Nine By Design 30

Alright folks, I'm still sick and I can't hear out of my left ear.  This will be a quick, down and dirty list today.  I'm feeling all sorts of miserable.  I've had trouble with my ears/hearing my entire life, so when one gets clogged, it freaks me out.  The topic for today is: Underrated TV Shows or shows canceled before their time.



Underrated TV Shows:

Freaks and Geeks: A show ahead of its time.  It was pretty much ahead of everyone involved.  Judd Apatow had yet to hit his stride and the cast, most of whom you'd recognize now, we're completely unknown.  You could throw in Undeclared with this show as well.  All the regular Apatow actors are in one or both of the shows.  We just weren't ready yet.

Arrested Development: Another show that was too smart for its own good?  Perhaps.  Just a really good cast and the voice over by Ron Howard is perfect.  I guess they are making a movie now...let's cancel the show, but make a movie.  I don't get it.

Action: The show that should have made Jay Mohr a star.  It may have been too inside.  He plays a Hollywood producer and is just great at it.  If this show was on HBO or FX it would have been on for years.  It was a little too edgy and before cable started making better shows than network TV.

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.: Take the old west and mix it with some sci-fi.  Cowboys with laser pistols.  Bruce Campbell is the second master of smarm.  The only person that can out smarm him; is David Spade.  Think about it.  Again, if this show was on cable, especially Sy Fy, it would be a top show.  Campbell is still showing off his smarmy brilliance on Burn Notice.

Bands Reunited: This was a show on VH1.  It was either on for one long season or two short ones.  The concept was to try to reunite a band from the 80's.  They did bands like; Berlin, Flock of Seagulls and Vixen.  If they expanded their horizons, it probably could have lasted longer.  Had some bands from the 70's and now 90's.  I liked it, it had to do with music, of course I did.

Firefly: Just look at the cast that Joss Whedon assembled.  They should have been given another season to find their footing.  I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, but I did like to watch this show.

Greg The Bunny: Seth Green, Sarah Silverman and puppets.  In very wrong situations...brilliant.

Dead Like Me: A young girl dies, but is now a grim reaper.  The original cast was quite good, it had Mandy Patinkin, but it never got settled in.  I liked the concept, it just didn't have a lot of direction.

Strange Luck: Another show's concept that I loved.  I'm fascinated by "luck."  I always have been.  The highly underrated D.B. Sweeney played a guy that had bizarre luck.  If something good happened to him, something equally bad would then happen.  Basically, he was in always in the wrong place at the right time.  This is still not on DVD.  It's one of the shows that couldn't follow the X-Files.  All of those shows didn't survive.

There's the weekly list.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Cheers, Happy Weekend!