Shows that you NEED to watch, but were canceled before their time

[GrahamZA]

Try and keep the same format

FireFly
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Wikipedia

Episodes: 14
This little gem was created by Joss Whedon (Angel, Buffy, Dollhouse) and is a sci-fi western. The show follows the crew of the Serenity, a smuggling ship that traverses the galaxy. While the plot may may sound a little generic it's the characters themselves that really make the show. Even if you don't enjoy sci-fi shows I still recommend this one.
It's of note that the series was eventually completed with the movie, Serenity, but it still should have carried on a lot longer.

[NeoN]

Defying Gravity
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Episodes: 13

The program follows the adventures of eight astronauts on board the international spacecraft Antares, the next ambitious manned space mission after the Mars landing. The lives of the astronauts are being constantly recorded and broadcast back to Earth both as part of an ongoing documentary and as part of mission monitoring. In spite of a libido-suppressing device worn by each crew member, referred to as "HALO" for "Hormone Activated Libido Oppressors", romantic entanglements develop among some crew members. Further complicating their lives is a mysterious storage pod [...] which is exerting an impact on their mission.

This show can be slow-going at times, with peeps complaining about the focus being on the characters rather than the mission, but I feel it's a perfect balance - filled with a ton of intrigue. 8) Gotta say, it's one of the best endings I have seen in a series, which is a shame since they aren't going to pick up where it leaves off. X_x

[BanzaiBoB]

Space Above and Beyond

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Space: Above and Beyond (abbreviated as S:AAB) was a short-lived mid-90s American science fiction television show on the FOX Network, created and written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Originally planned for five seasons, it ran only for the single 1995–1996 season. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Saturn Award.

Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the "Wildcards", a group of United States Marines, members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are based on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as infantry and pilots of SA-43 Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet ("Hammerhead") fighters.

This was a brilliant series imo which only hit Season 1 before being canned. A really good space war scifi show - think Starship Troopers, but with more intelligent aliens. Helluva cliffhanger ending tho...

[BanzaiBoB]

The Unusuals

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The Unusuals is a comedy-drama television series which premiered on ABC on April 8, 2009 in the U.S. and Global in Canada. An ABC press release described The Unusuals as "like a modern-day M*A*S*H" that "explores both the grounded drama and comic insanity of the world of New York City police detectives, where every cop has a secret". Its premise elaborated:

    Detective Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) has just been transferred to the NYPD's Homicide unit from Vice and is instantly thrown into a setting of bullets and bodies. As she begins her new assignment, Casey finds that the squad is full of secrets, which serves her well, since she's keeping a few of her own.[1]

The pilot and first episode were written by Noah Hawley, a former staff writer for Fox's Bones.

The initial series order was for 10 episodes. Show creator Noah Hawley announced via his twitter account in mid-May 2009 that ABC would not be bringing the show back for a second season.[2]

Superb series with well devised, flaky characters and stories. I suspect it was just too clever for its own good and hence, too clever for the average American viewer.

[GrahamZA]

Point Pleasant
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Wikipedia

Episodes: 13
Synopsis:
A young girl named Christina washes up on the shore near Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey during a violent storm. After being resuscitated by lifeguard Jesse Parker, the girl is taken in by the family of a local doctor, the Kramers, and quickly befriends their teenage daughter, Judy. The show follows Christina's attempts to discover who she really is, and to learn what happened to her mother, who disappeared shortly after Christina was born.

It soon becomes apparent that Christina's presence has a strange, profound effect on the people around her. Emotions are heightened, repressed feelings and secret desires awakened, and inhibitions weakened, turning what once were friendly competitions into bitter rivalries, romantic rivals into violent enemies, and so on. And if that wasn't enough, freakish 'accidents' have a way of befalling those with whom Christina becomes angry.

[kAt]

Dollhouse
Season 1: 12 Eps with a Special
Season 2: 13 Eps
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Synopsis:
The show revolves around a corporation running numerous underground establishments (known as "Dollhouses") across the globe which program individuals referred to as Actives (or Dolls) with temporary personalities and skills. Wealthy clients hire Actives from Dollhouses at great expense for various purposes. The series primarily follows the Active known as Echo, played by Eliza Dushku (who also served as producer), on her journey towards self-awareness.

