Shows that were cut way too short

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melanie_baylon

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We have our major successes like Avatar, Batman:TAS, and The Simpsons, but what about those shows that had so much potential that they were never given the chance for popularity? Well, here they are.

Histeria! - After Animaniacs ended, Tom Ruegger needed a spiritual successor. So we got what i think is the modern day version of School House Rock. It follows the same format as animaniacs w/ its variety show concept, but it makes learning History fun and interesting w/ famous people who r modeled after celebrities, and some very catchy songs. Unfortunately, due to the uprising of Pokemon, the show only lasted a season and was never seen again.

Fish Police - Granted, ive only watched one episode on youtube, but from what ive seen, its a very interesting premise. An underwater detective series. This is the kind of show that FOX needs, even though theyd rather stick w/ crude family sitcoms (thank you Mr. Mcfarlene :shrug:). The only downside to this is that it tries too hard to be like roger rabbit at times (the sexy fish lady acting like Jessica rabbit). Too bad it only lasted a few episodes, but hopefully this can be remade. Then again, theres Sharktale...:(.

Cyber 6 - Whoever decided to cancel this show needs to be dealt with. This series was awesome, u hav a woman who goes undercover as a male teacher, fights crime at night w/ a jaguar and fights neo-nazis and monsters. The animation was close to being theatrical release quality, the voice work was well done, and the storylines were complex. But like histeria, it was paved away to make room for another fighting monster show.
 
Pirates of Dark Water and Swat Kats.

I feel these two shows could have run for 52 episodes. They certainly seemed to have enough story material too.

Also both Ninja Turtles cartoons could have gone on for at least another 100 episodes each. I wish TMNT could have as many episodes as Simpsons or Pokemon.
 
I hate to sound like one of those foams-at-the-mouth fanboy but I do have to give an honorable mention to Sonic SatAM. Even thought I am most certainly NOT a big fan of Archie's Sonic comics for various off topic reasons, I still enjoy the show greatly.

For one, the animation, while not mind blowingly outstanding or anything, it's quite good for the mid 90's, and for DiC standards. I have to note the backgrounds of the various areas, which are beautifully painted and designed. I give serious kudos to its background painter(s).

As for the show's writing, I found most of the characters very enjoyable to watch and to follow their stories. Except for Antoine and Dulcy. Unfunny comedy reliefs are unfunny. I'll say that as a negative, a good chunk of Sonic's dialogue hasn't aged well. At all. It may have been seen as cool in 1993, but it's certainly not in 2011.

Bunnie Rabbot is awesome. That is all. IMHO she's the only non-Sega character that would fit pretty well into the Sega!Sonicverse.
 
Spectacular Spider Man is still a tough pill to swallow. Definitely cut down before its time and just when things were only getting better and could have easily last another 2-3 seasons. But now will never know how awesome the show could have really been. Made worse by the fact that there was nothing that the show did that caused its demise.

I really dont think TMNT needed anymore episodes as they have pretty high episode count totals.
 
The critic-
An Absolutely brilliant and funny show. Just loved Jay Sherman, Jay's father, Duke and the rest of the cast. It was also great with pop culture references and making fun of movies. Unfortunatly its life was cut short and should have lasted much longer; it just couldn't measure up to simpsons back in its glory days

Invader Zim-
Another series that should have gone on much longer. It had a hilarious and dark sense of humor that was unusual for its day. Its unfortunate it was more than Nick could handle... hell it almost seems like Nick regrets cutting it down with how often it aired episodes each day on nicktoons.
 
Both TMNT shows had around 200 episode apiece. That hardly qualifies as being cut down in their primes.

I always thought Batman Beyond should have had more than 52 episodes. There was so much more to do in that futuristic setting, and many members of Terry's rogue's gallery should have had more time to develop their characters.
 
I agree, i was really on the edge of my seat w/ this show. The cliffjanger in season 2 was probably one of the most shocking ive seen. My hope is that they have better come up w/ something fun for the new reboot.

Now heres some more...

The Ripping Friends: Imagine if ren and stimpy mashed w/ the incredibles, then u get this show. Its strange but also very funny and well-written. Sure, at times the timing of the gags are off and some episodes r actually kinda boring. I still think it had alot of potential.

