Category: GFM

My Top 3 Favourite Cancelled TV Shows

GFM / 5 years ago

I’m really good at choosing terrible TV. Don’t believe me? I can prove it.

All my favourite shows get cancelled way too soon, while other shows that should’ve been canceled ten years ago soldier on (Looking at you, Grey’s Anatomy.).

Here are my top 3 favourite (now cancelled) shows from the last year.

Powerless


Photo source

NBC put a spin on the popularity of superhero shows with Powerless. Powerless is a comedy that follows Emily as she starts her dream job as the director of research and development at Wayne Security in Charm City. A city where superheroes and villains and the everyday regular humans that are sick and tired of having to deal with the aftermath of epic battles.

As the director of research and development, it is Emily’s job to motivate and inspire her team into creating the latest new product that will solve the problems of regular humans co-existing in the superhero world. It’s too bad that Emily’s team is less than interested in their mission and her boss, Van Wayne, is only interested in himself.

Powerless employed some of my favourites. Alan Tudyk, who you may recognize from Firefly, another one of my prematurely cancelled TV shows, portrays Van Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s cousin, CEO of Wayne Security. Danny Pudi, from Gilmore Girls and Community, and Ron Funches from New Girl, @midnight, and the Kroll Show,  are members of Emily’s development team and Emily herself is portrayed by Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical, Grease Live).

I really enjoyed the quirkiness of this comedy, and the premise was interesting and engaging. I loved the whole ensemble cast, but it was Alan Tudyk and his awesome performance as Van Wayne that made the show for me. And Powerless featured a few super cool cameos like Adam West and Marc McClure. It was a fun show.

The network didn’t agree with me and Powerless was cancelled before its first season was up.

Conviction

Photo source

Speaking of shows that were cancelled in their first season, the next show on my list finished its 13-episode run mid-season and left me wondering whether or not it was going to be cancelled for months before the network gave us the bad news.

Conviction is a show about Hayes Morrison, a former first daughter, lawyer and wild child, who gets strong-armed into heading up the new Conviction Integrity Unit to avoid going to jail for cocaine possession. She and her team investigate cases where there is suspicion of wrongful conviction. The new high-profile job puts Hayes in the spotlight while her mother is running for state senate and in close proximity to her ex-boyfriend and former colleague, DA Conner Wallace.

When I first found out about this show, I was a little worried because the promotional material really leaned hard on the ‘wild child’ bit. But Hayes Morrison was being brought to life by one of my celebrity crushes, Hayley Atwell. And I fell in love with Hayley because of her portrayal of Agent Peggy Carter in Marvel Cinematic Universe films like Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.  On TV, in the same role, Hayley guest-starred on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and starred in the cancelled-after-two-seasons Agent Carter.

I’m not bitter that the TV execs cancel everything I love. Not at all.

Anyway. I was in mourning after the cancellation of Agent Carter, so I was just excited that Hayley Atwell was back on TV. The show turned out to be really good, with a compelling cast of characters and great stories. It wasn’t as full of horrible tropes as I was expecting.

Alas, apparently the ratings weren’t there for a show  with a smart, badass, queer lady lead, a diverse cast and compelling stories.

Dark Matter

Photo Source

Speaking of diverse casts. It’s almost too soon to talk about the last show on my list.

But I can’t talk about awesome shows with diverse casts without thinking about Dark Matter. From the creators and show-runners of Stargate, Dark Matter is a space opera where the crew wakes up on their ship, the Raza, to no memories of who they are or what they’re doing. As they start to piece together their past, the Raza crew, lead by badass, POC, queer woman Two (aka Portia Lin, aka Rebecca), explore what identity is all about while running from the Galactic Authority and their past lives as criminals and dangerous people.

They’re trying to stop a corporate war, assassins and an android uprising, while exposing conspiracies and building alliances. It’s just all in a days’ work for the Raza and her crew.

The 7 person crew has a diverse representation of different races, ages, gender expressions and sexual orientations. This crew is unlike anything I’ve seen in a science fiction show before.

The show was fun, had a bit of campiness, wasn’t afraid to make jokes and created engaging stories, characters and relationships.

Dark Matter’s supporting characters were great and well-casted. Their villains were complex (Hello Will Wheaton).

Oh, and did I mention it was a Canadian production? And for me, it holds a special place in my heart, because my high school crush and Canadian Idol winner, Melissa O’Neil stars as the Raza crew’s leader, Two.

While Dark Matter was cancelled only a few months ago, there was hope this show might be saved after the fandom rallied behind it. But after the last of 3 interested parties passed on picking up the show, it remains cancelled. Apparently, I can’t have nice things.

Honourable Mention

I have to give an honourable mention to the show Doubt. Which was canceled after 2 episodes.  It was a courtroom drama, starring Katherine Heigl, from every romcom in the late-oughts, and Lavern Cox, from Orange is the New Black. The main character, Sadie, played by Katherine Heigl, was boring AF. But all of the other characters including Lavern Cox’s Cameron Wirth, a transgender woman finding her way as a new litigator in a new firm, were interesting and engaging.