Unfortunately another Whedon project that got cancelled! >( Luckily though, we at least got two seasons of it :)

[Cybernet]

Life
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Episodes : 32
Synopsis :

Life centers on Detective Charlie Crews, who at the start of the first season (set in 2007) is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving twelve years of a life sentence. In 1995, he was wrongfully convicted of the triple murder of his friend and business partner, Tom Seyboldt, and all but one of the partner's immediate family. Thanks to the efforts of his lawyer Constance Griffiths, DNA evidence exonerates him of the murders. Having lost his job, his wife, his friends, nearly all contact with the outside world and even his grip on reality for a time while in jail, he emerges enlightened by the philosophy of Zen, a fixation with fresh fruit and an obsession with solving the murder that nearly cost him his life and exposing the conspiracy that framed him for it. After successfully suing the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, he is reinstated to the police department and receives a substantial monetary settlement of $50 million.

And now its gone  :'(

[Ahzure]

Shows that you NEED to watch, but were canceled before their time

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Dark Skies

Episodes  :  18 episodes plus a two-hour pilot episode
Synopsis 

20th Century history as we know it is a lie. Aliens have been among us since the late 1940s, but agovernment cover-up has protected the public from such knowledge. As the series progresses, we follow John Loengard and Kim Sayers through the 1960s as they attempt to foil the plots of the alien Hive. The Hive is an alien race that planned to invade Earth through a manipulation of historical events and famous figures, including most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, the pair must stay one step ahead of a covert government agency that has mixed motives, Majestic 12.
The show featured a number of real-life 1960's personalities in the plot, such as The Beatles, Robert Kennedy, Jim Morrison, and J. Edgar Hoover.

Its tagline was, "History as we know it is a lie."

What an awesome series sadly it will never be released on DVD  probably  because of prohibitive music licensing costs.  I really liked J. T." Walsh’s character, this was the first time is saw Eric Close  and Jeri Ryan on TV.

Update: the series has been released on DVD 8)

[NeoN]

New Amsterdam
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Episodes: 8

The main character is John Amsterdam, a brilliant NYPD homicide detective who is immortal. At the beginning of the series, he is 400 years old, but his body structure is that of a 35-year-old. Amsterdam was a Dutch soldier in the year 1642 when he stepped in front of a sword to save the life of a Native American girl during a massacre of her tribe. The girl in turn rescued Amsterdam by weaving an ancient spell that conferred immortality upon him. It was also prophesied that he would not age until he finds his one true love, and only then will he become whole and ready for mortality.

Using his imba knowledge of the history of New York, he solves murders. Fresh take on something that's been done countless times. But as always, it's the characters that sell the show and make it unique. I think it was at the end of epi 1 where something strange happens to him, which might have been caused by the appearance of "his one true love". 8)

[Ahzure]

Shows that you NEED to watch, but were canceled before their time

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American Gothic

Episodes = 22

The story takes place in the fictional town of Trinity, South Carolina, and revolves around Caleb Temple (Lucas Black) and the town's corrupt Sheriff, Lucas Buck (Gary Cole). Though appearing affable and charismatic, Sheriff Lucas Buck is a murderous rapist whose powerbase is backed by apparent supernatural powers, which he generally uses to manipulate people to "fulfill their potential" and make life-changing choices (usually for evil).
Caleb Temple is a normal child whose paternity masks a horrific secret: Lucas Buck is his biological father, having raped his mother in front of Caleb's older sister Merlyn (Sarah Paulson). The horror of watching her mother being sexually assaulted caused Merlyn to become severely emotionally traumatized and withdrawn from the rest of the world, made even worse when her mother committed suicide after giving birth to Caleb.
During the pilot episode of the series, Sheriff Buck murders Merlyn in cold blood and manipulates Caleb's "father" (Sonny Shroyer) into committing suicide in order to eliminate Caleb's family and claim his biological son for his own. However, the newly arrived Dr. Crower (Jake Weber) begins to uncover the Sheriff's role in the death of Merlyn and Merlyn's father and with help from Caleb's out-of-town cousin Gail Emory (Paige Turco), struggle to prevent Lucas from corrupting young Caleb. They are aided in part by Merlyn's ghost, who personally appears before Caleb throughout the series in order to try to keep him from Buck's corrupt grasp.

The series was created by Shaun Cassidy and Sam Raimi  served as  executive producer
This is one of the best series ever, hell even Arnold Vosloo  made a guest  appearance.
I stayed up late  Monday evenings to watch this series on Sabc1     at 22h00 getting up for school the next morning  was a bit of a  problem though.  Gary Cole is a  God

Here’s a few quotes from the series.

