So what are some sci-fi shows that you've liked a lot that lasted one season or less?

I have a few,

Firefly
Caprica
Crusade
Space Above & Beyond

Threshold, the others I can think of, you already mentioned.

Jaz

Defying Gravity

Man from Atlantis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075533/

Of course I am sure Patrick Duffy was happy it got canceled since he got to start playing Bobby Ewing the year after it got cancelled.


Wheels

Lol, Man from atlantis.... Now i am showing my age. I actually remember that show from my youth. I loved the sub in it.... But yeah, it was very limited.

The hulk TV series was on around that time as well, if i can recall correctly.

The biggest dissapointment in short lived tv series was firefly as already mentioned.

The biggest problem for me was that i remember the initial advertising and hype for the show and well.... for me they made the show sound very dull and boring. It was this initial advertising and hype that made me not watch it until a long time after it got canned where i discovered what a great gem of a show it really was.


I wonder how many others were put off it by the same thing?

I was barely watching any tv in 2002 so I had ever even heard of Firefly during its original tv run. My introduction to the Firefly universe was when I watched Serenity at the movie theater.

Galactica 1980
Earth 2
Special Unit 2....BRILLIANT show, incredibly witty
Seaquest 2032...2 seasons in original form, then kind of resurrected slightly different for a 3rd, but still seemed like 2 short lived series.



If you consider some hero shows, those are sometimes kind of scifi based.

Automan
Misfits of Science
Streethawk (thank goodness, mercifully put down)
M.A.N.T.I.S.
The Flash...thought it was pretty good really

You actually like this one? LOL

I was 9. Of course I did. LOL Even had the fate of Starbuck at the end.
Same with the others---age has a lot to do with it. These days the only one I'd watch is SU2.

How about the big ones...

V and Buck Rogers. Both didn't last nearly long enough. (I'm talking the original V from the 1980's, btw)

The next one I'll mention is Otherworld (you get points if you remember this one). It only lasted 8 episodes! 8! It was probably too technical and far out for mainstream audiences though. It was still a great show.

I think I remember that one. A family popped out in an alternate dimension Earth or something right?

Yup, sure did. It had such a spooky intro, was great.

Well even these lasted more than 1 season each. Buck Rogers ran for 2 seasons and the original V had 2 mini-series plus a regular tv season which of course sucked.

Oh go on then, twist my arm, gratuitous Kaylee shot.



Sigh.

Millenium
Dark Skies
The Lone Gunmen

Those come to mind off the top of my head- man, it's really depressing to think about how good Fox is at killing TV shows off that have real potential.

Millenium actually ran for 3 seasons but yeah, Dark Skies and Lone Gunmen died quickly. Actually, Chris Carter didn't have much success after X-Files and Millenium. All of his other shows like Lone Gunmen and Harsh Realm were cancelled after a few episodes.

The two I miss the most are "Firefly" and "Space Above & Beyond".

And "Enterprise" ended too soon too.

Space Above & Beyond was pretty cool but I think it went downhill much faster than it should have. Seems like Fox was intentionally trying not to be cast as a Sci-Fi loving network back then because they kept shuffling the day it was shown around and that made it difficult for a dirt poor, 16 hour a day working newlywed to find some enjoyment once a week on television.

I'm not so sure about that. The X-Files had terrible ratings during its first season but somehow managed to find an audience and stick around for 9 years. I've never seen the actual ratings numbers for Space A&B but they were obviously too low for Fox to consider renewal. However, I do remember S A&B getting pre-empted all the time for football games.

Quark. Only scifi show I can remember about a space garbage truck.

I am surprised it didn't at least make two seasons with two hot blonde twins as cast members.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)

QUARK @ IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077066/
QUARK: THE COMPLETE SERIES - Buck Henry's Campy Science Fiction TV Comedy starring Richard Benjamin: http://quark.name/

Lol, you can buy the entire 8 episode series on DVD. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B...ASIN=B001DHE9GA


Wheels

Anyone remember "Seven Days"? Granted, it ran for 3 seasons, but that's not that long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_(TV_series)

Yes, I remember 7Days. I remember mostly the overacted/overscripted sexual tension between the lead actor and actress. It became harder to follow once the timeline was altered in the script and the broadcaster began messing with their timeline. :p

I guess Brimstone qualifies as sci fi, that was a very good show. A lot of atmosphere and the characters were well done since they were all out of hell, even the hero. Good performances from Peter Horton and John Glover. Canned after 13 episodes, unfortunately.

