One show with an apocalyptic premise that ended way too soon is You, Me and The Apocalypse. I still want to know what happened to Jamie and those inside the vault.
Made the same move last year. The tie-breaker for Sling was the last season of Pac-12 football. Once that was over I was more than ready to switch. Been a good move, hope it is for you.
I don’t know that it was great, but I sure did enjoy NBC’s Kings. At least all the adult actors. Flawed but fascinating is what I always tell people
Also enjoyed The Middleman, Rubicon, Terriers. Gary Cole’s creepy devil sheriff on American Gothic. The weirdness of John from Cincinnati. And yes, EZ Streets
Thanks for the American Gothic flashback - great show, great character. Some up and comers on that show too. And if you want to go retro Cole, there's Midnight Caller. If that were on again, that would be great.
Wonderfalls was amazing! It launched me into a Bryan Fuller phase when I first watched it and I ended up binging Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies right after. All amazing shows in my opinion. I am still trying to find shows like this so if you have any recommendations of shows with a similar vibe I'll take it!
I see your bid (Wonderfalls DVD, check; The Prisoner VHS, DVD, BluRay, check), and raise you the delightful and forgotten ‘Reaper’ (with Ray Wise) for lighter yet fun fare.
And I’ll double down with the darkly off putting world of persistent toxic gaslighting and self delusion - the somewhat uneven yet singularly twisted world of Julia Davis’s brainchild ‘Nighty Night’. It takes commitment to get on board, but there are belly laughs if you allow yourself to buy in.
Oops, forgot the rules of the game! NN also (somehow) had a second season. I was really just hoping to shake some cobwebs loose, and think of shows that probably would not be on anyone’s list but were memorable concepts if not perfectly rendered.
I'd have to go with Perpetual Grace, LTD as the best one season show.. it was my intro into the Steven Conrad world (and we immediately watched Patriot after it).
The Prisoner and Monty Python are the foundation of my taste in tv. Freaks and Geeks with the D&D episode and Rush episode captured my teen years better than anything else. Great list
Excellent list. Many shows I haven’t seen. I did love Freaks and Geeks (boy that executive sounds shallow!) and Terriers (I watched it in real time so it wasn’t my fault!).
I will add a few new titles, cancelled in the streaming era:
Primo (FreeVee) A delightful sitcom involving a Hispanic family with a ton of hilarious uncles.
Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix) A premise that seems silly but actually worked. This show examined the evangelical community in the Atlanta area (I know many of the places where it filmed) and also the class system (white trash vs the country club set). It was hilarious and specific and I am still sad it ended.
There are also quite a few great shows that got 2 seasons before being unceremoniously canceled (Patriot, Counterpart) so that’s a possible category in addition to limited series.
P.S. - I may have used the Max app to watch CNN for that terrific Philadelphia event this week. It was probably the most entertaining thing I saw this week. But I know it’s a honeymoon that will soon end. Back to not watching the news!
Impossible to pick a #1, but I would agree it's probably "The Prisoner." I was 15 when it aired in the US, and my expectations for what tv could be were forever changed.
And "Freaks and Geeks," yes! But if NBC had renewed it, wouldn't they have wrested some concessions from the creators? Would the show have lost its distinctiveness? We'll never know. At least we have a season finale that is a satisfying series finale.
I was in total shock over the Terriers cancellation because it was FX and I yelled, "Even Starz waits til s2 for that knife!" I still hold onto that betrayal and EVERY time I saw Donal Logue in something else, it dredged (Copper, Definitely Gotham, even Vikings stint) and my anger resurfaced. Has Raymond-James even come close to a role that good since Terriers? Ugh.
But seriously, watch it.
Wonderfalls, I cried. A friend actually bought it on DVD for me and shipped it from Miami because it's that good. We should all be so lucky to have at least one friend with such stellar taste. Don't even look it up. Just press play.
**why may I only edit typos on the web vs app? Uncool.
The Prisoner is in a category by itself. On a per-episode basis, possibly the best show ever.
That said, and will come up with more (since I suggested this topic - thanks Tim!):
Giri/Haji
Rubicon
UFO (and not just because Benedict Cumberbatch's mom has a key role)
Zero Zero Zero (by design, or does that make it a mini-series?)
Station Eleven
Ipcress File (halfway through but...Yeah Baby)
Action (thanks for the reminder - Jay Mohr and Illeana Douglas were great)
The Ben Stiller Show (insane cast)
The Dana Carvey Show (another insane gathering of talent - great documentary on Hulu about it - had forgotten that Steve Carrell and Steven Colbert were The Ambiguously Gay Duo)
Any number of old low-budget sci-fi shows that were doomed but intriguing
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (made it on in the US before Python, featured Terry Gilliam animations)
Will probably have to come back and make a few edits. Overall it's pretty laughable, hahahahahahaha...
