Five Single Season TV Series You Should Own

Not every television series that airs finds commercial success right away. Sometimes even series that are canceled during their first season can find aftermarket success through the sales of DVD's. These short run series can then find niche' markets far away from the Nielson Ratings which govern television success, enabling them to live on past their cancellation date. With that in mind, here are five single season television series you should own, each of them being canceled short of 20 shows.

Firefly (2002)

The creative effort of Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) Firefly is a 14 episode series that ran on Fox in 2002. The series, a space western set in 2517, is a rich character study of a renegade group of people living aboard the space ship Serenity in star system far removed from "earth that was". This often off-beat and witty series with a rich ensemble cast, features Nathan Fillon (from TV's Castle), Morena Baccarin (from TV's V), and Adam Baldwin (from TV's Chuck). Firefly found such a nice niche' following that despite the show being canceled 11 shows into its first season, it spun off a feature film (Serenity), comic books and role playing games. As for Whedon's vision of the future, it is as refreshing new take light years in the opposite direction of the futuristic views explored in movie like Blade Runner and, Star Wars, or TV shows like Star Trek. Whedon's unique mixture of old and new is worth a second look on DVD. As the one of the characters in the series might say, this series is "shiny," no other series in the " 'verse" like it.

Cupid (1998)

Though an attempt to remake this remarkably witty series was an abysmal failure, the original TV series that aired in 1998 should have been a television keeper. Instead, despite good reviews and a loyal fan core (which wages a write in campaign to bring it back), ABC decide to cancel Cupid after airing only 14 out of the 15 episodes made. The series, which features Jeremy Piven (from TV's Entourage) as Trevor Hale(aka Cupid) and Paula Marshall as psychiatrist Claire Allen, is centered around the premise that the god of love has been kicked out of Olympus and made mortal as punishment for his arrogance. In order to return to Olympus, Cupid, without the aid of his supernatural abilities, needs to match up 100 couples on earth. The reason the series works is that there is unmistakable chemistry between the impish Piven and Marshall. Good writing also adds to its off-beat charm. While not available on DVD yet, the series can be bought on e-Bay from series buff which are selling their taped collection.

Moonlight (2007)

Much to its eventually demise, Moonlight came along too soon, missing out on the current craze of vampire movies and television series made popular by the Twilight movie franchise. Set in Los Angeles, the series follows the adventures of vampire turned private eye Mick St. Johns (Alex O'Loughlin) and his romantic interest, television reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles). Despite initially scoring well with its target demographic, Moonlight was blasted by television critics and the series ran its course on CBS after only 16 shows. Still, if you are a fan of Twilight and/or the television series Vampire Diaries, chances are you will enjoy this series as well. If you do pick it up, look for an unexpectedly good performance from Jason Dohring as Mick's best friend (and centuries old vampire) Joseph Kostan.

Day Break (2006)

Canceled by ABC six episodes into the season (13 were produced) Day Break is an action sci-fi drama which follows the repeating day of police detective Brett Hopper (Taye Diggs). Hopper, who is framed for a murder, is stuck relieving the same day over until he is able to solve the murder and move on with his life. The series features Moon Bloodgood as Hopper's romantic interest Rita Shelton, Victoria Pratt as his partner Andrea Battles, and Adam Baldwin (from TV's Chuck and Firefly) as his ex-partner. Perhaps overmatched by originally being pitted against the television series Lost, Day Break is still worth watching. If you like police dramas as well as the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, then this series is for you.

Birds of Prey (2002)

Based on DC comic book characters, Birds of Prey, follows the crime fighting heroics of Helen Kyle (aka Huntress) the daughter of the famed DC crime fighting superhero Batman, and Catwoman. Kyle who has cat like meta-human abilities, is teamed up with Barbara Gordon (aka Oracle/Batgirl) to help rid a Batman-less Gotham City of its criminal element. Staring Ashley Scott (from TV's Dark Angel) as the Huntress, this 13 episode series would do well with fans of such television series as Smallville or Dark Angel.

Sources:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115697-TV-One-Will-Air-Day-Break-with-Taye-Diggs-in-March

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117964876.html?categoryid=2569&cs=1

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b54006_Day_Break_on_Naughty_List_.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ida1d365b6d3f5717834ff0724a7c5d2a

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168326/

http://warnervideo.com/birdsofpreydvd/

http://www.tv.com/birds-of-prey/show/6836/summary.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/arts/television/