Shows that never had a chance

I just finished re-watching the short lived Babylon 5 spin-off "Crusade" in its chronological order. This was a far better show than I had remembered it being. I say chronological order because when it originally aired on TNT back in 1999 they screwed up the order. Bad.

Episodes were aried out of order, where events that happened in one episode were referenced before they aired the episode that the events happened in. But this discussion is for another time and another post.


This exercise got me thinking though, about all the shows that had their lives cut short - but had a great amount of potential behind them.

I think in the end I'm more upset about Crusade's cancellation than just about any other show. This is especially true after reading up on the episodes that never got filmed from season one. What makes it even worse is that TNT canceled the series before the show EVEN AIRED! They weren't impressed by the ratings that Babylon 5 brought in (good ratings by the way). The fans of the show would tune in - TNT regulars would tune out. If the ratings didn't increase their numbers for wrestling or Law & Order repeats - they didn't want to have anything to do with it. So they sabotaged the series and let it die before it was even born.

Another show that had its candle put out early was Firefly. However, Firefly got its chance with a second "season" when Joss Whedon created the film sequel, Serenity. Not a bad film, but I just don't know how well the series could have sustained itself over the long haul, especially if he retained the knack of killing off main characters in just about every season.

A show that I barely remember - but remember fondly was the extremely short lived series, "Everything's Relative," which I enjoyed - and in many ways is the prototype of the fantastic series, "Arrested Development." Of course, similarities arise since it stars Jeffrey Tambor and was created by Mitchell Hurwitz.

"Kings" receives an honorable mention, but since I won't be able to see all the episodes until it's released on DVD in a few months.

Now, if they would only release the fantastic series "Journeyman" on DVD I'd be happy. Why Bionic Woman, which lasted about 3 or 4 episodes before being canned has a DVD release, but a 13 episode run with an adequate "ending" wrapping up the show hasn't been is beyond me.

Oh well.

Sometimes the business can be criminal.