My first experience with TV heartbreak was when "Square Pegs" was canceled after just one season. I was right in the target demo and related to the main characters so much. It looks like it's available to stream on one of those free-with-ads services, but I don't know that it would mean as much to me all these decades later!
It's on Amazon Prime. It's unusual in that Emily Blunt's co-protagonist is a proper Brit woman and we're not quite sure why she's out in the Wild West until the very end of the series. Her co-star, Chaske Spencer is a Native actor that I hadn't seen before and he's one to watch. Both of them are spectacular.
The cinematography is top notch and you really pull for the two protagonists, the baddies are quite bad and you never really know where it's going...
Oh, and it's not gonna get a second season. This one ends. Hard.
I liked Action enough that I bought the DVD but now I don't remember if it bleeps the swearing. I've seen and enjoyed everything else on your list except Wonderfalls. Fond memories of watching The Prisoner back in the day with my dad, while my mom and siblings just sat there interrupting because they didn't understand it. Dad: "Shut up and go in the other room if you don't like it!" (in the days of one TV per household)
"Go in the other room if you don't like it!" Love that. It's so funny I can actually see it in my head. I do wonder if the DVD for Action is uncensored (I mean, it SHOULD be, right). And when I make my next run to battle the contents of the storage unit, I'm going to see if my copy of Wonderfalls is in there. I hope so!
One show with an apocalyptic premise that ended way too soon is You, Me and The Apocalypse. I still want to know what happened to Jamie and those inside the vault.
Sling is dead to me.
They just blacked me out of the first 49ers preseason game and their "high quality" streaming is 720p. I just bit the bullet and got YouTube TV.
Made the same move last year. The tie-breaker for Sling was the last season of Pac-12 football. Once that was over I was more than ready to switch. Been a good move, hope it is for you.
720p really doesn't look very good on a new 75" Samsung 4K QLED Big Ass Television™.
YouTube TV, expensive as it is, is a much better solution for the season (well hopefully all the way for my Niners).
And Red Zone!
I don’t know that it was great, but I sure did enjoy NBC’s Kings. At least all the adult actors. Flawed but fascinating is what I always tell people
Also enjoyed The Middleman, Rubicon, Terriers. Gary Cole’s creepy devil sheriff on American Gothic. The weirdness of John from Cincinnati. And yes, EZ Streets
I mentioned Kings on an earlier thread, Andrew! Ahead of its time. Also enjoyed Rubicon.
Thanks for the American Gothic flashback - great show, great character. Some up and comers on that show too. And if you want to go retro Cole, there's Midnight Caller. If that were on again, that would be great.
Wonderfalls was amazing! It launched me into a Bryan Fuller phase when I first watched it and I ended up binging Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies right after. All amazing shows in my opinion. I am still trying to find shows like this so if you have any recommendations of shows with a similar vibe I'll take it!
I see your bid (Wonderfalls DVD, check; The Prisoner VHS, DVD, BluRay, check), and raise you the delightful and forgotten ‘Reaper’ (with Ray Wise) for lighter yet fun fare.
And I’ll double down with the darkly off putting world of persistent toxic gaslighting and self delusion - the somewhat uneven yet singularly twisted world of Julia Davis’s brainchild ‘Nighty Night’. It takes commitment to get on board, but there are belly laughs if you allow yourself to buy in.
Don't think I saw Reaper but did help spur the memory of Brimstone. John Glover was great for the limited time they had.
I loved Reaper, too — but it had more than one season...
Oops, forgot the rules of the game! NN also (somehow) had a second season. I was really just hoping to shake some cobwebs loose, and think of shows that probably would not be on anyone’s list but were memorable concepts if not perfectly rendered.
I loved Terriers!
I'd have to go with Perpetual Grace, LTD as the best one season show.. it was my intro into the Steven Conrad world (and we immediately watched Patriot after it).
The Prisoner and Monty Python are the foundation of my taste in tv. Freaks and Geeks with the D&D episode and Rush episode captured my teen years better than anything else. Great list
Excellent list. Many shows I haven’t seen. I did love Freaks and Geeks (boy that executive sounds shallow!) and Terriers (I watched it in real time so it wasn’t my fault!).
I will add a few new titles, cancelled in the streaming era:
Primo (FreeVee) A delightful sitcom involving a Hispanic family with a ton of hilarious uncles.
Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix) A premise that seems silly but actually worked. This show examined the evangelical community in the Atlanta area (I know many of the places where it filmed) and also the class system (white trash vs the country club set). It was hilarious and specific and I am still sad it ended.
There are also quite a few great shows that got 2 seasons before being unceremoniously canceled (Patriot, Counterpart) so that’s a possible category in addition to limited series.
P.S. - I may have used the Max app to watch CNN for that terrific Philadelphia event this week. It was probably the most entertaining thing I saw this week. But I know it’s a honeymoon that will soon end. Back to not watching the news!
