I’m sure that it happens to most of us: we really get into an awesome television show, only to have it cancelled before we find out what happens in the end, if so-and-so ever managed to kill such-and-such and if our OTP ever became cannon.

A prime example is the 2002 show Firefly, a Western-style space adventure about the lives of a crew of thieves on their ship, Serenity. Despite a huge cult following, a 9.2/10 rating on TV.com and national outrage, the show was cancelled after 14 episodes. In fact, the outcry from all of the Firefly fans was so large, that the directors and cast came together once more to make a movie, Serenity that wraps up the series to appease the unhappy masses.

So why is it that some awful shows can run for 12 season, and better ones only run for 1? The answer, folks, is people. Or more specifically the people directly responsible for the shows, the T.V networks. They claim that a lack of funding or not enough fan support were accountable, not their own lack of interest and towards the show.

A list of eight of the best shows ever cancelled too soon are as follows:

1. Firefly – A Fox series cancelled after 14 episodes due to being “oddball” and “offbeat” according to TV Guide’s Matt Roush, but even now, 10 years later it has a large cult fan base commonly referred to as the “Brown Coats”.

2. Dark Angel – This Fox series spanned 2 seasons over 2 years and was about genetically enhanced super soldiers who were trained as assassins. They escaped from a secret government facility where they were kept, and into the real world of 2019. It was supposed to come back for another season, but was cancelled because of dropping ratings during its second season.

3. Pushing Daisies – This 2008 series about a pie maker who can bring people back to life with one touch and end their lives, was cancelled after 2 seasons because it was “too expensive to produce”, and its ratings went down after a writers strike in 2009.

4. Heroes – Ran 4 seasons from 2006 to 2010, but was cancelled because even though the show started out with high ratings, they slowly diminished throughout its time on television. The large fan base made it possible for the online comic book series, Heroes: Origins to be produced in 2013.

5.  The 9 lives Chloe King (recommended by Karina Holt, senior) – Chloe King, a seemingly normal girl discovers that she is a descendant of an ancient race of called the Mai who all have cat like powers. They (the Mai) are in a war with humans and it is Chloe’s destiny to stop it. It was cancelled after a few months because of poor reviews and ratings.

6. Secret Circle (recommended by Sara Proctor, sophomore) – Was a supernatural show about a young girl who discovers that she is a witch by blood when she moves towns. Soon after, she joins a secret coven of another five witches. The show was cancelled after the second season because of the expensive costs of its trademark realistic special effects.

7. Life unexpected – A teenage girl, Lux, who was given up at birth by her teenage mother and decides to reconnect with her birth parents after spending the most of her 16 years of life in foster care. The show received positive reviews, but was cancelled after the second season when rating dropped slightly.

8. Kyle XY (recommended by Karina Holt, senior)– A teenage boy is found alone in the woods, with no memory, no clothes, no belly button, and no communication skills and covered in pink goo. When he is arrested by police (he’s naked, remember?), he meets a psychologist who tries to help him remember who he is and how to function in society, and is taken in by her family who gives him a name – Kyle. Despite a group of devoted fans, it received bad ratings and was cancelled after the first season – on a cliff hanger!

9. Bunheads (recommended by Anna Williams, freshman) – Seeing her life and career as a ballerina at a dead end, Michelle Simms decides to marry an admirer who is killed soon after in a car accident. Michelle struggles to adjust to her new life in her dead husband’s small town and teaching alongside her disapproving mother-in-law at a ballet school. It was cancelled after one season due to mixed reviews about the first season and about coming back for a second season.

Shows cancel all the time and we, the fans, are all effected by it at one point or another. Occasionally, the voice of the people will be enough for the show to come back for another season, a movie or a comic book series, but this is usually not the case. Sometimes the T.V networks are too strong for the people. Sometimes we need to accept that most people don’t like the fantasy/supernatural genre of shows that are usually the first ones to get axed. And as a result, the people who do like these type of shows will be disappointed time and time again.