Megas XLR: 2 seasons is just not enough. This show was both hilarious and cool.

Animaniacs: This shouldve been on right now. We couldve had a 20th season today instead of the simpsons. So much potential for stories and jokes that the last ten years couldlve been provided. I want to see the warners tackle harry potter or Lord of the rings.
 
King of the Hill - Yes, I know it was on for years, but it just never got the recognition like the Simpsons and Family Guy(which doesn't deserve attention).
Xiaolin Showdown - I thought it was funny and original.
Spectactular Spider-Man - Ditto what you guys said.
Sonic SatAM - Same as Rainbow said.
 
They have enough stories to do so. Either Turtle universe had the potential to go on for 20 seasons.

Taken together they come out to almost 400 episodes.
 
I think that Sam and Max: Freelance Police could have gone on for another season or two. The humor in it was pretty great, and especially considering how tone down the show was compared to the original comics. Well, at least I still have the Sam and Max video games to look forward to. They're pretty good games in their own right.
 
Clone High should had desserved a 2nd season, ending with a cliffhanger when Abe and his friends are frozen, it desserve a much better ending.

Wayside and Kappa Mikey should had desserved another 1 or 2 more seasons. Things beginned to be better with the last episodes. However seeing how others toons goes after some seasons, I ponder if it might be a blessing in disguise? In the case of Wayside, they could had bring some characters from the book who hadn't appeared yet in the cartoon.



I completely agree about Cybersix. That's another series who shouldn't desserved an abrupt end like this.
 
They should have applied 'The Next Mutation' to animation and used that as the basis for seasons 11 and 12. Maybe that would have taken the suckiness out of the LA series.

I want to add the vast majority of the Disney Afternoon shows. Specifically Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers and Talespin, both could have gone for a few more seasons since it felt like there were MANY more stories to tell, especially with Talespin.
 
Respectfully, I disagree. Both TMNT shows went on for long enough. Each had over 100 episodes, IIRC. TMNT 2K3 in particular probably lasted longer than it really needed to; they were really reaching by the time they got to Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers. They married off April and Casey in the BttS finale and bowed out with the awesome Turtles Forever. Trying to milk the series beyond that point would just have been over-saturating the franchise, IMO.



I've never seen or read Wayside, so I can't comment on that, but Kappa Mikey ended just about when it needed to. The tail end of KM's second season wasn't that good. The 'American in a Japanese anime world' premise started to wear thin by that time, and the last few shows were starting to devolve into generic plots that you could see on any show. KM would've only gotten worse if it had continued.



This x 100. Sam & Max ended way too soon. Fox really shouldn't have tried to put the show on Saturday morning; S&M: FP would have a great fit for prime time or late night, given its' original source material. I hold onto the crazy dream that a new Sam & Max series may turn up on [adult swim] one day.
 
Spectacular Spider-Man still stings pretty bad, but the main plot for Season 2 WAS resolved. The same goes for Sonic SATAM, so I can't be too bitter, and they're still great.

It would've also been nice to see Pirates of Dark Water have a proper ending; didn't they only have a few treasures left to find anyway?
 
I'm gonna add Robotomy here. It had ancinteresting world of masochist robots, took every situation to an over the top violent chaos, and had great humor and great characters (specially Weenus).

And then it was canceled before they could finish the last 2 episodes of the 12 episode order. It's a shame.
 
Really? I stopped watching the original TMNT cartoon somewhere around the time the second live-action movie was released in the spring of 1991, and was shocked to recently learn they were still producing new episodes of that until 1996. :eek: Like most people who were around 12/13 when the series originally started airing in 1987, the whole Turtles fad seemed incredibly passe by the time the second (awful) movie came out. The show was already repetitive and stretched thin by the time I grew out of it, and I can't imagine how awful the remaining five(!) seasons' worth of episodes became.
 
No mention of Clerks yet? For shame.

Six episodes of that show just wasn't enough. It kept getting better and funnier with each passing episode (took a slight dip with The Last Episode Ever, but it was still quite funny).
 
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