TV Shows That Ended Too Soon

Sometimes a great TV show is cancelled just as it is warming up, or your favourite show decides to bow out while it’s on top- the TV world isn’t fair and just when you start really getting into a show, bam its over and you are left wanting more. For this list of TV Shows That Ended Too Soon trespassees pick the three TV shows they believe ended before their time, when they still wanted to see more…

ZOYA PATEL

Freaks and Geeks (One series;1999-2000)

Set in the early ‘80s, around a group of 17-year-old burn-outs at an American highschool, Freaks and Geeks lasted one measly season before it was ruthlessly cancelled. Not only did a host of excellent actors find their industry feet through the show, including the likes of James Franco (Milk, Date Night) and Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, How I Met Your Mother), Freaks and Geeks had the perfect collection of outsiders and rebels for every disenchanted teenage viewer to identify with. Oh, and they all wore flannel. What’s not to love?

Black Books (Three series; 2000-2004)

Yeah, I know, obvious choice, right? And yet, I still feel the need to reiterate how great this show was. With quotes that still induce giggles to this day, and a motley crew of characters that are as endearing as they are frustrating, Black Books manages to be a classic despite it’s short run period. Bernard Black (Irish actor Dylan Moran, who co-wrote the show) cemented the stereotype of the angry intellectual in a way that no other character can ever hope to emulate. What I wouldn’t give for another season!

Love My Way (Three series; 2005-2007)

Once in a while, the Australian television industry manages to create a show that doesn’t make me want to retch, and Love My Way is still at the top of a very short list. Dealing with dark themes centred around loss, heartbreak and depression, somehow, this indie series managed to maintain an element of uplifting optimism. The final season finishes with threads of unfinished plotlines, that are never resolved, leaving us unsatisfied indeed.

LIN TAN

Ugly Betty (Four series, 2006-2010)

With a name like ‘Ugly Betty’ and the normally beautiful America Ferrera playing the train-track donning, dorky spectacles wearing lead role (Betty Suarez), there was no surprise that this TV series was just one long makeover show with a lesson about beauty on the inside. Predictable as it may be, the show, which revolves around a trendy fashion magazine house, was full of diverse quirky characters, each with their own likeability factor and equally eccentric humour. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to keep the ratings up and the show on the tube.

Jam & Jerusalem/Clatterford (Three series; 2006-2009)

The genius comedy/drama writings of Jennifer Saunders turned what could have easily been a soporific concept into a vastly endearing and entertaining BBC show. Jam & Jerusalem (or Clatterford as it’s called in the U.S.) is based on life in a small, fictional English countryside town called Clatterford, and its Women’s Guild. As you can imagine, it’s not quite cliffhangers and engrossing drama here, but rather feel-good, hilarious episodes with its strength stemming from the motley crew that is its cast.

Heroes (Four series; 2006-2010)

Heroes, like Lost, kicked off with an audience grabbing first season before falling into an abyss of perplexity, subsequently dragging viewers along with them. Unlike Lost with its wealth of bloomin’ hatches and arctic monkeys, Heroes seemed to lose the plot with its insatiable fondness for complicated twists and turns. Despite a few suspect episodes and the obvious downhill spiral the show was heading towards, Heroes appealed to the side of me that’s immediately drawn to anything of the superhero nature. Its time was obviously up, but I sure wish it wasn’t!

SEAN ROM

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Seven series; 1997-2003)

Recent news that Buffy is getting a cinema revamp minus the involvement of creative mastermind Joss Whedon has raised some eyebrows. In my opinion, the more Buffy the better. There is very little else, on film or television, that can be my compared to this wonky and wonderful mish mash of b-grade horror, serious drama, comedy and allegory. It spanned a healthy seven seasons, retaining for the most part a consistent level of quality that has always kept fans wanting more. Only time will tell on the new film adaption.

Roswell (Three series; 1999-2002)

This show followed three high school students in the New Mexico town of Roswell who are in fact aliens. A minor cult hit, it was also the launching pad for irritating romcom actress Katherine Heigl. But don’t hold that against this fun little sci-fi series. The adventures of alien siblings Max and Isabel as they try to navigate their lives while concealing their secret from the general population, nicely integrated teenage angst into an above average interpretation of the whole “aliens are amongst us” scenario.

