This section covers programs I like which are no longer airing original episodes.
"Fear Factor" is the other reality series I like. Call it appealing to my sadistic sense of humor; the people behind the stunts were brilliant. The stunts were inventive and challenging. I could have never gone on this show, but I loved watching it. Sadly it was cancelled in 2005 without the network giving any solid reason.
"Wonderfalls" was another great series that FOX broadcasting promptly cancelled because it was far too intelligent and creative for American TV. Luckily, it's out on DVD, and I urge everyone to buy it.
Farscape debuted in the spring of 1999 on the Scifi Channel and it was
the best science fiction series since the 4th season of Babylon Five. The production
values rivalled any American science fiction show, but with the Henson group involved the series
produced some aliens that were incredible to behold. No just add a bit of nose + forehead make-up here.
Unfortunately, the show became too science fiction for the Sci-Fi channel, which is now more
interested in ratings than quality, and Farscape was cancelled. In October, 2004, through a
fan campaign, the series
returned with a four-hour mini-series to complete the story.
I loved Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. I started watching it with the second season, and for several years, it was the best show on TV! The last two seasons lost that title with questionable plot choices and poor writing. In its hey-day Buffy couldn't be beat with great scripts, characters, acting and cinemotography.
I started watching Xena: Warrior Princess at the start of the second season. It had its ups + downs: some really silly shows, some okay episodes, then a few, really amazing episodes. It's still well worth your time if you get the Oxygen Network.
The premise of Roswell sounded pretty stupid: a trio of teens who are aliens somehow connected with the Roswell UFO incident from 1947 go to high school there. But the series turned out to be the best new series of the fall, 1999, and by the end of the first season, it had moved far beyond that concept.
The second season created an evolving, powerful story line that wasn't afraid to take chances but still had scripts that concentrated on the characters. The third season continued that trend and turned in a few episodes that were amazingly powerful. Sadly, the show didn't get the all-important ratings, so it was cancelled. All three seasons are out on DVD, albeit some of the music isn't the same as was used in the broadcast show.
I started watching Babylon Five during the third season. I think Babylon 5 is the best science fiction series produced since the original Star Trek. Afterwards, there was a brief sequel called Crusade on TNT, which was equally excellent but was plagued by behind the scenes politics. In 2001, the Sci-Fi channel tried its hand at resurrecting the show with a telemovie called "Legend of the Rangers." Recently, a company is producing several short stories that'll be released in video tape and that'll be starring many of the same actors in their roles.
A friend lent me a copy of Super Nova, and I was really curious about this show. The second season I found very uneven; but the third season changed the show radically, developing its characters to an extent beyond their stereotypes and concentrating on one, dark story line about an eternal war between two planets. The final season moved back to the more random humor; or it could be described as the 'rag on America' season.
A little known series which aired in 1990, She-Wolf of London is a comedy/horror show similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the movie An American Werewolf in Paris.