’ve seen this one. Ain’t a nerd in the ‘verse can call themselves such without checking out this particular program. However, if this is your first stop on the internet I bid you welcome, and encourage you to watch Firefly (after you get done looking at all the porn). This show follows a crew of smugglers and outlaws in what can only be called a space western. The show itself is based around the principle of how much influence should a government have over the lives of its citizens.
THOUGHTS: This show is the ultimate miss. Fox will never hear the end of the cancelation of this show. People still throw Firefly parties and host marathons. Hell, they even had the juice to get a movie made. Tim Minear should have known better than to let FOX produce Drive after they canceled Firefly (Told you that name would reappear). The good thing to happen however that is nearly the entire cast has moved on to successful careers. While they have other projects, they always seem genuinely grateful to have been a part of something magical like Firefly.
How about you OLers out there? Any show’s early demise piss you off?