Freaks and Geeks (One series; 1999-2000)

One of the biggest travesties of television history was the cancellation of this series after only one season. This golden partnership between Paul Feig (Nurse Jackie) and Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) was also a melting pot of some incredible acting talent, including Linda Cardellini (ER) as main protagonist Lindsay Weir, Jason Segel as her no-hoper boyfriend Nick and James Franco as the charismatic bad boy Daniel. Freaks and Geeks did not break any new ground. What it offered was a unique honesty that embraced daggy-ness. What other show would spend serious amounts of screentime with nerdy thirteen year old boys talking about Steve Martin movies? The journeys of the characters are so rich and moving because of the choice to focus on the small moments, like when Lindsay realizes that her friendship with her childhood friend Milly has finished. Unfortunately, it meant those unwilling to spend time getting to know these characters didn’t switch on. They have no idea what they missed.

LIV HAMBRETT

The Office (Two series; 2001-2003)

When Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant made the decision to end The Office after two hugely successful seasons, it was because they wanted to finish at the top. And I get that, I really do. There is nothing worse than a show that clings on to the very end and limps offstage with a third of its original audience and no one really invested in the characters that took so long to craft. But. I bloody love The Office and my understanding of the rationale behind its ending does not lessen my wish that it had continued. Just a little bit. Even if just for one more one-off special. A fix is all I ask for.

Gavin & Stacey (Three series; 2007-2010)

Gavin & Stacey gave us three seasons (and a Christmas Special) when the creators were actually planning on doing two – for the same reason as the genii behind The Office. Following the romance between a Welsh girl and a boy from Essex who met on the phones at work, Gavin & Stacey brings together a terrific cast and the painfully funny and insightful writing talents of James Corden and Ruth Jones. It was also a testament to the chemistry of writing partners – Corden went on to write a sketch show with actor Matthew Horne (who played Gavin) to very poor reviews.

Summer Heights High (One Series; 2007)

Anything by Chris Lilley always ends too soon. I would have loved another chapter to the brilliant mockumentary that was Summer Heights High, which followed Jonah, Mr G and Ja’mie around school for a term. Lilley’s artful manipulation of pathos meant he managed to achieve what only the finest comedic writer and actors can – making the unlikeable sympathetic. Summer Heights High, like The Office and Gavin & Stacey is incredibly funny with a painful vein of the familiar and the uncomfortable, running through its middle.

BETH WILSON

Deadwood (Three series; 2004-2006)

Another great TV title in the ever-growing list of amazing HBO series, the show charts the growth of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the late 1800s from camp settlement to town. Featuring a large cast including well-known historical figures like Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok and George Hearst the show’s production quality was incredible. However it was the writing (thanks to creator David Milch) and the acting that had me going back for more, with a stellar turn from Brit actor Ian McShane (before which he was best known for his role in pensioners’ favourite Lovejoy) as pimp and ruthless operator Al Swearengen, as well as strong performances from John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), Paula Malcomson (Caprica) and Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). Despite the suggestion of two TV movies to cap off the show’s third season nothing has ever come to fruition, which is so disappointing because this really was an amazing show; funny at times, shocking at others and always enthralling.

Nathan Barley (One series; 2005)

There were just six episodes of this darkly funny British comedy which was created by Chris Morris (Four Lions) and Charlie Booker (a journalist and comic writer). The show followed the tribulations of Dan Ashcroft (Julian Barrett, The Mighty Boosh) a jaded journalist, who finds himself the inadvertent hero for a group of new media hipster types. In particular he is constantly trying to fend off the friendship of Nathan Barley (Nicholas Burns), who runs the website www.trashbat.co.ck. The show had a great extended cast including Claire Keelan, Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh) and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star), but given its flagrant use of profanity and complete lack of  comedic inhibitions the series was never going to be a mainstream hit. While the short series is still excellent repeat viewing, this is definitely a series I wish had come back for a second go.

My So-Called Life (Series One; 1994-1995)

The 10-year-old me will never forgive the ABC network in America for not picking this show up for a second series. This angst-ridden teen drama featured a young Claire Danes as the awkward Angela and Jared Leto as rebellious, slacker Jordan. Largely seen from the perspective of 15-year-old Angela, the show followed her changing friendships and on/off relationship with Jordan. Using internal voiceovers the show focused on the difficulties of establishing an individual identity as a teenager, looking at issues of homophobia, drug use and alcoholism, mercifully without too much preaching. Low rating at the time meant the show was cancelled, but a cult following has grown since for this 90s classic of plaid and depressing grungy rock.

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