Plenty of shows (particularly in the US) get cancelled before the world realises just how good they are. One of my personal favourite shows ever, the US version of the dull dull dull Robson Green show Touching Evil is a case in point: 13 episodes of brilliance that died before its time because it was marketed badly by the stupid old USA Network.
Because said shows run for so short a time, they never get a DVD release and disappear into the mists of time with no one the wiser. Wouldn't it be good to be able to see them all, to savour those tiny jewels?
But now, building on from a cable network of the same name, comes a web site dedicated to this very concept: Brilliant But Cancelled. Unfortunately, most of the content appears only to be available to US viewers, but those with techy knowhow will be able to circumvent it. And Touching Evil is on it!
All we need now is:
- Access to it from abroad without proxy servers and the like
- A British version.
Any nominations for the British version?
Updates and related entries
June 3, 2006: As a little treat and to give you a flavour of the show - and because I'm in one of my obsessive moods - I'm setting up a one-show, one-page rival to Brilliant But Cancelled. Here's the opening few...
May 24, 2006 | Reply
North Square. Yes, so I'm the only person who watched it, but it was the best drama since This Life (which it was blatantly ripping off, and why not, seeing as This Life was over by then) and they TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME. Also Rupert Penry Jones was hot in it.
May 24, 2006 | Reply
Ooh I remember North Square! Can I put in a bid for the wonderful Psychos starring Douglas Henshall? My video tapes from the TV are utterly knackered.
May 26, 2006 | Reply
US Touching Evil was brilliant, but you could tell it was in trouble from the very beginning, when they made his partner "blonder" after the pilot. You can just feel the despair when a TV exec focuses on the colour of the lead actress' hair and demands it be changed.
I can't think of any British nominations, but what happened to Bakersfield PD?
May 26, 2006 | Reply
That would be the despair of a network executive at the USA Network mind - "Why can't we just have 24 hour episodes of Nashville Star?" (a country and western version of American Idol). Of course, she may have coloured it herself in the hope of getting more fans...
Bakersfield PD got killed off because of low ratings, it turns out.
My personal requests for "Brilliant But Cancelled (UK)" would include repeats of Life Story (guess they couldn't really go to series on that: you can only discover the structure of DNA once); The Sandbaggers; Ultraviolet; and all the black and white episodes of Callan. Idiosyncratic, I know.
Never heard of North Square, but I vaguely remember Psychos: was it good?
May 26, 2006 | Reply
Ooh! And Press Gang, Ace of Wands and Saracen (which wasn't really brilliant but cancelled, more just cancelled, but I liked it).