The shortlived shows you wish there were more episodes of

I've often thought that five is the optimum number of seasons for a really great TV show. Any more, and showrunners risk repeating earlier storylines (see "Supernatural"), leaving characters stuck in a time loop where they never grow up (see "NCIS"), or entering real do something desperate territory, such as splitting up the characters you spent the whole series getting together (see "Gilmore Girls"). Of course, sometimes these decisions are driven by believing a show will end after five seasons (at 20-24 episodes per season for a network show, this gets them to the magical number of 100 episodes traditionally desired for syndication, perhaps with a shorter season 5 just to make up that number), and then finding out it's been renewed, sending the writers scrambling to figure out new character arcs and plots for that unexpected season 6. Generally speaking, though, most shows don't evolve enough to provide a satisfying season 6, let alone 13.

Okay, so there are plenty of exceptions to this 'rule', both in shows that crashed before or during their 5th season ("Falling Skies", "Moonlighting"; "Lois and Clark"; "Enterprise" [sob]), shows that had great 6th seasons (admittedly, "Supernatural" was still pretty great by then, as were "Medium" and "Madam Secretary"), and shows that continued to be great well beyond that number ("ER", "Grey's Anatomy", "The West Wing" to name but a few). I also have a soft spot for the great Angela Lansbury in "Murder, She Wrote" which could have run forever in my book (some may believe it in fact did).

However, examples of great five-season shows include: "Alias", "Flashpoint", "Fringe", "Angel", "Person of Interest", "Babylon 5", "Chuck", "Leverage", and many more.

But I'm not going to focus on them here. Instead, I'm going to talk about those shortlived TV shows that left us wanting more...

"Profit"

Jim Profit, a new junior-executive at a multinational conglomerate, uses blackmail, bribery, extortion, or worse to get ahead. He was the protagonist and the villain, but he was so deliciously Machiavellian that you absolutely rooted for him. Not in a I love to see him on screen way, as you might have enjoyed watching JR twirl his mustache and chew up scenes in "Dallas", but in a true I want him to get one over on that innocent character way. Quite a feat! Hitting screens in 1996, this one was ahead of its time, coming a few years before "The Sopranos" and over a decade before "Breaking Bad" - and indeed, I would argue that it has yet to be done better. Sadly, this David Greenwalt / John McNamara creation was canceled after only 8 episodes, but Adrian Pasdar's performance as Jim Profit was unforgettable for those who saw it. [Aside: I once told David Greenwalt that I really admired Jim Profit; after I'd floated away in a fangirl haze, I realized I should have specified that I admired the creation of the character.]

Special credit also to "American Gothic" from a year earlier, another one-season wonder in which Gary Cole played the delightfully charismatic yet super evil town sheriff. In this case, I won't say we wanted him to succeed, but come on - raise your hand if you'd happily listen to Gary Cole (Mr. "Midnight Caller") recite the phone book.

"Endgame"

Russian chess grandmaster Arkady Balagan's fiancée is killed in front of a Vancouver hotel, where he still resides owing to sudden-onset agoraphobia. Devoid of sufficient cash flow to pay for his room, he applies his skills to solving real-world mysteries with the assistance of a chess-loving grad student and a hotel waitress. The love child of "Poirot" and "House", the show was slick and gorgeously designed (only early seasons of "Hustle" compare in my mind), with Shawn Doyle leading a fantastic cast as he delivered the dark-humored dialogue.

"Garrison's Gorillas" and "Streethawk"

I already praised them in my previous ramblings, but I couldn't write this without mentioning these two very different shows. From the late '60s, "Garrison's Gorillas" was "The Dirty Dozen" but with a much tighter - and more likable - character ensemble. From charming con-artist "Actor" to tight-lipped action-man "Chief" and grinning second-story-man "Goniff", the banter between them was phenomenal as they were parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe for acts of mayhem and heroics.

Fast forward to the '80s and "Streethawk" was the motorcycle answer to 'buddy cop' show "Knight Rider"... except now the action hero's buddy wasn't the vehicle but rather Norman Tuttle, the nerd who created it.

"Firefly"

A space western filled with three-dimensional characters, often of dubious morals but always rootable-for. Some, including captain 'Mal' Reynolds, had fought in the losing side in a civil war; an unusual backstory for the main protagonists. Others included a 'Companion' - a cross between a geisha and escort, whose profession gives the ship a higher social standing in a twist on present-day social norms - and a mysterious child prodigy and her brother who are on the run. A follow-up movie ("Serenity") came out in 2005, a mere two years after the show's premature cancelation.

