tv affection

[tiggz]

i'm watching 100 Greatest Teen Stars on VH1 and they had Claire Danes at number 49. watching those clips of My So-Called Life i was just hit by how amazing that show was and how much i miss it. i was the same age as Angela when the show premiered and it just hit so many chords with me. i think of all the tv shows that i've loved that have been cancelled My So-Called Life will always be the one that hit me the hardest. the fact that i could identify so much with the lead character and also that we were never given a proper ending probably contributes a lot to that. i even wrote a letter to ABC about how disappointed in them i was. in fact, i even encouraged my friends at school, who i would discuss the show with, to do the same. i guess i was a tv show pimp even then. ;)

so tell me, what tv show cancellation hit you the hardest and why? there are a ton to choose from.

Comments

[sexycereal.livejournal.com]

Buffy. Even though it was long overdue in coming I grew up with the show and it really, really felt like someone was ripping my heart out. I cried for the entire duration of the last episode.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jems_/]

Wonderfalls, I think. That one and Firefly are the ones I really feel never got the chance to be as great as they could be. But Wonderfalls was extra bad because of how it was treated by FOX.

And now I think I'll go mourn FOX's latest victim by having an AD marathon. Stupid FOX...

[cindywrites.livejournal.com]

I think the cancelation of Freaks and Geeks did < melodrama > something to me, inside. It was such a wonderful show, but it got shuffled far too often, and then taken off the air for Sweeps, ostensibly to save it from failing in the ratings. If it had been given a decent timeslot and allowed to grow, I think it could have become a cultural touchstone, like Wonder Years.

Wonderfalls' cancelation, hurt me, too. It was easier for me to understand than F&G, because I knew the numbers were horrible from the get-go. By then, I'd been exposed to fandom, so I didn't have the same shock I had with F&G. Also, I knew it was quirky and weird. I was hoping it would catch on in a right-place/right-time way, like Northern Exposure had, years before.

When Joan of Arcadia got the axe, I was incredulous. Being a fan of boutique shows for quite a few years (like BtVS, A:ts, FF, Wf), it was hard to understand a show getting killed when it was drawing something like 8 million viewers. In some ways, this cancelation hurt me most of all. The show meant the most to me. I still feel its loss on Friday nights. I don't even think I felt the BtVS loss for quite this long. JoA was in its second season. It had a great cast--some names of note, and I couldn't understand why it didn't get one more shot. I'm *still* waiting for the S2 DVDs to be released.

I didn't list A:ts or BtVS, because they had plenty of time to tell me their story. I think A:ts had a few good years left in it, but it stopped at a good point, too. I think the Buffy writers (U.Drew not included) seemed tired of the characters by the time season 7 rolled around, and weren't doing the show justice (imo) any more, so it's probably just as well that it bowed. BtVS was the most important to me, of all the shows I've mentioned in this comment, but it got the best treatment, and I can't ever feel that we-wuz-robbed feeling I did with F&G, Wf, and JoA.

If Veronica Mars doesn't get a third season, I don't expect to recover.

[zimshan.livejournal.com]

Well, since that time is coming around again? Angel. I was utterly devastated for DAYS when I heard the news. That and I felt like killing people at the WB. But I think I took the news so much harder because I had already lost Buffy the year before, as well as DC. So that year, I clung to Angel like nothing else and to have it riped right out from under me was horribly devastating.

I wasn't watching Firefly when it was cancelled so it totally isn't the same thing, but it still marks the cancellation that killed me more than anything else so far. Going through the series, seeing how much heart and soul was in that show, how friggin' excellent everything was, knowing that there were only 5 episodes left, 4, 3, 2, 1. The sharp, cruel realization that the show was over, when I ended that last episode, hit me so hard. So even though I wasn't around for the cancellation news, that really hit me the hardest. Angel at least got five years, Firefly barely got 14 episodes.

As Cindy said, if VM doesn't make it to a third season, I might never recover. You might have to lock me in a padded room with a straightjacket. What you described Claire Danes like for you, that's Veronica for me. Veronica is so me that the thought of not having her every week, well, you might as well kill me. It's quite sad how attached to it I've become...

[http://users.livejournal.com/naty_/]

we were never given a proper ending
see, for me, this just contributes to the near perfectness of the show. I call it my "James Dean" show, killed in its youth with loads of unrealized potential, before a decline in quality. It forever remains frozen in time as this awesome, awesome thing.

(randomly... My friend and I worked out this James Dean vs Marlon Brando model: We never had to watch JD physically deteriorate or act as a caricature of himself, etc. People say James Dean and your mind goes to Rebel and that red jacket. People say Marlon Brando and you *might* think Streetcar/Godfather or you might think Freshmen/Moreau/stick of butter.)

Wonderfalls hurt quite a bit, mostly because it was slowly dying from the moment it aired and everyone knew it and that was painful to watch.

But, personally, the cancellation that hit me the hardest was The State. I can't exactly put into words what that show meant to me, but I miss it so much. The fact that it's unavailable for purchase just makes it that much more painful. And so I wander around like a pathetic lost puppy watching damn near everything an ex-cast member is in, even some truly crap shows/movies.

[littlexander.livejournal.com]

Mine is from around about the same era as MSCL - seaQuest.

From the very first minute of the pilot episode I was hooked, and - despite some extremely wacky scheduling on the part of the channel showing it - loved it to death (still do, in fact). Anyway, I discovered its cancellation in probably the most understated way ever - on Teletext's TV guide entry for that week's episode. I still remember clearly what the last line said (and remember, we're talking almost ten years ago here) - "The series has already been cancelled in the United States - so enjoy it while you can!". Talk about sucker-punched...

