Over the past few days, I’ve been reminded of what it was like to struggle with the hell that is dial-up. I found a torrent for all 13 episodes of Tim Minear’s The Inside, including the six that never aired here, and it took almost three days to download. That didn’t slow down everything else that much, but now that I’m converting the .avi files to mpeg files so that I can burn the series onto DVD, it’s horribly slow.
Oh well. At the end, I’ll have a series that stupid FOX not only canceled prematurely (after screwing it by debuting it in the summer) but doesn’t intend on ever releasing on DVD.
In the mean time, I’ve got a little collection of list-type stuff to put up on Vox. It’s a good thing, too, because nothing exciting is going on in my life, and there’s nothing else to write about.
First up: my top 10 canceled shows. I went alphabetically because in the end, I really couldn’t make a distinction among them. Also, I cheated, because I ended up with 11 and couldn’t cross any of the others off the list. Come the upfronts in May, I may be adding another…sigh.
Jen’s Top 10 Canceled Shows
1. Angel: I’ve talked enough about this show, and of Joss. So let’s just say that anything Joss does is utter brilliance and leave it at that.
2. Arrested Development: I can’t believe it took me until the third season to catch on to this gem of a quirky comedy, but I now own all three on DVD. I’m always amused to watch it with people who obviously don’t get that type of humor, because they’re always looking at me like, “Okay, what did I miss?” Which is probably one of the reasons it was so hysterical.
3. Boomtown: What a gritty, unique drama. This was the show that told the story from several different viewpoints throughout the hour. It was very original. Well-written, well-acted, well-directed. I still can’t believe NBC canceled it midway through its second season. The first season’s on DVD, so I encourage you to check it out.
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: See Angel.
5. Felicity: Oh, Felicity. I lost count over how many similarities there were between us. Except I would never follow a boy I liked (but who had no idea I existed) 3,000 miles to college. I’d *want* to, but in the end, I wouldn’t be that brave. With the exception of one or two episodes the last season, this show was awesomely amazing. And it shows that JJ Abrams is loyal to those with whom he started out. I always forget that Alias got its start because JJ would sometimes imagine what would happen if Felicity were a secret agent.
6. Firefly: See Angel.
7. Freaks and Geeks: Judd Apatow is a genius. F&G is to me what The Wonder Years was to my parents. Another quirky, sensitive, intelligent show. Which, hey, is probably why it was canceled. Apparently the majority of TV-watching America just can’t be bothered with intelligent television.
8. Joan of Arcadia: When I first heard about this show, I kind of rolled my eyes because I expected another version of Touched By an Angel or worse, Seventh Heaven. But this was surprisingly not at all similar. It was honest and real and took an unabashed look at real faith and doubt and struggling to do what is right, without the cheesiness of Touched By an Angel or the saccharin crappiness of Seventh Heaven. I related with so much of what Joan was going through, especially the finale of Season 1. Seriously. I urge you to Netflix.
9. My So-Called Life: Don’t roll your eyes. It was a good show. I loved Angela. This was another show that didn’t candy-coat the angst we all felt was going to just ruin us for good when we were melodramatic, self-centered adolescents. The Christmas episode where Ricky is homeless still makes me bawl.
10. Sports Night: The only Aaron Sorkin show that I like. It never got pretentious and heavy-handed, the way The West Wing eventually became, or sadly, what Studio 60 became before its first season was even over. Felicity Huffman and the entire rest of the cast were great.
10 (tie). Wonderfalls: This show practically defines the word quirky. Which is probably why I loved it. (And FOX canceled it.) The premise is simple: a girl comes back from getting a useless degree in philosophy from…Brown? One of the yuppy schools. Can’t remember. Anyway, since she can’t do anything with the degree, she ends up working in a souvenir shop at Niagra Falls. And then little inanimate objects start talking to her, and lead her to help people. I SWEAR it is better than my pathetic little synopsis makes it sound. It was so well done and funny and sweet and I miss it.
That’s it. I was going to talk about Alias, too, because I really did love that show for the first three seasons. But then it started getting lost inside of its own mythology (no, that is not happening with Lost) and it kind of unraveled from there. So I guess Alias will get an Honorable Mention.
