Good Television Shows that Were Cancelled Too Soon

I know I'm out of sync with the tastes of mainstream America, but the television networks remind me of this fact frequently by canceling shows that I enjoy. I have followed some hits from the beginning - I watched every episode of The Wonder Years, I can finish sentences on Friends reruns, and I'm now hooked on Monk and Ugly Betty - but each new season, I am afraid to watch the shows look good because I suspect they will be cancelled by the time I get really interested in them. (Look out Ugly Betty - with me watching, you might not make it past this season, no matter how popular you are!)

My first television heartbreak was back in 1987 when my middle-school celebrity crush, Corey Haim, starred in Roomies, a comedy about a young genius going to college early only to be paired as a roommate with a retired military man old enough to be his father. I loved the show, probably because it gave a lot of screen time to those cute Corey dimples, but it was cancelled after one season. (In retrospect, this show probably wasn't all that good after all. Years later, I saw a rerun on a cable channel somewhere, and I understood why it had been cancelled. I don't think even the cable channel kept it on long.)

After I got over losing Roomies, I fell in love with Boston Common, another college sitcom. On this show, Anthony Clark (who went on to star in Yes, Dear) played a fish-out-of-water role, a country boy and protective older brother who drove his sister to college in Boston and decided to stay. His love interest, Joy, was played by Traylor Howard, who is now on my current favorite, Monk. I caught Boston Common on reruns, as well, but I still don't understand why it was cancelled after only two seasons.