[fourleafclover.livejournal.com]

There was a show on ESPN called Playmakers.
It was a slightly over the top, almost unbelieveable "behind the scenes" look at the NFL. I totally understood why it was cancelled but I do miss it a lot.....

[such-jaunt.livejournal.com]

mscl all the way it nearly broke my heart when i knew there would never be another, i also completley identified with angela, rayanne and ricky really were my best friends, jordan was my object of desire and brian krakow the irritating neighbour etc i also joined a cmpaign to stop it getting cancelled but living over here we got the show later so it was too late, though we did manage to get the show reaired which before the daysof dvd boxsets was awesome :)

And in light of dvd boxsets io would have to agree with freaks and geeks i can't beleive they cancelled it though it is similar to mscl so maybe that gives my inklings but i am completley in love with it and i don't want it to end.

I also think buffy had more than a good run so wasn't bothered when it finished, same with angel though i would have liked to know what happened. Firefly could definitley done with another season, but then we have the movie and there seems to be the hope of possibility that we will get more adventures with the crew.
i was sad when i young americans got cancelled that show was pretty cool, the way tru calling finished was completley unresolved so i would have liked a full second season. As with Roswell i didn't really like the way season three ended but at least we got three seasons... i could probably go on but i think i have done that already ;) lol

[foundserenity.livejournal.com]

I have some MSCL nostalgia too; my mom used to watch it because Marshall Herskovich was her old college boyfriend, and I often watched it with her. Of course, I had no idea what was going on because I was still in elementary school.

[ducky01.livejournal.com]

When I was 10 years old, ABC cancelled a television show called "Here Come the Brides." I was devastated, because it starred Bobby Sherman, and I was in lurve with him. I also wrote a letter to ABC to express my outrage. They sent me back a nice little form post card thanking me for my input. Bastages.

Of course, now that I'm all growed up and stuff, I like more cerebral television, so I was extrememly ticked when ABC cancelled "Miracles" after only airing seven episodes. They never even gave it a chance. Again, another outraged letter to ABC. But they didn't even send me a form letter to thank me for my input this time. Bastages.

Then, when I finally decided that I would never watch ABC again because of the way they had cancelled my programs, they started showing "Lost," which I really like. Therefore, I can't boycott them, or I will miss my favorite show. Bastages.

[bdbdb.livejournal.com]

Angel. Absolutly, without a doubt, the cancellation of Angel hit me the hardest. I won't say that Angel was the highest quality of all the shows I have mourned. If I had a time machine and a Network-Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card it would be used on Firefly before Angel. Angel touched me in a deeply personal way (Wow! Read that last part out of context and it sounds like something else entirely! LOL) Anyway, Angel the series meant a lot to me on a personal level and I think I learned more about being an adult and the world around me from that show than any other. I'm still not over it's cancellation, and I can't imagine ever not missing it.

[punkie-cat.livejournal.com]

Buffy and Angel hit me the hardest, for sure. Though Buffy had a nice long run for a show that started on a fledgling network, I still felt so sad that the show was ending. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Oz, even Tara after some time... they all had touched me so deeply and hit me emotionally in places that characters other shows just didn't or couldn't. Angel was the more bitter one for me, because it was an example of the WB execs being a load of buttdumplings and switching out older shows with established fanbases for newer, crappier shows. I loved the ending, though. I cried mightily, and I think it went well with the idea of the show: keep fighting the good fight.

Also, when we finally lost Star Trek: TNG, I felt like something had been removed from me. I grew up with this very cerebral yet also very emotional sci-fi show, and it really raised the bar for me for science fiction television. Wonderfalls never had a chance, and deep down I think I knew that. But having watched the entire series over and over, I realize its awesome potential and weep for this little semi-forgotten universe.

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

First off, I don;'t get the Buffy/Angel comments as both has such long runs, and its arguable, (some deeply disagree) that both shows were nowhere what they were at the beginning, but that's so not the point of this. ;)

I loved MS-CL. But I didn't get ito it until after it was cancelled and on MTV, where I taped every ep (and now have Charisma's old Secret commercial for posterity!). While I loved the show, I felt that the Halloween and especially the Christmas episodes dragged it down. Also, I'll never forgive Winnie Holzman for her comments at the time that they knew that that last ep was going to be the last ep so they "tied up a lot of the loose ends." I loaned my DVD set to Polgara and got this call one night, "What loose ends got tied up?!?! What closure?!? Ah! How dare you get me addicted to a TV show with only 19 episodes." hehehe Oh, and lamest special edition DVD box set. I spent a ton of money for a lunch box and the most unprofessional (and completely unedited) bonus DVD. Still in my top five shows.

Freaks & Geeks is my fav show and I have no eps I didn't love, but I was working at Angel at the time and missed most of it until I got the super Yearbook Edition DVD Box Set. (Best set ever - oh, and the show is good too)

So, I guess the show that got cancelled and bugged me the most was, after much though, the American version of Touching Evil. It was on USA and preceeded The Inside, but had the same feel, but looked better, and an amazing score, and I think was mostly written better. it was cancelled, not because it had bad ratings, I think it was third after Monk and The Dead Zone, but because the new president of the network didn't think it fit the network. Oh, and I still see no news of it coming out on DVD. Evil people.

[kibarika.livejournal.com]

Firefly. Do I have to explain?