Brilliant, But Canceled

For the past two weeks only the reality shows that I watch have been new episodes. All of the scripted shows (reality is scripted too, I know) have been on a two week break. I'm really excited because television is pretty much all I do at home.

So while my shows were on hiatus, I started watching some of the 60 seasons of television that I have on DVD. There are alot of shows that I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I wish were on TV still, or at least had a spin-off to watch. So I reminisce about them in the blogosphere. Not all of them were canceled; some needed to end before they got too bland.

My Favorite Show of all time- The West Wing.

Yes, I'm a political nerd, and Aaron Sorkin is a television genius (SportsNight and Studio 60). His behind the scenes television shows are amazingly insightful. He stopped actively writing for the show after season 4 and the show went downhill. It ended with the Presidency of Jed Bartlett and the transition to the new administration. Josh and CJ and Toby and Sam and Donna were all amazing characters that were brilliant and vulnerable. You not only learned about the characters, but you learned about policy and process. Who could forget Big Block of Cheese Day?

The show had to end. 7 seasons is about the max that people can handle. Still, I wouldn't hate to see a spin-off especially now that the show has ben off for several years.

My second favorite show was cancelled way too early. We ended season 3 without ever getting an ending. The CW should have left the show alone and not tried to change the third season, but it was still the best mystery drama on television.

Veronica Mars played by Kristen Bell, followed a teenage private investigator on the search for her best friend's killer in season 1, and for the person responsible for sending a busload of her classmates over a cliff. The CW didn't like that viewers couldn't start watching mid-season, so creator Rob Thomas broke the 3rd season down into 3 smaller mysteries. Veronica was a quick-witted girl who everyone loved to hate, but came to when they had a problem. She was hotter and more sassy than Nancy Drew. Her relationship with her father Keith is one of the better father-daughter relationships on television. The only flaw was Veronica's love life she fell into the arms of rich playboys Duncan, then Troy, then Leo, then Logan, then Duncan, then Logan, then no one, then Logan, then... Piz? The show didn't really end, it just stopped. My hopes are in a Veronica Mars movie!

I love these two shows because I can watch them over and over and over. I always discover new dialoge or burried wit. We need more shows like these on television and less crap like twelve law and order series and three CSI series.