It’s that time of the year to make lists apparently. This year is a little different because not only are you getting the best/worst of 2009 but you’re also finding the best/worst of the last decade.
It’s no secret that I am a fan of TV; I love a good sitcom/drama/reality TV show and so on. I always say everything that you need to know in life you can find on TV since a lot of lessons learned throughout history are updated for the current generation.
So this list is going to be that will make you think. It’s the top 12 shows of the last decade that we’re canceled too soon, rated by me.
We lost some really good shows that didn’t pick up enough steam to be renewed. Some were cancelled after 1 or 2 showings to never be seen again, not even burned off in the summer.
So we salute these gone too soon shows:
12) You Don’t Know Jack (ABC Summer 2001)

Paul Rubens aka Pee-Wee Herman hosted this game show based on the popular PC Game. It only last 6 episodes, but I was entertained by it. Rubens added just the right amount of wackiness that fit the computer games charm.
11) Wonderfalls (Fox 2004)

This Fox show was delayed from 2003 and aired in 2004 by Fox and only lasted 4 episodes. It was witty and charming. The premise was a recent Brown University graduate, with philosophy degree, who holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Jaye is the reluctant participant in conversations with various animal figurines — a wax lion, brass monkey, stuffed bear, and mounted fish, among others — which direct her via oblique instructions to help people in need.
This was created by Bryan Fuller and Ted Holland and starred actor Lee Pace. Fuller also created Pushing Daisies which Pace also starred in.
10) The Mole (ABC 2001-2004, 2008)

The Mole was one of my favorite reality series and introduced us to, at the time, a little used ABC News correspondent Anderson Cooper. Contestants traveled the world to participate in tasked that earned money for “the pot.” These tasks were usually timed and various rewards and distractions would hinder the team performance. While these tasks were going on one member of the team was “the Mole,” a saboteur whose missions was to make the team fail the task and take money from the pot.
At the end of each episode all players would take a quiz about the identity of the Mole, the person who scored the lowest would be “executed” and leave the game. The only exception to this is if a person earned an exemption in the task and they were free from taking the quiz.
You may be wondering why this show is on here when it ran for 5 seasons. Well I only count the first two with Anderson Cooper. The next two were “celebrity” hosted by Ahmad Rashad and won by Kathy Griffin and Dennis Rodman. The 5 series was hosted by John Kelly and only lasted 10 episodes of the summer of 2008.
9) Invasion (ABC 2005)

This ABC show starring Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch, Sunset Beach) only lasted one season, and that’s a shame because by the end of the series it became so good I was hooked, that is if it was on when it was suppose to be.
Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and begin to take over the bodies of the town’s inhabitants through a cloning process (first by merging with and then unknowingly replacing them).
The first episode premiered with 17 million viewers then slowly lost its audience. By the 10th episode viewership was in the 10 million range at that point ABC put the show on hiatus until January of 2006, when Invasion returned the audience was hovering around 9 million and was once again put on hiatus and aired the final episodes aired in May of 2006 with a cliffhanger.
8 ) The Comeback (HBO Summer 2005)

This HBO show starred Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish is a D-grade actress who had it all. From 1989 until 1992, Valerie starred on a sitcom known as I’m It! The show was a hit during its initial run, but fell just three episodes shy of reaching syndication status.
The show had a spot right after Entourage but failed to gain an audience. I have to admit when I first watched the show I thought it was awful, but I continuously watched and each episode got better and better. It’s a shame it got cancelled after its 13th episode as The Comeback made a comeback at the end of the season. If HBO gave it a second season I believe it would’ve been like NBC’s Parks and Recreation which, in its second season, is one of the best shows on network TV.
What also made this show unique was the way it was shot. Single camera reality TV style.
7) Traveler (ABC Summer 2007)

