My DVR: Not Deleted Yet

These are shows that were cancelled or ended. Sometimes, I was too sentimental to delete it from my DVR; in other cases, I had given up, or had finished watching, and simply ended up deleting any remaining episodes when I needed the space but not deleted the "series recording" thing on my DVR itself. Note the preponderance of sci-fi series that were either on Fox or BBC America here.

Torchwood (BBC America)
Oh, the Doctor Who spin-off that went from "dark, funny, and sexy" to "darker, sexy, and kind of tragic" to "really dark, kind of twisted, and tragic" to "really, really, dark and super f*cking messed up." Despite all of this, I'm still kind of attached. 

Fringe (Fox)
Let's just refer to this post, and I don't want to admit that it's over by deleting the series recording. Because it's IMO one of the best sci-fi TV shows ever, and certainly my absolute favorite. Plus, put "Fringe" into Google images and you'll see an endless stream of gorgeous photos. 

Primeval (BBC America)
Gorgeous British people chase around dinosaurs and futuristic monsters, and sometimes getting killed, but only to be replaced by even more gorgeous British people chasing around dinosaurs. This show is pure eye candy, no matter which gender(s) you prefer. And, it's an ITV series, not BBC, for those of you who care. 

Alcatraz (Fox)
So very promising! And yet, Fox wasn't about to give us a second season of Alcatraz and a fifth season of Fringe... so the sharply dropping ratings of this one meant it got axed less ceremoniously. And this was one of those shows that left the main character(s) in the limbo of a cliffhanger ending. This is where the line between "sentimental" and "too lazy to delete this" lies.

The River (ABC)
Oh, god, what a mess. This would've been the perfect show to be fodder for this blog. The synopsis of this was something like "A missing scientist's family looks for him in an obscure branch of the Amazon and strange things happen" but it could be better described as "A white guy tries to mess with magic on an obscure branch of the Amazon and then his family and a camera crew goes looking for him and doing the most stupid-white-people things that they could think of when confronted by probably magical things." It was an absolute train wreck of mediocre production, unremarkable acting, cultural appropriation, and the characters making the absolute worst decisions possible in order to provide plots for the episode... but like a train wreck, you just can't stop watching! Also, much like Alcatraz, it has a finale leaving the character(s) in limbo. 

Terra Nova (Fox)
In which the transportation of mid-22nd century people into a prehistoric, dinosaur-filled era is not as notable as the transportation of mid-20th century "family values" into the mid-22nd century. Also, all of the black or dark-skinned non-white people are bad guys. I didn't even finish this one. 

Prime Suspect (CBS?)
I loved this show, even though they were constantly filming outside my apartment, or setting up base camp in the nearby parking lot, either of which made it hard to get to my car. Jane Timmoney was just awesome! 

Outcasts (BBC America)
A one-season BBC series featuring Jamie Bamber and some other people. A bit slow at first, but things get exciting near the season one finale. Which also turns out to be the series finale. And sort of is in a little bit of limbo, but not as bad as it could've been. Sensing a trend here? 

Sanctuary (Syfy)
It could be bad, bordering on awful, sometimes even "you kind of hope the characters all die in a hole because it'll be more interesting than this" awful on occasions. But, it was a lot of fun, so I still watched it from time to time. 

The Finder (Fox)
So I never really did understand the premise of the show, but it was a lot of fun to watch. This is the one series I'm actually OK with having been cancelled so early, because I don't think they could've replaced Micheal Clarke Duncan. 

Last Resort (ABC)
Gave up on this after I discovered it wasn't very much like Lost.

Unforgettable (CBS)
Tried watching it when it said the detective was from Syracuse. I gave up quickly, and sometime after that it got cancelled. And, apparently, it's been un-cancelled for some reason.

Off-Topic: Hockey. *sigh*

Just in case any of you were wondering "Wow, is all you do with your time watching Teen Wolf and Ancient Aliens and blogging about them?" the answer is "No! I also watch many other TV shows, as well as LA Kings hockey, and CNN is always on in the background. Even when I'm watching Teen Wolf on my laptop.

Currently, the Kings' attempts at playing hockey are what's made me yell at the TV the most lately. I just don't really blog about this because this isn't a sports blog.

It's so depressing. Like, we won the Stanley Cup last spring. It was awesome! I was able to take a subway to downtown LA and watch the Cup be paraded down our street. I stood in line to get Dustin Brown's autograph on one of my Stanley Cup posters for my brother.

And then we were like "Yeah! We get to say we're the defending champions! Yay!" and then the hockey season was locked out, and we were all cursing Bettman's name, and breathed a small sigh of relief when finally the lockout ended and a shortened season was announced.
But then... what is this that they're doing on the ice out there?

Four Years, Four Months, Nine Days, and 100 Episodes

I don't know how to express my feelings right now, other than to say that this is my very favorite TV show. I grew up loving the original Star Trek series and with an appreciation for all it's spun off, I discovered the amazing and tragically short Firefly, I became part of a exponentially growing fan community of Doctor Who which has endured for fifty years. As wonderful as all of those experiences were, this one still stands out.

It started when I saw posters like this. The premise was something I naturally was interested in, as a long-time X-Files fan, the production team looked promising, and the gorgeous, gorgeous visuals pushed it to "I can not wait to watch this live" status.

It didn't disappoint. There were characters I loved, interesting and original concepts, and super amazing special effects. But we lived in fear of Fox pulling a repeat of Firefly, and moving the show to the Friday Night Death Slot and then cancelling it due to low ratings.

Then, Fox ordered the second half of its first season. It wasn't the most surprising thing in the world, but still not something I had counted on. This first season ended by introducing the other universe.

It was renewed, happily, for a second season. It seemed to have escaped the fate of Firefly. Characters died, and alternate universe versions of all the familiar characters were introduced.

Then it was renewed for a third season. A more overarching plot was coming into view, and more about the characters were revealed. More attention was paid to the tiny, tiny differences between the universes, and the "art piece" episodes were introduced. In the middle of this, our worst fears began to come true: Fox moved it to the Friday Night Death Slot.

Despite this, it was renewed for a fourth season. Due to a plot point, the entire of both universes was changed, creating slightly different versions of the characters in both universes, and the stories became more intense and high-stakes.

As ratings held steady but low, the fans mobilized and created a Twitter campaign in which we made an episode-specific hashtag to get trending during the show's airtime. Then, somehow, what was almost a miracle occurred: Fox began cooperating with the campaign leaders, putting the episode-specific hashtag in the corner of the screen rather than the typical "#Fringe" hashtag. It meant, importantly, that someone at Fox actually wanted to renew the show. As time dragged on, the showrunners even went so far as to film two separate endings to the season depending on which decision the network made.

Then, a mere two weeks before the season four finale, the show was renewed for a final thirteen-episode season. This season was set in a dystopian future, with older versions of some characters, more new characters, and a number of character deaths, along with the impending sense of tragedy when the show finally would end.

In the end, I watched every episode. I bought every DVD season, went to the Comic-Con and Wondercon panels, swapped people at SDCC for the gigantic Fringe backpacks both years I went, got a fedora from that final panel, participated in a (successful!) fan campaign, and made some amazing internet friends.