Poll. If you were able to order a studio or network to make new episodes of a favorite TV show, would you?

That's true almost every year these days!

In fact, I believe that a ton of folks have abandoned serial dramas for that very reason. Why start watching a show only to have it yanked away before it ever resolves?

I've taken to recording the entire season of some shows before watching any of them. I just hate getting into a show only to have it canceled. I'd rather know upfront that the 13 episodes I've recorded comprise the entire series rather than waiting for a new episode that won't be happening.

To Stu

Babylon 5 is a series that I wish could be continued, but by now the actors have aged to the point that they could not pull it off.

Stu,

Arrested Development is on my list, too.

Also Seinfeld. And West Wing.

Babylon 5 is a series that I wish could be continued, but by now the actors have aged to the point that they could not pull it off

The main thing I liked about B5 was the fact that the series had a predetermined end. They didn't just drag it out until it got so boring people stopped watching it.

One show that I would really like to see come back is Mystery Science Theater 3000, I loved that show!

Yeah, do a new MST3K with modern movies. Start with Hot Tub Time Machine

The main thing I liked about B5 was the fact that the series had a predetermined end. They didn't just drag it out until it got so boring people stopped watching it.

That's one thing I like about many of the British drama series that I've watched. They began with the end in mind from season to season and kept the story moving toward that. Most U.S series seem to run with the idea of "let's keep it going for as long as they're paying for it."

I agree Div -- British episodic seasons are just like mini-series used to be (remember Roots?). The following season has the same or similar characters (maybe), but telling a new story. The closest we had to that was 24 (one season = one day). Might make it easier for someone to pick up the story mid-series (like picking up season 3 and understanding the story), compared with some shows like Lost (although Lost could be considered a mega-series with a beginning, middle, and end because of the negotiated ending)

Tell him to re-watch season 1 and remember how good the show USED to be before it got repetitive

belle are you into sci-fi?

Yep...and I watched Heroes seasons 1-3...started season 4 and saw it was just like 1-3, so I gave up on it. Invested my mind and time into Lost instead. Now I pretty much watch Mythbusters (and its new spin off Head Rush). Not much thinking television anymore :(

yea not much reg tv that i watch.

show you how strange we are, we don't even have the TV hooked up LOL

To be fair, Heroes did get stymied by a Writers Guild strike in 2007-08 and a threatened Screen Actors Guild strike in 2009. As I recall Season 2 was shortened and Season 3 started late. The scripts were not that good after the WGA strike and it seemed like they had been written by folks who had no familiarity with the characters. With the threatened SAG strike the producers wanted to get as many episodes in the can as they could on a shortened production schedule and the series suffered as a result. It wasn't as if the network had abandoned the show, but there were external factors at work that helped to engineer the demise of what had been a promising series.

True...but how do you explain away season 4 then? I stuck around through the rough times hoping for a return to form...just to get more uninspired writing after the 'dark times' in the industry.

Season 4 tried, but nothing could match the awesomeness of Season 1. I find it ironic that a far better series along the same lines, The 4400, failed in spite of having much better writing and a better overall cast. In the final season of Heroes they went into it thinking that it very likely would be the final season and they tried to bring the story to some type of closure. They failed because they left too many loose ends and they gave us a villain that we honestly didn't care about. Sylar's transformation was worthwhile, but the rest was like a great meal served cold.

Ensign Parker, Capt. Binghamton, and Lt. Carpenter

Schultz .. I 'hear' nothing

Great shows

I would love to see new versions of both of those.

I'm waiting for a sitcom based on the Iraq or Afghanistan wars but I don't think anyone is willing to tackle those from a comedic standpoint. We can get comedy out of WW2, Korea, and even Vietnam, but not our more modern conflicts. I think we've become too polarized for that.

Firefly would have my vote.

why yes yes they were. i am watching a lucy marathon.