Entertainment Weekly's 26 Shows that got canceled too soon

[Brian Damage]

NOW AND AGAIN
(CBS, 1999-2000)
Number of Episodes: 22

From the creator of Moonlighting, this drama's high-concept plot (John Goodman's insurance salesman gets hit by a subway train; the government transfers his brain to the body of a fit twentysomething superhero and charges him with protecting government secrets) made for thrilling action. But scheduling changes got in the way of its potential success. Now and Again never found its audience and failed to get a second-season pickup.

[Brian Damage]

THE TICK
(Fox, 2001)
Number of Episodes: 9

If you'd guess a live-action series based on a comic about a sweet-natured, lunkheaded superhero who never takes off his blue tights wouldn't work on network TV, you were probably one of the millions of people who didn't watch The Tick. The quirky show, executive produced by Barry Sonnenfeld, joins the ranks of Fox's ''loved by several, ignored by most'' series. As Dalton Ross wrote in his DVD review, ''It was too smart. Too funny. Too weird. So, of course, it failed.'' If you miss watching the blue-suited bug defend a bus station against the ravages of evil, you can watch all eight episodes (and a bonus unaired one) on Hulu.

[Brian Damage]

NOWHERE MAN
(UPN, 1995)
Number of Episodes: 25

Nowhere Man starred Bruce Greenwood as a photojournalist whose entire identity is erased (ATM cards, his wife's memory of his existence) when he gets up to use the bathroom during dinner — an act he traces back to a conspiracy stemming from a photograph he took of the US military killing prisoners. Too bad we never found out who was behind the act — the show never made it to season 2.

[Brian Damage]

CUPID
(ABC, 1998)
Number of Episodes: 15

Jeremy Piven plays Trevor Hale, a modern-day matchmaker (and possibly the real Cupid) who must help 100 couples find true love before he's allowed to return to Mount Olympus. With producers from the clever-but-cancelled My So-Called Life and Veronica Mars, the writing and concept were both fresh, but the show's time slot roulette prevented it from finding a loyal audience.

[Brian Damage]

THE JUDD APATOW COLLECTION

Before his string of box office hits, Judd Apatow had a string of critically acclaimed but tragically low-rated TV comedies. From the pop culture parodies of The Ben Stiller Show (1992) to the maladjusted high schoolers of Freaks & Geeks (1999-2000) and the maladjusted college freshmen of Undeclared (2001-2002), the comedy king perfected his hilariously (and sometimes painfully) realistic portrayal of misfit-and-geekdom with cult TV hits before striking gold on the silver screen.

[Brian Damage]

GROSSE POINTE
(The WB, 2000-2001)
Number of Episodes: 17

The show-within-a-show conceit can sometimes seem one-note, but in the case of Darren Star's Grosse Pointe, a send-up of his own Beverly Hills, 90210, the teen-soap satire lampooned the absurdity of Hollywood without feeling stale. Add in the perfect theme song (Tom Jones' ''Sex Bomb'') and a Jason Priestley cameo, and you've got the kind of cult hit that's just begging to be cancelled prematurely. Which it was.

[Brian Damage]

CLONE HIGH
(MTV, 2003)
Number of Episodes: 13

Maybe if this hilarious animated series about the exploits of historical figures' teenage clones aired on Cartoon Network instead of MTV, we'd have more than 13 episodes of teen-show-meets-absurd-humor from Scrubs helmer Bill Lawrence. Clone High poked fun at the melodrama of high school with archetypal characters (angsty Joan of Arc, busty Cleopatra, nerdy Abe Lincoln, and womanizing JFK) and issue-of-the-week plots (JFK throws a kegger, Honest Abe lusts after the out-of-his-league Cleo) while maintaining a wholly unique concept.

[Brian Damage]

WONDERLAND
(ABC, 2000)
Number of Episodes: 8

Peter Berg's unconventional mental hospital drama didn't have the usual gloss of TV procedurals, and when it fought ER in a David-versus-Goliath battle between medical shows, it lost. Fortunately, fans of the show are in luck — it's currently airing on DirecTV's channel 101, the same channel that aired season 3 of Berg's genius Friday Night Lights last fall.

[Brian Damage]

WONDERFALLS
(Fox, 2004)
Number of Episodes: 13

Sadly, Fox aired just four episodes of this quirky comedy about a twentysomething who eschews her Ivy League degree in favor of working in a Niagara Falls gift shop — a relatively hum-drum life, until inanimate objects start imploring her help strangers by playing mischievous pranks on them. The other nine episodes live on in DVD form.

[Mr. Television]

I loved Brisco County and Now and Again and I thought Life on Mars and Invasion were pretty good. Sometimes networks need to give a show some time to catch on......and Back to You should have been up there too.

[catlover79]

I totally agree with Back to You - and AES Hudson Street (1978), starring my sweetie, Gregory Sierra () would be my other personal choice. It got the ax after only 5 episodes. I would've loved to see more!!!!

[bencasey]

Agree on Now and Again, Grosse Pointe, Life on Mars and Cupid. Obviously written by someone who doesn't go back very far.

My list: Occasional Wife, He and She, Love on a Rooftop, Coronet Blue, The Immortal, Way Out, Bridget Loves Bernie, Adam's Rib, Bus Stop and many others.

[Cactus Jack]

Agreed on these, and Complete Savages and Quintuplets ( which was HILARIOUS though no one liked it or watched it)

[ekkostar]

I never quite grasped what the heck was so great about Moonlight and Firefly. Two concepts that had been done to death in the first place. Firefly was basically a retread of Farscape... but with space cowboys.

Don't get me started on that Arrested Development abomination because I know it's coming up...

[ryan423]

How about Studio 60? Crumbs? Back to You? EVERWOOD?!!!