Time to kick-start (pun intended) those cancelled TV shows we love.
This is what the internet has taught us: if you bitch and moan loud enough, someone is bound to hear. TV and film is now rich, spoiled kid territory, a fan base/customer-oriented industry, fuelled by new distribution models and Kickstarter adventures. With the recent trend to resurrect defunct shows, let’s take a look at some cancelled TV shows that deserve to be brought back into the spotlight.
5. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Aaron Sorkin – egomaniacal creator of the West Wing – found on Studio 60 the perfect outlet for his witty banter and high-morals approach to storytelling. Here we have the typical work environment setting, but with a Saturday Night Live twist and with backstabbing network policies at the fore. Though sometimes bloated and misguided in its heroic portrayal of comedy, there were always enough snappy comebacks and personal drama on display for someone to, surely, give Matthew Perry’s neurotic smile a second chance.
4. Terriers
Mix the buddy cop dynamic of Lethal Weapon with the stoner California vibe of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice; add a dash of moral ambiguity and some flawed heroes; throw in some punches, let it marinade in humour and voilà: Terriers is born: A ragtag of genres, jumping back and forth between cop procedural, soap opera drama and bro comedy, this was the smart show that dumb audiences forgot to watch. Can we give bro love another chance, please?
3. Deadwood
For those with apprehensions towards westerns, think of Deadwood as Game of Thrones, but with fewer decapitations and more gunshot wounds and cut-throat politics (yes, even more than GoT). This is the series that elevated swearing to poetry, added a Shakespearean touch to saloon bars and turned murdering, misogynist villains into lovable chaps. Maybe you can’t take the Wild out of the West, but I still wouldn’t mind another visit to the filth-infested town of Deadwood.
2. Firefly
The Wild Bunch meets the starship Enterprise, in a space opera western with all of Joss Whedon’s staples: offbeat team dynamic, complex world building and mythology, rapid-fire banter and larger than life, yet ultimately relatable characters. And all of it rests on Nathan Fillion’s handsome square jaw and smooth grin. Plus, when all is said and done, it’s cowboys in space. That alone warrants five seasons and a Jayne Cobb spinoff.
1. Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks was an underrated gold farm for some of the best talent currently working in Hollywood: James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel as the stars with Judd Apatow at the helm = retrospective star power. But Freaks and Geeks was more than the sum of its parts. It was a poignant, touching, often sad, but always funny coming-of-age tale. In a world where high school drama is often portrayed by late-20s supermodels, Freaks and Geeks felt authentic and relatable to anyone who ever dealt with the angst of not quite fitting in. This is one high school I wouldn’t mind returning to.
Featured image: NBC
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