TV Tuesday: When Good Shows Get Cancelled

My plan for today was to write a full review of You, Me, and the Apocalypse, a funny, suspenseful dramedy that aired on NBC this past fall. I'd been meaning to get to it for a while, and planned to work my way through the 10 episodes of the first season the past few weeks so I could write about it here. I thought it started out just OK, but it grew on me with each episode, as I got to know the characters and became accustomed to its format. It's about a huge comet heading straight for earth, big enough to cause the next big extinction event (ahem, us). As the show starts, the comet is about 30 days away from its impact with earth, and we meet various people around the world coping with the news. Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office) stars as a kind mom who is in federal prison because she took the fall for her son who hacked the NSA. Rob Lowe plays Father Jude, not-your-usual-priest who has been assigned by the Vatican to find the next messiah (since this seems to be the end of times). And there are lots of supporting actors in all kinds of roles. We know from the opening scenes of the first episode that many of these people from all over the world somehow end up in a bunker together under the London suburb of Slough on the day the comet actually hits...but we don't know how they all end up there together.

So far, so good. Like I said, the show was really growing on me, and I've been enjoying it and looking forward to each episode, as the comet gets closer to earth and time is running out. I've come to care about the main characters, and with just a few episodes left to go in the first season, wanted to know what would happen to them.

Then...BAM! I checked online yesterday and found that the show has been cancelled! This first season is also its last. I invested that time, grew to like it, and then they pulled the rug out from under me. This isn't the first time I've seen a good show get cancelled, and I bet this has happened to you with favorite shows, too.

So, instead of writing a full review of You, Me, and the Apocalypse (though all of its first season is still available On Demand and on Amazon for $1.99 an episode), I decided to instead write about how and why good TV shows get cancelled.

The Washington Post had an interesting article in the fall about how the networks make these seemingly random decisions. For instance, FX puts equal weight on the producers' opinion, the critics, and the public. The article also explains how these decisions are changing with the new ways that people are watching TV, so that networks have to consider not just who is tuning in when the show airs, but how many people are watching it later. Good thing - we don't watch anything when it actually airs anymore!

Here is an actor's perspective about why shows get cancelled, focused on one of the most puzzling cancellations of modern times, Heroes. That show had a huge fan base, but still got the ax. Interestingly, this past fall - 5 years later - it was revived with Heroes Reborn.

And this recent list from TV Cheat Sheet gives a depressing run-down of current shows that might possibly be on the chopping block.

My family has seen many of our favorite shows cancelled after just a single season. Fox in particular seems to chop some amazing shows without giving them much of a chance, but I guess that's show biz! Here are some of our past faves that got the ax:

• Firefly -  Perhaps the classic example of a fantastic show with a huge fan base that was cancelled too early, this 2002 sci fi show featured Nathan Fillion (of Castle fame) as the captain of a ragtag group of space outlaws. We were late to this one and didn't see it when it first aired but have watched its 14-episode first (and last) season on DVD. At least they made a movie, too! (TV show available free on Amazon Prime).
• John Doe - Also in 2002, my husband and I really enjoyed John Doe, about a man with no memory who helped police solve crimes while looking for clues to his own identity. They set up a great story in a first season with 22 episodes but then left us hanging.
• Life on Mars - this unique time-travel show, with Jason O'Mara as a modern NYPD detective who finds himself back in the 1970's, was based on a UK show of the same name and was an outstanding show. It got chopped after just one amazing season (18 episodes), but to their credit, the show's creators hurried up and rewrote the season finale to wrap up the whole show.
• Terra Nova - Our whole family LOVED this show, about a family on a dying future earth who is sent back 85 million years to prehistoric times, where humans are trying to establish a colony to give themselves a second chance. This one also starred Jason O'Mara (tough luck, Jason). Time travel, adventure, and dinosaurs - what more could you want? Our sons were devastated when it was cancelled after just one excellent season (13 episodes) (available on Netflix).
• Alkatraz - My son and I loved this show! A unique premise, combining crime show with the paranormal. Prisoners and guards who mysteriously disappeared from Alkatraz in 1963 suddenly begin to reappear in present day, and a secret government group must work quickly to recapture them. This show was SO cool, and we loved seeing our old buddy Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost). This captivating show lasted just one season (13 episodes).
• Awake - In the same season as Alkatraz, my son and I also enjoyed watching Awake, another show with a touch of the supernatural (seeing a pattern here?). Jason Isaacs stars as a father whose life is split into two different realities after a car accident. In one, his wife was killed, and in the other, his son was killed. The primary driver here is wondering whether this is really happening to him or whether he is dreaming (or crazy). We couldn't wait to see more, but it was cancelled after one 13-episode season (my son tells me it is on Netflix!)
• Believe - My son and I also loved this show (we used to watch a lot of TV together when we were both home sick a lot) about a little girl with special powers who was being hunted by people that wanted to take advantage of her, with Jake McLaughlin (now on Quantico) as a convict tasked with protecting her. Fast-paced suspense plus a supernatural element - we were hooked, but it only lasted one season (13 episodes).

I could go on and on here! So many excellent shows never make it past their first season. We had some favorites that only made it two seasons, too, like Touch and Revolution.

How about you? What were some of our favorites that got cancelled? What would you like to see come back?

(NOTE: All of the above titles are available on DVD (our library has most of them) and some are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime, as noted.)

Terra Nova Trailer (available on Netflix):



Awake Trailer (available on Netflix):