"Prey"

"Forty thousand years ago, the most advanced species on Earth was wiped out by a powerful new life form… Us…. [ ] Once again, it's survival of the fittest... and this time, we are the PREY"

That pretty much sums it up, other than to say the "will they, won't they" between attractive bioanthropologist Deborah Messing and silent-but-sexy "new species" Adam Storke was the main motivator for watching this show... but let's face it, there've been far worse reasons to do so.

"Highlander: The Raven"

I loved "Highlander." So much so that - even after six seasons - and that's six seasons of the Guest Immortal of the Week and over a hundred There can be only one decapitations (with matching pyrotechnics and matching gyrations by the very dedicated and serious Adrian Paul) - I was delighted to discover that there would be a spin-off series.

And who better than Amanda, the wickedly devious but ultimately loyal and caring jewel thief, to helm the new show? Although Methos was probably my favorite character (no doubt helped in part by my crush on the very dishy Peter Wingfield), I couldn't imagine a show set around his cynicism and dry wit, or his extremely dark past and self-flagellating personality. And with apologies to other series regulars and guest stars, I wouldn't have tuned in weekly for any of them. No: for me, Amanda was the perfect choice. Basically an optimist - and a hedonist - she brought fun and danger, yet her intrinsic good qualities meant we'd never have to root for someone who was actually the bad guy. Paired with a hunky and basically law-abiding love interest - like a gruff ex-cop who quit the force over a cover-up - it would be magic.

Which was why I was surprised to see reviews bemoaning the choice of Amanda. Did they watch a different version of "Highlander" than I did? Was there a teeny tiny bit of misogyny there? Were they peeved that Amanda wasn't going to be Duncan MacLeod's sometime lover for ever?? Or were they put off by the obvious set-up of her and Nick Wolfe - or by the utterly cringe-worthy start sequence, in which Nick intones about a warrior sent to retrieve a thieving raven, which has nothing to do with the show and pretty much reverses their character dynamic?

Whatever the reason, I found the single season of "Highlander: The Raven" highly enjoyable, and with more plausible tugs of the heart strings for the two protagonists than "Highlander" managed in six seasons. Maybe there never would have been enough "immortal" stories left after all those episodes to permit HTR to run for as long as its parent. But I sure as hell would've liked to see a season 2.

Worthy mentions

I've missed out a lot of one-season shows that definitely had more in them, from the original "Battlestar Galactica" (although not if season 2 looked anything like "Galactica 1980", which was watchable mainly for its hunky stars and the sound-effect when things turned invisible) to "Alien Nation", "Timecop", and "Limitless" (all of which were at least as good if not better than their respective movies) to "Second Chance" [right] (a could've-been-awful sci-fi show elevated by some very good writing and fabulous cast chemistry, yet doomed by marketing that billed it as Frankenstein when it should've been sold as Resurrection).

But before I gripe too much, it's true that more shows air first episodes than can possibly be kept on the schedule [network/cable] or paid for [streaming]. Some have to be pruned so that others can be continued and new shows tested.

And... okay, so maybe some of the shows I remember fondly didn't really have many more places to go...

Short but sweet

Who could forget "Manimal" in which Simon McCorkindale meditated his way into at least one animal shape each episode, ranging from a mouse to a black panther? The laws of physics (something few tv shows concern themselves with, admittedly) would likely balk at the whole conservation of mass thing, but the special effects (wisely heavy on close-ups during the 'shift') were transfixing. And if you think about the current paranomal / shifter craze, it was ahead of its time, in a sense.

There was also:

"The Highwayman" in which Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon himself) drove a cool truck down the highway and fought... whatever crime showed up on the highway. I loved the intro music.

"Automan" in which Desi Arnaz Jr. was the nerdy scientist who created a computer-generated superhero that was somehow solid in the real world.

"Total Recall 2070" - I'm not sure where this Philip K. Dick-inspired show was going, but the characters and music were wonderful.

"VR5" - Lori Singer discovers she can enter a type of virtual reality where she can interact with others and those actions have an effect on the real world. Stylistically attractive and futuristic (in the '90s, obviously).

"Nowhere Man" - Bruce Greenwood's entire life has been erased. For lovers of conspiracy theories, years before "Lost" hit our screens.

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