Jay Burchell and Tyler Fog, two graduate students who become suspects when the fictitious Drexler Museum in New York is bombed while they are pulling a juvenile prank. Jay is a graduate of Yale Law School, while Tyler is a graduate of the Yale School of Management. It appears that their friend, Will Traveler (aka Daniel Taft), set them up to look like the terrorists who did the bombing. After the bombing, Traveler disappears and there is no evidence that he ever existed.
It was full of action and had a decent mystery and it was a summer series. Sometimes I wish networks would realize that some shows just belong in the summer time. I’m looking at you Fox for moving So You Think You Can Dance to the Fall this year. Traveler only lasted the 8 episodes that were ordered but David DiGilio posted an answer blog that gave an end to the series.
6) Reunion (Fox 2005)

The story of high school friends, murder and mystery. Really that is what Reunion was about a set of high school friends, one was murdered and a series of who dun nit questions. What was unique is that each episode took you through one year from 1986-2006 to the 20th year reunion. But we never made it there as fox cancelled the show after the episode called 1994. So we found out who was murdered, but never found out who did it. This is why people have a hard time investing in shows today. Viewers get attached then networks cancel them with no closure.
5) Murder in Small Town X (Fox 2001)

Probably on of the best produced reality shows ever. Critically hailed, but little watched. Murder in Small Town X (MiSTX) was a reality show that started with 10 contestants who had to solve a murder in, guess what, a small Maine Fishing village. The townspeople were all improv actors who played parts in the story. It was like a mystery dinner theater in real life, but a million times better. It was just crafted so well. At the end of each episode two people would be sent out to investigate two different areas. They had a 50/50 shot of returning as one would be “murdered” by the killer. The murder scenes were a little scary as you saw the contestant getting caught through the killers’ eyes, but it made for some damn good TV.
The winner was crowned on September 4th, 2001 and that was Angel Juarbe Jr. He won $250,000. The sad part was a week later Juarbe was a New York City Firefighter and lost his life a week later at the World Trade Center attacks.
4) Samantha Who? (ABC 2007-2009)

Christina Applegate starred as Samantha Newly, who’s character was basically a bitch before a car accident that left her with amnesia and couldn’t remember who she was anymore. and therefore set out to make amends and become a better daughter to her somewhat dysfunctional parents, played by Kevin Dunn and the always funny Jean Smart.
It was clever and entertaining and shame on ABC for screwing with its schedule so much it left people searching for the show. Samantha Who? was cancelled in May 2009.
3) The Nine (ABC 2006)

Nine, mostly strangers, find themselves in the middle of a bank robbery gone wrong and are held hostage. Each Episode pieced together what happened to each character during the standoff and added additional information to why the robbery occurred in the first place. This was one of those shows that had a great cast, Tim Daly (Private Practice), Kim Raver (Grey’s Anatomy, Lipstick Jungle), Scott Wolf (Party of Five, V) and Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies, Boston Legal) Owain Yeoman (The Mentalist), but never found an audience and we never found out what exactly happened. Thanks ABC for leaving me wondering 3 years later what happened.
2) Freaks and Geeks (NBC 2000)

Well it was actually 1999 but gets a slide because it was cancelled in 2000. Freak and Geeks was only aired 12 of its 18 episodes, but the final 6 were burned off in July of 2000 because of fan demand. The full season is available on DVD, so this classic can be watched over and over again. Freaks and Geeks introduced us to actors such as Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen.
It was high school as it was and probably still is. NBC missed the boat by cancelling this great show, but hey we got some great movies from the actors in this show.
1) Pushing Daisies (ABC 2007-2009)

This was probably the best show on television, then the writers strike happened and ABC waited until the next season to air the new season instead of running it after the strike was resolved. Kristin Chenoweth stole the second season of this quirky show as the waitress of the Pie Hole who pined after bakery Ned, who had the ability to make the dead come alive with one touch. But the down side was he had to touch them again before a minute was up or someone else would die. It was quirky, it was sad; it was happy and just delightful. With Swoozie Kurtz, Chi McBride, Lee Pace, Ellen Green and Anna Friel the cast was amazing and watching the show in HD was amazing as the sets were full of color and amazing shots.
They said it was cancelled due to low ratings, well it didn’t get the pimping it did for the second season as it did for the first and yes, the writers strike messed the whole flow up and the time in between new shows was too long.
But it will remain one of my all-time favorite TV shows that was taken away too soon.
Honerable mentions go to Moonlight and Tru Calling