I second teenage bounty hunters. It was a great show and I'm sad it didn't get more seasons.
Impossible to pick a #1, but I would agree it's probably "The Prisoner." I was 15 when it aired in the US, and my expectations for what tv could be were forever changed.
And "Freaks and Geeks," yes! But if NBC had renewed it, wouldn't they have wrested some concessions from the creators? Would the show have lost its distinctiveness? We'll never know. At least we have a season finale that is a satisfying series finale.
I was in total shock over the Terriers cancellation because it was FX and I yelled, "Even Starz waits til s2 for that knife!" I still hold onto that betrayal and EVERY time I saw Donal Logue in something else, it dredged (Copper, Definitely Gotham, even Vikings stint) and my anger resurfaced. Has Raymond-James even come close to a role that good since Terriers? Ugh.
But seriously, watch it.
Wonderfalls, I cried. A friend actually bought it on DVD for me and shipped it from Miami because it's that good. We should all be so lucky to have at least one friend with such stellar taste. Don't even look it up. Just press play.
**why may I only edit typos on the web vs app? Uncool.
The Prisoner is in a category by itself. On a per-episode basis, possibly the best show ever.
That said, and will come up with more (since I suggested this topic - thanks Tim!):
Giri/Haji
Rubicon
UFO (and not just because Benedict Cumberbatch's mom has a key role)
Zero Zero Zero (by design, or does that make it a mini-series?)
Station Eleven
Ipcress File (halfway through but...Yeah Baby)
Action (thanks for the reminder - Jay Mohr and Illeana Douglas were great)
The Ben Stiller Show (insane cast)
The Dana Carvey Show (another insane gathering of talent - great documentary on Hulu about it - had forgotten that Steve Carrell and Steven Colbert were The Ambiguously Gay Duo)
Any number of old low-budget sci-fi shows that were doomed but intriguing
The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (made it on in the US before Python, featured Terry Gilliam animations)
Will probably have to come back and make a few edits. Overall it's pretty laughable, hahahahahahaha...
I have a lot of those on my list but holy hell I had neglected Giri/Haji which I loved so much, so thanks for that. And of course the Morrissey!
Happy to - but I need to find a new Hairdresser on Fire.
My first experience with TV heartbreak was when "Square Pegs" was canceled after just one season. I was right in the target demo and related to the main characters so much. It looks like it's available to stream on one of those free-with-ads services, but I don't know that it would mean as much to me all these decades later!
Sounds like a great experiment! Does this resonant at all, all these years later (I'm betting it does on some level).
Sarah Jessica Parker and the guy who played Captain Kirk’s son in Wrath of Khan…
I remember that show!!!
Merrit Buttrick. He went to my high school and we were in a few (theatre) classes together.
EZ STREETS!
FUCK YES!
(Sorry about the all-caps, but it kind of demanded it.)
It absolutely demanded it.
I loved Wonderfalls so much I bought the DVD set when it was released. Time for a rewatch.
Thanks for the reminder, Tim.
Yeah as I mentioned in another comment, I'm going to look hard at my physical media storage because I THINK I have it and now want to rewatch.
Me, too! Start of my Lee Pace obsession.
Pushing Daisies!
Just watched Bodies Bodies Bodies yesterday. Thought that one older-than-20s guy looked familiar, couldn't place him. It was Lee Pace!
I'm gonna repeat a drum beat that I've offered before: The English, Emily Blunt's Western limited series...
Oh, and: You are Number 6
I laughed. And yes it's good to keep reminding me. I'm gonna look for The English.
It's on Amazon Prime. It's unusual in that Emily Blunt's co-protagonist is a proper Brit woman and we're not quite sure why she's out in the Wild West until the very end of the series. Her co-star, Chaske Spencer is a Native actor that I hadn't seen before and he's one to watch. Both of them are spectacular.
The cinematography is top notch and you really pull for the two protagonists, the baddies are quite bad and you never really know where it's going...
Oh, and it's not gonna get a second season. This one ends. Hard.
I liked Action enough that I bought the DVD but now I don't remember if it bleeps the swearing. I've seen and enjoyed everything else on your list except Wonderfalls. Fond memories of watching The Prisoner back in the day with my dad, while my mom and siblings just sat there interrupting because they didn't understand it. Dad: "Shut up and go in the other room if you don't like it!" (in the days of one TV per household)
"Go in the other room if you don't like it!" Love that. It's so funny I can actually see it in my head. I do wonder if the DVD for Action is uncensored (I mean, it SHOULD be, right). And when I make my next run to battle the contents of the storage unit, I'm going to see if my copy of Wonderfalls is in there. I hope so!
I found Action: The complete series UNCUT & UNBLEEPED. Now if only I had a working DVD player...
Get yourself a DVD drive for your computer and a copy of Handbrake (after, of course, you purchase the DVDs)