John Glover made a pretty charismatic devil, didn't he?

Automan 13 eps.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084978/

Max Headroom 14 eps.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092402/

"Invasion" ran for one season, starting in September of '05. I watched every episode, and thought it was a good show. Was sorry to see it cancelled.

That's the one with Fichner in the Florida Glades, with creepy anphib aliens??? Man was that show creepy! Right up there with Millenium for creep factor 10! I'd really want to see a second season of that.

I enjoyed Caprica...but it got so bogged down at times, that I question whether I'd be able to stay awake for a whole extra season...but it could have worked.

Defying Gravity, pissed off they didnt get the chance to finish the first season. Or their tour of the system. That could have been good. Talk about an abrupt ending...but I wasnt totally unsatisfied with the chop, there was a lot wrapped by then.

Saw a few eps of Millenium last year...talk about one seriously dark and creepy show for primetime TV! especially without Mr.Clean ads interupting the story!!!

Lance Henriksen is just great and Millenium was well ahead of its time. It was basically a darker version of the X-Files.

As far as I'm concerned, any SF show I liked that no longer airs was short-lived! I was still enjoying TNG, DS9, and Voyager when they ended after 7 years. I would've loved to see B5 go for a 6th year, or BSG for a 5th (well, actually it did thanks to SFC's dumb split idea). A 4th season of ST:TOS, too.

Millenium I thought was done when they finally cancelled it. I think the problem was the show was setup a certain way, then came the backpedaling as I guess they wanted to keep the show in "our universe" and something like a massive plague killing people off would put it in an alternate universe (since that didn't happen to us) so instead it became something local that could be overlooked. That's where the show stepped off the path.

Invasion was one of the big 3 with Surface and Threshold...3 SF series on the 3 big networks (aside from Fox which always had something SF or other and wouldn't have been as amazing there) at the same time, after Lost was a success. Oddly, not even the Lost lead-in saved Invasion, and my favorite of the 3, Threshold, didn't even make it a full season (although at least the unaired eps were on DVD, like also happened with Firefly and Defying Gravity).

Nowadays we have to watch BBC for SF shows! Well, Terra Nova airs soon on Fox, we'll see how that does with all that money behind it.



The Jedi Master

Dredsden Files was another similar show killed on SyFy. Just a few episodes, which were really good IMO. Captured the atmosphere of the books well, although a little different.

FOX network has the poorest history with keeping scifi shows.

I remember that it was the Sunday night lead in to BSG (during the first half of season 3). I guess the ratings it was getting weren't enough to justify keeping it around. I never watched the show myself so I can't speak about its quality.

I liked Dresden Files. I don't know what its ratings were, but I seem to recall they were similar to BSG's. Odd it failed.



The Jedi Master

SPOILER: Fox cancells Terra Nova after three episodes!

There, now you know!

Edit:
Unless its a MASSIVE HIT...making women forget all about reality tv and Desperate Househoes, Fox will cancel it. Expensive, and on location (Hawaii??), and on top of that, scifi?!? Yea, its DONE before it gets started.

Unless...Hawai5.0 and LOST have made Hawaii economical to film on location? Unless 3d effects can be made cheap enough? Unless the cast isnt demanding megabucks? Ok, so maybe its POSSIBLE it could survive/thrive...but my guess is canceled, no matter how much fun and good it gets. If it doesnt sell mascarra, it wont do well on the main tv stations.

I can guarantee you that Terra Nova won't get the ratings that Lost got or Hawaii 5.0 gets. Now whether or not it needs to get those kinds of ratings to stay on the air is another question.

Hypernaughts...!!

Outcasts

LOL! Here's one for you. And I remember this back before Science Fiction shows were cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_About_Time_%28TV_series%29

Oh, and this one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Living_Doll

Both of those were just a tad bit before my time.

If Terra Nova isn't a big hit it won't stick around. It's not Primeval, it needs a lot of viewers.

I seriously doubt they'd fail to air all the episodes they have, though. I can't picture it doing THAT bad.