Sheriff Lucas Buck: The profession of journalism has about as much integrity as the world's oldest profession; maybe less. At least whores don't kid themselves about their motives.

Sheriff Lucas Buck: What I say is, be careful what you see in a man's eyes. Might not be the truth.

Sheriff Lucas Buck: Only two roads in this world. And if you're listening to anyone but me, you're on the wrong one.

Sheriff Lucas Buck: Just remember, a good loser's still a loser.

[Ahzure]

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Red Dwarf

Genre : Sitcom, Sci-Fi 
Episodes = 55

In the late 22nd century the  mining vessel  Red Dwarf lost most of its crew when  an on-board radiation leak of cadmium II kills everyone except for low-ranking technician Dave Lister, who is in suspended animation at the time, and his pregnant cat, Frankenstein, who is safely sealed in the cargo hold. Following the accident, the ship's computer Holly keeps Lister in stasis until the background radiation dies down—a process that takes three million years. Lister therefore emerges as the last human being in the universe—but not alone on-board the ship. His former bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold Judas Rimmer is resurrected by Holly as a hologram to keep Lister sane.  At the same time, a creature known only as Cat is the last member on board of Felis sapiens, a race of humanoid felines that evolved in the ship's hold from Lister's cat, Frankenstein, and her kittens during the 3 million years that Lister was in stasis.

The main dramatic thrust of the early series is Lister's desire to return home to Earth.  As their journey begins, the not-so-intrepid crew encounters such phenomena as time distortions, faster-than-light travel, mutant diseases and strange lifeforms that had developed in the intervening millions of years.

It’s a great series give it a try, if possible get your hands on the DVDs  because they come loaded with extras. 

Here’s a few quotes from the series

Holly:  I am Holly, the ship's computer, with an IQ of 6000, the same IQ as 6000 PE teachers.

Kryten: A pub - ahh yes. A meeting place where people attempt to achieve advanced states of mental incompetence, by the repeated consumption of fermented vegetable drinks.

Cat : There's an old cat proverb: It's better to live one hour as a tiger, than a whole life time as a worm
Rimmer : There's an old human proverb: Whoever heard of a wormskin rug.

Lister: Love is what separates us from animals
Rimmer : No, Lister. What separates us from animals is that we don't use our tongues to clean our own genitals.

[Ahzure]

Shows that you NEED to watch, but were canceled before their time

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Deadwood

Episodes: 36

Set in an ungoverned stretch of South Dakota soon after the 1876 Custer massacre, Deadwood concerns a lawless, evolving town attracting fortune-seekers, drifters, tyrants, and burned-out adventurers searching for a card game and a place to die. Others, particularly women trapped in prostitution, sundry do-gooders, and hangers-on have nowhere else to go. Into this pool of aspiration and nightmare arrive former Montana lawman Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and his friend Sol Starr (John Hawkes), determined to open a lucrative hardware business. Over time, their paths cross with a weary but still formidable Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine) and his doting companion, the coarse angel Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert); an aristocratic, drug-addicted widow (Molly Parker) trying to salvage a gold mining claim; and a despondent hooker (Paula Malcomson) who cares, briefly, for an orphaned girl. Casting a giant shadow over all is a blood-soaked king, Gem Saloon owner Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), possibly the best, most complex, and mesmerizing villain seen on TV in years. Each of these characters, and many others, will forge alliances and feuds, cope with disasters (such as smallpox), and move--almost invisibly but inexorably--toward some semblance of order and common cause. Making it all worthwhile is Milch's masterful dialogue--often profane, sometimes courtly and civilized, never perfunctory--and the brilliant acting of the aforementioned performers plus others

Definitely one of my favorite shows.

BanzaiBoB, you should check the series, I think you might like it.

I became a  Ian McShane fan after I started watching Deadwood In fact I go out of my way to see any  series or movies  he's starring in.

Here’s a trailer of Deadwood (mind the bit of foul language at the end)
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[BanzaiBoB]

Hmmm - cool - my sister has it, but I passed on it as I'm not the biggest Western's fan. But you're the second person who's recommended it to me recently, so I'll have to give it a try.

(BTW - I love RED DWARF - and I have the entire series on DVD - how did I miss your comment? There's a rumour of a new season - although I dunno, after all this time...).

[jGLZa]

And to this list I must add Breaking In.

Started this year and sadly lasted only 7 episodes, but oh did it make my inner geek happy.

I will always cherish those episodes.

[BanzaiBoB]

^ WHAT?!?? ALREADY?!!!?