Doubt was cancelled after 2 episodes but I honestly feel the show wasn’t given enough time to find its feet. Who knows what could have been. I really enjoyed what I saw from this show that was canceled before it even started.

 

What is your favourite show that was ripped from the airwaves way too soon?

Tell me all about it in the comments.

January Reading List

GFM / 6 years ago

The last few years, I haven’t been reading nearly as much as I’d like to. I’d had lofty goals on my Goodreads profile to read 20 books a year. Maybe ever 30!

That didn’t happen.

This year, I set out to read different kinds of books. Books I may not normally pick up. And with that, I set a really sad, but hopefully attainable goal. I was going to read 6 books in 2017. That’s a book every two months. Surely I could manage that.

Apparently, I need to set my bar very, very low in order to achieve success. Because in the month of January, I read 4 books.

They were (with brief, spoiler-free reviews and out of 5 star ratings):

The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

It seems like my friends were either reading this book or had read it. I was super curious, so I picked it up. This was easily the best book I’ve read in a long time. I couldn’t put it down. Nicola Yoon creates diverse, beautiful characters, with an amazing story. Everything about this book was gorgeous.

I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads.

 

Scrappy Little Nobody By Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick is the next in a long line of actors to write a memoir/autobiography. Anna Kendrick is funny on Twitter and I have enjoyed her as an actor, but there’s a loss in translation from funny actor and tweeter to author. Some of her insights were funny and interesting, but other times the book really dragged. Scrappy Little Nobody was fine. I rated it 3 stars.

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelves for a long time. I tried it and just couldn’t get into it. I loaned it out for a while. Then it went back to sitting on my shelf. I was desperate for something to read, so I picked it back up again. This time, it was a completely different story. I read it quickly and ended up really enjoying it. It definitely falls into the chic lit genre. The twists and turns were pretty predictable. At times, it felt like Lauren’s main character was an alternate-universe Lorelai Gilmore. But it was enjoyable enough. I rated it 4 stars.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

After reading The Sun is Also A Star, and loving it so much, I decided to pick up her other book. Everything, Everything is Nicola Yoon’s first novel. It was a fast read and again, full of interesting and diverse characters. The relationship between the two main characters was quick and predictable, but cute. While this book didn’t grab me the same way The Sun Is Also A Star did, it was still a really good read.

I rated this book 4 stars.

Currently: January 2017

Currently / 6 years ago

Currently

watching: A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix

I read the books and was a fan, but never watched the movie adaptation. I had zero interest in the film adaptation, probably due to the casting of Count Olaf: Jim Carrey. He’s ruined so many of my favourite things by starring in film adaptations: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Carol. So I chose to skip A Series of Unfortunate Events.

However, when I heard Netflix was doing an adaptation, and that Neil Patrick Harris was starring in it as Count Olaf, I was really excited for it. And it’s been decent so far, and I have zero casting complaints.

We’re recapping it over on Snark Squad, so if you’re a fan or just checking out Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events for the first time, join us.

 

reading: The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

 

This is the fifth book I’ve read so far this year. It’s something I borrowed and is not something I’d pick up normally, but I’m working on broadening my reading choices.

I’m also reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. It is the fourth and final book in the terrible, horrible, dumpster fire of a book series the Twilight Saga. Why? Because we’re recapping it on Snark Squad. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to be finishing these books.

listening: Fire in my Soul – Walk Off The Earth


The latest single from Walk Off The Earth. I may have mentioned that I’m a fan of all their work? Covers, original songs, it’s all good. So when I saw on Twitter that they were going to be releasing a new single, I couldn’t wait. I like the feel of this tune.

 

making: Labels

For Christmas, my mother gave me a label maker. And that might seem like an odd thing to be excited about, but I was super excited for it. I’ve been using it to organize all of the important papers, contracts, manuals, warrantees, and other documents in the house. It’s a system I’ve been using at work to keep track of templates and master copies of things and it translated really well into a system to use at home. Nerdy and OCD enough for you yet?

 

feeling: Cold

Winter is my least favourite season. I’m just not here for these long nights or freezing, sunless days. And I have the worst time keeping warm. I layer on the clothes, the blankets, I even own and make use of a Snuggie.  But I just can’t seem to get comfortable in the winter, temperature-wise. Is it spring yet?

planning: A retirement party

Not mine! (If only). My mum is retiring this year and we’re working on planning her a bash to celebrate.

 

loving: Spending time with my niece

I haven’t actually talked about this on my blog too much, which is surprising because it’s been such a huge change in my family life, but my brother and sister-in-law had a baby this summer. I am so in love with my little niece and am really enjoying being an aunt. It’s also been really cool to see my other brothers embrace their new role as uncle. It’s been awesome and I’m so lucky to be living close to them and her. I don’t know my other niece and nephew very well, and spending all this time with baby Squish is something I’m really loving.

 

What are you guys up to lately? Let me know!