GregHowley.com

Resurgence of Cancelled TV Series

February 24, 2014 -

Television has been a wasteland lately, at least in terms of the science fiction programming that I enjoy. Agents of SHIELD is passable but not spectacular. And every other show my wife and I have tried has lost our interest in the first few episodes. Life is too busy to bother with bad TV. I'd rather go back and rewatch Fringe or The 4400.

But recently, I've found out about three different shows I've watched in the past, all of which were eventually cancelled, that will now be reappearing in some form. It's a bit sad that in order to come up with something decent, the networks have to dig up old properties, but given the shows, I'll take it.

24 By the time it finished its eighth season, I was ready for Jack Bauer to just retire already. But now that four years have gone by with no 24, I could be ready for a bit more. I'm just not expecting too much.

The trailer, however, looks laughably ridiculous. JACK BAUER in a burning post-apocolyptic London, looking like he just went twelve rounds with Rocky Balboa. A car is on fire. Jack is dragging CHLOE O'BRIEN, who looks like she has taken far too much heroin. Jack raises his gun and starts firing the gun at something offstage, while screaming for no apparent reason. End clip.

24: Live Another Day premieres on May 5th.

Heroes I'm not sure how to feel about this one. When it first came out, I loved me some Heroes. And the second season, although it was hurt by the writers' strike, was also very good. But by the time they tried to make Sylar a good guy, gave powers to characters who shouldn't have had them, and refused to change out castmembers when they should have died, the show had jumped the shark. I can only hope that when Heroes returns, it's closer to season one Heroes than season four Heroes.

Farscape Probably my favorite TV series of all time, although The 4400 is a close second. When I started watching Farscape, I was put off by the puppets. That didn't last long. It's funny how quickly their unrealistic appearance is overridden by the acting that creates actual characters. Now, they're announcing that Farscape will return in movie format, similarly to what Firefly did with the Serenity movie. I couldn't be happier about it. And it sounds like Ben Browder and Claudia Black will return. I'd be surprised if we didn't see Rigel as well.