Pop Culture Podcast
Popspotting Listener Edition: The Geek Generation
This week’s Popspotting Listener Edition comes from Rob Valois and Bryan Lipsitz of “The Geek Generation.” Rob was our PopTalk & Trivia Thursday guest back in October, and distinguished himself in many ways. Among them, by being our show’s first (and so far only) professional wrestler.
Today, Rob & Bryan share their top five television shows that were gone too soon. Among the notable series they mourn are “Undeclared,” “Dark Angel,” “Sports Night,” and of course “Firefly.” But there are surely many more deserving shows that never got the lifespan they deserved. Which would make your list?
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Most recently; Journeyman, Life on Mars, Samantha Who, Going back; Arrested Development, Threshold
I’ve heard of Journeyman and seen Arrested Development, but I’m unfamiliar with the others. I didn’t include Arrested Development mainly because it’s coming back with a new season on Netflix: http://www.thegeekgeneration.com/2011/11/new-arrested-development-episodes-picked-up-by-netflix/
Damn… touched a nerve here about TV shows that got cancelled before their time.
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I definitely remember “Nowhere Man” and I was totally disappointed this was axed before the story fleshed out. Ditto also on “Firefly”. Who doesn’t remember that one.
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Adding to your list are some older shows that I loved but got the premature network axe.
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1. Crime Story – This lasted 2 years, had a great story arc about a special crime unit after an up and coming mob boss. Dennis Farina and Anthony Dennison were great as the two antagonists in this and we saw the some great actors pass through this show including Stephen Lang, Dennis Caruso, Julia Roberts, Bill Campbell, Kevin Spacey, Â Andrew Dice Clay, and Joseph Wiseman as a Godfather type figure (original Dr. No in James Bond)…. among others…. Produced by Michael Mann at the same time Miami Vice was still out, ran for only 2 seasons on NBC. The show was a period piece with great looking cars, sets, costumes and pre-Beatles era rock n roll music on its soundtrack. There was an ending but not very satisfying. This show could have pushed on for another couple of seasons… low ratings, kills ya. Available on DVD. (1986 – 88)
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2. Threshold – Sci Fi on CBS. (13 episodes I believe)
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3. Invasion – another scifi series on ABC. (1 season)
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4. New Amersterdam – 8 episodes on Fox (can watch on Hulu.com)
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5. Â China Beach – ABC, Vietnam war series – Â I think this lasted 3 seasons but petered out. Interesting stories, characters and music… sadly never released to DVD because of music licensing issues.
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