11 TV Shows That Were Too Good To Last

If you search online for the great canceled TV shows, you’ll see a lot of mine and your favorites: Firefly, Freaks & Geeks, Everwood, Twin Peaks, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies and of course My So-Called Life. There are so many fabulous short-lived titans of quality out there, though. Here are a few names you might not find familiar, but are worth familiarizing yourself with.

Profit

“When you want someone to love you, open your heart. When you want someone obsessed with you, close it.” – Jim Profit

Some shows are special because they teach us how to better live our lives. Some shows are special because pretty women and high Bechdel Test scores and things. Profit is special because it is evil. Not in the wishy washy Soprano’s or Dexter evil, where they’re “kinda sorta good and/or well-meaning.” I mean evil-evil, I mean if they ran a Chili’s they would serve baby back ribs made from actual babies.

Adrian Pasdar stars as Jim “Wants To Watch The World Burn” Profit, a sociopath with eyes on climbing the corporate ladder at any cost. While he’s not above murder, it’s his mind that’s his scariest asset. Not only do his plots-within-plots scratch the ears of the sadistic kitten in all of us, but he also has a mesmerizing way of talking to the audience before going to bed at night, offering anti-Aesops like the quote above in an effort to teach us his worldview. It was canceled after scores of viewers in the Bible Belt called in to protest a show about “Satan in a suit,” and so while Profit may not have been for the faint of heart it was for the lover of writing. For dark and smart television aficionados I have got just the mad man for you.

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon or rent on Netflix.

United States of Tara

Tara: “What are you putting everywhere?”
Dr. Hattaras: “Rat traps.”
Tara: “What? I don’t wanna know there are rats in here!”
Dr. Hattaras: “Then don’t think of them as rat traps. Think of them as mice traps or rabbit traps or…or kitten traps. When the kittens eat the bacon, this bit will just come over and stroke its back, and they will live forever.”

If the 2009 Emmy’s had decided to give Toni Collette five Best Actress awards for each of her many personalities, I can’t imagine anyone blaming the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Created, written and produced by Diablo Cody (Juno), it is purely perfect dysfunctional family comedy. Starring Ms. Collette as Tara, this married mother of two struggles to handle the many women (and men) inside her head that want to come out and dance in her meat suit. Couldn’t be as perfect as it is without a fabulous ensemble cast in the form of her family. Banter of the highest order found herein, this show is a giver of gloriously shit-eating grins. Bonus: if you’re like me and get vicarious embarrassment for on-screen awkwardness, prepare to hide under your blanket a lot.

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon or stream or rent on Netflix.

Drive

If you’re a fan of canceled TV, whether you know it or not you’re a fan of Joss Whedon co-conspirator Tim Minear. @CancelledAgain on Twitter, he has served as executive producer and writer on a number of exceptionally well-constructed shows that were critical and/or geek darlings but were unable to find a lasting audience. You may recognize some: Firefly, Angel, Terriers, Dollhouse, Wonderfalls, The Chicago Code, The Inside. One such show is Drive, about dozens of strangers thrust into an illegal cross country road race for $32 million, or in some cases their heart’s desire. Nathan Fillion and Emma Stone were definitely compelling notches in its belt, but brass tacks: it’s fun. Action series are so hard to do right in television because of budget constraints, but visually and viscerally Drive manages to deliver the distilled joy of the Fast & Furious franchise without stepping too hard in an angst cow pie. So if you’ve ever wanted to see Firefly’s writing chocolate in Top Gear’s peanut butter, then welcome home.

Way to watch: Stream on Amazon.

Brimstone

Ezekiel Stone, a name for whom his parents should receive a citation for practically cursing their child to be a hardboiled detective, died and was damned to Hell for killing the man who raped his wife. Stone is returned to Earth by the Devil when 113 damned souls escape, tasked with executing each of them in exchange for a clean slate and a second chance at life. Immediately stands out for its saturated visual style and being sweet and hopeful despite painting with wide cynical brushstrokes. I think if Brimstone had come out now during our current buzz for fantasy action series it would have lasted a lot longer.

Way to watch: YouTube.

Journeyman

Livia: “You don’t even seem like Katie’s type.”
Dan: “What’s her type?”
Livia: “I don’t know; Jack’s a cop — edgy commitment-phobic, a bad boy — you’re not.”
Dan: “I’m a recovering gambling addict who travels through time — I have some things going for me.”

A Quantum Leap-esque series about a man pulled against his will through time and space to help people, Journeyman does sci-fi right and strives for one better, a strong romance. Watch the first episode, “A Love of a Lifetime.” By 3/4 of the way in you’ll be sold on the notion that lead Dan and his wife Katie are doomed, and by 4/4 you believe again in the indomitable power of love to conquer all. This is the show’s greatest strength, and perhaps too its greatest failing in maintaining a mainstream audience: it’s so hard. Dan and Katie and everyone fight so hard to be happy over the course of an episode’s 44 minutes that by the time they find some sliver of joy at episode’s end you, my friend, are emotionally drained. But for those willing to take the plunge, Journeyman pays back in dividends for your time.

Way to watch: Hulu.