The Jedi Master

I just watched one from 2009, produced by Ron Moore (new BSG, Voyager, DS9...)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_(TV_series)

Called Virtuality, the story of the first human interstellar spaceship. It was to go to a nearby star just to explore, but rapid rising sea levels threaten human survival, so they are going to nearby star to see if its habitable. Mission is 10 years, story starts off just before abort point/slingshot maneuver, followed by an advanced propulsion system that seems to consist of consecutive thermonuke explosions.
The crew spends much of its free time in their own virtual spaces, in part to keep from going mad.

Problem: it was never picked up. Only the pilot was filmed. It had many similarities to Defying Gravity, yet had a diferent flavor. I still prefer Defying and am pissed they didnt get the chance to finish it, but Virtuality is worth a look (I torendz it).

At least the Virtuality pilot was aired. Ron's pilot for Precinct 17 was not picked up by NBC and of course Caprica only lasted 20 episodes. RDM hasn't had much luck since BSG ended.

Well, as I understand it, TV industry has become a downright brutal industry, so I'm not that surprised. And with scifi chanel being that Scyfy or whatever, suggests a particularly hostile market for this kind of content.

Look at the industry history of Babylon 5 for instance...during its ENTIRE run, it was in danger of cancellation.

an I the only one who enjoyed Terminator SCC?

No, I came to really like that show. Wish it hadn't gotten cancelled, things were really picking up for it.

Terminator shared the same tendency as so many other cancelled series. It got good just as they cancelled it. Whether it's the fault of the writers, the actors, or (since they have ultimate responsbility) the exec producers, the shows all seemed to hit their stride AFTER viewers gave up on it and the fix was just too late. I won't say too little, because in the case of some, like Enterprise, it was a major improvement.

The first seasons of many of these 2-season shows that failed were universally a lot poorer than their second season, and universally the 1st half of the 2nd season wasn't as good as the last. Dollhouse, the end of the 2nd season blew away the first 1.5 (aside from the very end with the 10 yr jump, put in I think because Joss knew the show was ending and he wouldn't get a "Serenity" style film to wrap). V, the end of the 2nd season was quite good. Terminator, things were going great at the end of S2.

Single season shows likewise hit their strides mid-season or later, but also too late. Firefly, the first time I saw it, live in 2002, didn't grab me until about ep 6 or 7 (I skipped a couple of the previous ones because it hadn't grabbed me). I think Fox should've aired that 2 hr pilot before the series, Train Job was a good ep but a lousy pilot. Caprica's first 10 eps did nothing for me. It was like the stuff that could've been flashbacks in BSG...good but didn't stand on its own enough. The last 10 eps were better, but really it was the last 5 that stepped up, the ones that didn't air until AFTER it was cancelled.

Let's face it, The X-Files would've lasted MAYBE 2 years if it had first aired after 2005.




The Jedi Master

We scifi fans are very lucky and should be grateful that Babylon 5 aired when it did. Had it been a show that debuted post-2000 it would have been cancelled fairly quickly.

Or Budweiser

Syfy isn't far behind

Surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet:

Logan's Run. Ran during the 77-78 season. Gregory Harrison played Logan. It only lasted for 14 episodes.

Sadly...scifi and Budweiser, on network tv, doesnt work as well as you might think. Scifi nerds are not seen as big beer drinkers, whether true or not. Beer kinda sells itself more or less. And big networks are desperate for more females to advertise to. That's why stations that had The A-Team on in the 1980's have Grey's Anatomy clones today.

Frankly, its so hostile that I was doubly shocked at the specops show "The Unit", getting a pilot, getting picked up on CBS's main chanel, IN PRIMETIME...and getting three seasons?!? Dunno how that happened, but that was a really big exception. Three seasons isnt short, and not scifi, but I miss that one too.

The Unit is a bittersweet memory. Bought the first season, or half-season on dvd. Subsequent seasons just didn't work.

The Budweiser comment was actually a dig at the pro wrestling fans

I watched wrestling as a kid back in the 80's and I dont remember Budweiser commercials but I do remember those cheesy low budget commercials for cheap jewelry and gadgets.

"And if you order within the next 24 hours you'll get a FREE gift".