10 TV Shows That Deserve A Second Life

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1. “Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome”

Source: noble-press.com

What It’s About: Young hotshot pilot William Adama’s first days on the beloved Battlestar Galactica during the first Cylon War.

Why It Was Canceled: The two-hour pilot was rejected because SyFy execs were “trying to figure out the economics,” and it was instead parceled out as a web series that fans of BSG and Caprica flocked to.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: The series could be a a perfect mix of an era of canon that’s rarely referenced but widely speculated on by the internet and the epic space-battle action pieces that were sorely missed in Caprica.

Source: deadline.com

2. “Community”

Source: worldofwonder.net

What It’s About: A study group that never studies and goes on epic adventures around campus instead.

Why It’s Going to Get Canceled: With the departures of Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase in addition to NBC pushing the fourth season premiere date, fans have heard the death knell for a while now. It’s not a ratings hit and is apparently too complex and niche for NBC’s desired audience.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: Dan Harmon’s show was already basically built by the internet for the internet, with the writers adjusting story lines to reflect fan critiques and in-jokes. Even the Gwenifers of the world know that an uncensored version of this show via Netflix would be streets ahead. #sixseasonsandamovie

3. “Dollhouse”

Source: scifimafia.com

What It’s About: Mind-wiped humans known as dolls who are implanted with false identities and skill sets to fulfill their clients’ needs.

Why It Was Canceled: Even the most hardcore Joss Whedon fan will admit that the show dragged because of the identity-of-the-week gimmick, which, combined with low ratings and a Friday night death slot, ended its run after two short seasons.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: Epitaph One and Two, which were the Season 1 and 2 finales, respectively, showed us a post-apocalyptic vision of America where Rossum won, a mind-wiped population wrecked havoc, and a lone group of really fucked up people were humanity’s last hope. Basically, those two episodes teased us with the amazing potential of a Whedon post-apocalyptic show, and it’s something the internet hasn’t stopped wondering about since.

4. “Fables”

Source: blogomatic3000.com

What It’s About: The characters from old fairy tales who call themselves Fables are forced to live in a secret community in New York City.

Why It Never Aired: NBC and ABC both showed interest in this comic book series, but neither ever made it past the scripting stage, most likely due the difficulty of adapting comic story arcs to a TV script structure.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: An animated version of this show would deliver the gravity and dark humor that many found missing from the cheesy, terribly CGI-ed Once Upon a Time.

5. “Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles”

Source: fanpop.com

What It’s About: The series follows the lives of Sarah Connor, John Connor, and a new terminator, Cameron, after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Why It Was Canceled: This was the other low-rated, Friday night show that Dollhouse was paired with, and when it came down to it, it wasn’t profitable for Fox to keep both. T:SCC was canceled, and Dollhouse went on for one more season.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: One word: CLIFF-HANGER. The internet hotly debated the ramifications of the altered future-verse that the series finale gave us, where John Connor wasn’t the savior of humanity and he met the human that his beloved terminator was modeled after.

6. “Terriers”

Source: ruthlessintvland.blogspot.com

What It’s About: The unlicensed private eye business that ex-cop Hank Dolworth and his best friend ex-con Britt Pollack illegally run.

Why It Got Canceled: This immensely entertaining buddy P.I. show was the lowest-rated FX show of the 2010 season, due mostly to a mismanaged marketing campaign.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: The epic broship between the two leads would only become more endearing if it was allowed to air uncensored.

7. “Avatar: The Last Airbender”

Source: imgur.com

What It’s About: In a world where people have the ability to manipulate the elements, one 12-year-old boy, Aang, and his friends must fulfill their destiny by the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes to overthrow the tyrannical Fire Nation.

Why It Was Canceled: Simply put, the series reached its conclusion. The creators had planned for three books (seasons), and they produced all three.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: The surprising amount of adults that watched this children’s cartoon would love seeing their favorite characters struggle to unite a very broken and war-torn world in a more mature series*.

*Yes, I’ve seen Legend of Korra, and yes, it’s amazing, but I just really miss the “gaang.”

8. “Pushing Daisies”

Source: robot6.comicbookresources.com

What It’s About: A pie maker who has the power to bring dead people back to life, solves murders with his childhood sweetheart who he brought back to life, a cynical private investigator, and his lovesick waitress.

Why It Was Canceled: This low-rated critical darling was one of the many many shows that fell victim to rock-bottom ratings after the writers’ strike in 2007.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: Other than a cliff-hanger ending, the stunning and ambitious production design was something that the show’s CGI/special effects team couldn’t always keep up with — something that hopefully wouldn’t hold true in 2013.

9. “The Riches”

Source: herald-dispatchblogs02.blogspot.com

What It’s About: A family of travelers (American gypsies) assume the identities of a wealthy suburban family who die in a car crash.

Why It Was Canceled: It just couldn’t recover its already low ratings after the writers’ strike.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: A weekly Eddie Izzard fix. But also because it highlighted a fascinating (if wildly dramatized) American subculture that would have been much more engaging uncensored.

10. “Mystery Science Theater 3000”

Source: insidepulse.com

What It’s About: A stranded human and his robot friends who are forced to watch terrible movies by evil scientists. For science.

Why It Was Canceled: Network execs at Comedy Central felt the show had run out steam after a good long 10-year run and canceled it in 1999.

Why It Deserves a Second Chance: It’s been off the air so long that there are THREE Transformers movies ripe for the MST3K treatment. Also the Twilight series.