Jack & Bobby

“Is sarcasm your only mode now, Jack? I mean, I know you’re only a teenager but it might be time to mix things up a bit.”-Grace McCallister (played by the always excellent Christine Lahti)

This is a show for people who like teen dramas but need equal time given to check-ins with the adult population, ala Everwood. Add an extra star to your mental score if you also crave a little of The West Wing’s starry-eyed political musing. Centered around two brothers, one of whom will become President of the United States in the year 2040, J&B intersperses decisions the brothers make in real-time with political commentary from friends, running mates, competitors and pundits in the future, monologuing about how a choice in their youth affected political motivations in their adulthood. It’s weird, right? But it’s also the kind of brilliant genre-meshing I think we would all benefit, intellectually, from seeing more of.

Way to watch: Stream on Amazon or rent from Netflix.

Threshold

Dr. Molly Caffrey is the Type A who plans and over-plans for every permutation of every possible contingency. One of her plans, Threshold, is activated in order to handle first contact with an extraterrestrial species. A team is assembled and they get crackin’, each episode uncovering a little more of the mystery while exploring all the quirky personalities in the office. It differs from CSI in very few ways save the larger special effects budget and nerd sector appeal, but scores a little higher for having a really good energy between the cast members as well as having exciting personalities like Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Brent Spiner (Star Trek: TNG). Oh, and because Carla Gugino. Purrs

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon or rent on Netflix.

Clone High

This animated teen dramedy parody went full bore to press every button and hit every note it could, like an ADHD kid left alone in an orchestra pit. It is so off the wall and so unexpected and so…rich. Rich like Family Guy was in its first three seasons. Every show ever is experimental at its outset, sure, but Clone High was cranking out the chemistry set and coming up with dark matter where every other comedy is just making vaguely fart-smelling gases. So long as you skip episode 11, the whole series is a symphony of good ideas, especially the decision to put the love quadrangle between Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra and JFK as the centerpiece. In the final moments of the final episode, you end up feeling for these incredibly nutty characters in a way that you just don’t expect, and so from beginning to end I can say it’s a ride worth taking.

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon.

The 10th Kingdom

Burly: This could be a long torture session.
Virginia: I’ll tell you anything you wanna know.
Burly: Torture first, then you talk. It’s better that way. Rush a torture, ruin a torture.

Another series that would have fared better in the current television fantasy fad culture, The 10th Kingdom is television’s answer to Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, a mash-up of fairy tale stories with a little of the ol’ Grimms’ darkness thrown in for good measure. While definitely lighter and altogether less sing-y than Sondheim’s work, Kingdom is likewise easy to get sucked into, the multi-hour miniseries passing in a breeze. Highly recommended for friends and families (though elementary age kids will probably get spooked by it), it’s a fun story that’s easy to come back to every few years, like a friend from out of town.

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon or rent on Netflix.

Titus

Christopher: “Bad news has never been broken gently in my family. Because breaking it gently takes an few extra seconds. And who’s got that kinda time? Hey, we may be failures, but we are very busy.”
[flashback]
Ken: “I’ve got a little story I wanna tell you. Once upon a time, your dog got hit by a truck this morning.”

This is the best sitcom. Right now I really want to purchase a microphone, throw up my hands and drop it (on a soft bed of pillows because microphones are expensive why oh why would you drop them). It is so different from any, I mean any, sitcom you have ever seen. Starring and based on the real life of comedian Christopher Titus and his hyper-flawed family, each episode takes place on a single set in front of a live studio audience. Interspersed throughout are flashbacks and a black and white room inside Christopher’s mind where he dismantles the fourth wall to talk to the audience. The show utilizes some serious mood whiplash to switch from literally laugh-out-loud comedy to perspectives on real-life subject matter including, as per Wikipedia, “death, attempted and committed suicide, rape, child molestation, mental illness, road rage, violence, drug abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and terrorism.” There is even an entire episode that revolves around the hate crime murder of Matthew Shepard. What this show accomplishes seems impossible, but has been true every time I have watched it in the last 13 years: it is unbelievably funny, fast and clever, and it is unbelievably honest about the world around us. This show is one of my single favorite things on Earth.

Way to watch: Buy on Amazon Marketplace or eBay or rent on Netflix.

Touching Evil (U.S. version)

Susan: “Only neighbor we found at that place had a needle sticking out of her arm, and she pissed on Rivers.”
David: “Seriously?”
Susan: “Yeah.”
David: “Nice girl, claiming him for herself.”

This is the show that started my desire to defend series that fell through the cracks, so imagine me being misty-eyed and shaking my fist at the heavens as I write this. Touching Evil centers on Susan Branca (Vera Farmiga) and her partner David Creegan (Jeffrey Donovan), who was shot in the head some years ago, depriving him of shame and impulse control but gifting him with a knack for pattern recognition. The show had several things going for it that made critics all weak in the knees. One, Branca and Creegan had the kind of loving relationship Scully and Mulder had during the best years of The X-Files, like two stalwart bunnies paddling through the bloody sea of human depravity, paw in paw. Two, the writing and direction felt improvised and original, characters being allowed to stutter and form incomplete sentences like people do all the time every day but never on TV. Three, that writing continued with its criminals, who all had serious mental iniquities rather than simply being black and white evil. Which, four, made the show feel much darker than other procedural crime shows, since the villains were always as mysteriously terrifying as Iago at the end of Othello. So, a happy show it is not, but from the striking two hour pilot to the final scene of finale “Mercy,” which I contend to be one of the best things to ever happen in front of a camera in human history, you will feel big, worthwhile feelings.

Way to watch: Buy on iOffer.

For more great lost programming (like The Middleman), check out TVTropes.org’s Too Good To Last archive. Have a favorite you want to scream out and praise? Scream in the comments, children. Scream!