Having recently finished watching the entire run of Arrested Development, I started thinking about why it seems that so many beloved and acclaimed shows appear to pass on before it is their time to do so. Firefly, Arrested Development, Wonder Falls, Veronica Mars (maybe), Freaks and Geeks, and Sportsnight are just a few of the 'brilliant' shows whose fans vehemently argue were unfairly canceled while other lesser shows were left on the air. Is it that these shows were indeed brilliant and just a victim of bad slotting, being under promoted or some other sin committed upon them by the greedy networks, or were they simply under performers that only really appealed to certain niches?
Before I go into these shows in general, I'd like to first discuss what is perhaps the most famous (infamous?) case of early cancellation, Arrested Development. For those who haven't seen it or don't know anything about it, Arrested Development was a sitcom (here used loosely) that aired on Fox in the mid 2000s. It featured the single camera technique later popularized by other shows such as The Office and was without a laugh track. One could say it was one of the pioneers of the 'new television comedy' that didn't rely on the format and structure used by sitcoms for decades. The show is also famous for having recurring gags that reward continual viewership, and for having dense layers of jokes that improve upon repeat viewing. It's also hilarious.
When glancing at the bookshelves of people from my generation (born early to late 80s) it seems that almost every has a set of these DVDs (along with a copy of Garden State, but don't get me started on that one) and anyone who appreciates television comedies almost obligatorily lists Arrested Development as among their favorite shows. It seems that EVERYONE loves this show. How is it then, that it was canceled if it was so beloved?
Well one of the only things that you need to know was that AD was aired by Fox. Fox is infamous for doing this to shows (see: Firefly). They move a show around to different time slots, show episodes out of order (kind of devastating for a show like this with recurring jokes and a central driving plot) and generally underpromote interesting shows. However I'm not going to hold this completely against them. One of the reason that Fox tends to get shows like AD and Firefly, is that the network isn't quite on the level of the 'big three' and this results in them taking chances on shows that other networks might not. They try to give the show 'chances' by moving it around (even if in the end this fucks with the show's viewership) and at least give the show a shot. Even if that shot is fundamentally doomed.
Furthermore, Fox has shown a little more patience in recent years. It's true that Dollhouse turned into a great show, but it was far from perfect to start with. Add the quality of the early episodes to anemic ratings, and it's surprising that Fox let the show come back and finish a 2nd season (which again, was FANTASTIC). Maybe they were just afraid of all the Whedonites storming their offices and holding the station under gunpoint until Whedon is put back on the air.
Was Arrested Development one of the funniest shows I've ever seen? Absolutely! Should you watch it? I would say that most people in America would love this show if they gave it a full chronological chance. Does that mean the show was unfairly canceled? Well....
Don't get me wrong, the show is brilliant. However it did get 3 seasons (really 2.5) which is more than a lot of shows get. Plus those pesky ratings. Most people only found out about the show after it was released on DVDs, so just because a show is popular now doesn't mean it was at the time. Furthermore I don't think you'll hear any fanboys proclaiming the 3rd season to be the best. For whatever reasons (network pressure, knowledge of cancellation) the quality of AD noticeably dipped in the 3rd season. It's hard to know if this was due to the off the screen issues, or if perhaps the material had just run dry.
What if AD had aired another 3, 4 or 10 seasons? Would it still be as original and funny? Probably not. You would have fans saying that nothing would live up to the original episodes, and that all the good writers left, that the heart left the show, etc etc etc. Pretty much all the stuff that you hear about The Simpsons (I'm a part of that. I stopped watching during the infamous 'homer gets raped by a panda' era). I'm sure the actors and creators would never say that they wanted the show to end, but now instead of having a long lasting show that has lost it's sheen (The Office) they have a cult classic that is fondly remembered by all.
And that's the sticking point. Do the later seasons of shows taint the original ones for fans of long running series? I think it really depends on the person. I could never list The X-Files, or The West Wing as my favorite shows because of what happened on the later run of those shows (dear god does the quality drop off on The West Wing after the 4th season. It's like a completely new show!) I'd much rather have a show like The Wire which has a decent length, but spectacular run. Quality and quantity both matter, and it's hard to say 'I love the X-Files so much' when there is a 50% chance that you might hate it if a random episode was shown to you.
But canceled shows get to live in the idea of 'what-if'. Firefly especially survives on this. There were really only hints of greatness in that show, but what people saw was enough for them to proclaim that their favorite show of all time. It was one of the few cases where fans did get some kind of resolution in the form of the movie, but it was different enough from the show to allow people still to dream. Because Malcolm Reynolds never got raped by a panda, or replaced by T-1000, we can still dream that Firefly could have been the shiniest, best damn show ever.
