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After watching several single season series over the past few years, some favorites have made my list. I'd consider it a favorite if I really wanted to see more, and yet it was cancelled:

Almost Human: Karl Urban as a futurist cop with an android side kick. Had such potential.
Firefly: I didn't watch it during the first airing, but caught up later. Nathan Fillion, 'nuff said.
Defying Gravity: Mystery cargo on a deep space mission.
Flash Forward: worldwide blackout followed by mystery flashbacks.
Invasion: pods from space land in the Everglades, oogity boogity ensues.
Surface: baby monster baby raised by geeks, larger version aren't so nice.
Threshold: crystal space objects change folks, and not for the better.
John Doe: unknown fella has no memory, but uncanny abilities.
Drive: Nathan Fillion once again, in a car race to save whatever is important to each participant.
Dresden Files: based on the book series about a wizard in present time.
Alcatraz: missing prisoners are returning, from back in time.
John from Cincinnati: surfer culture upheaval due to a man who can resurrect anything.
The Finder: spin off from Bones, about a man who can find anything.
Forever: man who can't die, yet 'dies' in every episode
Rome: a different take on the time of Julius Caesar, with a fantastic cast.

What are your favorite single season tv series?

Oddly enough, those are mine too! Maybe that's got something to do with the fact that watched them all together!

True enough. I never would have suggested them unless I found enjoyment in seeing them a second time through, with the exception of Firefly (only caught a few episodes on fire airing, and it was your suggestion after watching 'Serenity').

Agreed on Firefly and Almost Human. Can't say I wanted any more of any of those others, and I didn't even know there was a TV adaptation of The Dresden Files. Hopefully it was better than the puerile, illiterate abominations of novels.

My take on T'Pau's list :

Almost Human : Thought this had real potential. Love Urban in anything, basically (you know he's in consideration for a Dredd series?) and I liked the longer term story elements they were introducing. Would have watched more.

Firefly : Awesome show, the low budget showed occasionally, but Joss wrote around it brilliantly for the most part.

Defying Gravity : I liked this one, would have been interested to have seen more.

Flash Forward : An interesting premise, but it did get kind of slow as they worked through the season. Not that sad that it ended.

Invasion : Not that impressed with this one. Would have preferred a bit more horror in the mix.

Surface : Mostly liked the monsters, don't remember that much of it otherwise.

Threshold : Npt a bad show, bit weak. The ideas for the future seasons sounded interesting though, with the alien invasion pretty much succeeding.

John Doe : Bit dull, I thought. The explanation for his abilities was kind of silly.

Drive : Don't remember much of this one, but I remember it being okay.

Dresden Files : I like the books myself, which I only discovered on T'Pau's recommendation after seeing the series. The books are FAR better.

Alcatraz : Didn't make much impression on me.

John from Cincinnati : Very weird. It was a bit abstract for me, really.

The Finder : Decent series, I liked the characters.

Forever : This one had promise, I thought, but it only really started to live up to the potential towards the end.

The only one I can think of is Birds of Prey, Moonbeam City, and Stripperella. The only ones I watched from the other list was Firefly and the first couple of episodes of Finder. Finder was better on Bones when it had that other girl.

Flash Forward sort of fell apart and collapsed under it's own weight, but my god that was a fantastic premise! One of the few series I ever remember watching with my mother. I was in prison for the last 3 episodes, so I never saw how it ended.

Firefly is by far my favorite non-Trek sci-fi creation of all time and next to Breaking Bad/Saul and Game of Thrones is my favorite TV series ever.

Firefly for all the reasons listed.

Sad to hear Almost Human has nothing more. Just started it and love it.|


I don't think I've seen any other series that were canceled before a second season. Plenty though that were cancelled that I felt had something left in them though.

I agree on Firefly.

I also really loved:

Quark (1977-78) -- A short-lived Sci-fi/comedy that followed an interstellar garbage collector.

Alien Nation (1989-90) -- Starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint, who play two detectives--one of them an alien, a former slave among hundreds of others who washed ashore on Earth and were integrated into Human society. I really loved how they developed the Newcomers and the relationship between the main characters and how the writers boldly addressed social issues. Based on the 1988 movie, which I have also seen and enjoyed. I haven't watched the TV movies yet, but I do intend to.

Crusade (1999) - Babylon 5 spin-off. If only the studio and network had backed off and allowed Straczynski to tell the story he wanted to tell.

Terra Nova (2011) -- I really wanted to see where they took the show.

I'm going to add a maybe, because I've heard that a second season has been ordered but with Tom Hardy's quixotic nature I'm not sure it will ever happen: Taboo. Hardy stars and (I believe) produces, and elder statesman of video media Ridley Scott exec produces. Hardy's performance was continuously predictably incredible, as was the writing. I truly hope to see a second season.

Terra Nova was a really interesting premise, in a Stargate meets Lord of the Flies meets Earth 2.

Bryan Moore wrote:Terra Nova was a really interesting premise, in a Stargate meets Lord of the Flies meets Earth 2.

I agree with the premise being interesting, and they had decent actors involved. Should have had better writing.

I'm cheating with this one, possibly, but True Detective Season 1. The acting, the visuals, the story, the tension, the twist, using actors from The Wire.

Nutso wrote:I'm cheating with this one, possibly, but True Detective Season 1. The acting, the visuals, the story, the tension, the twist, using actors from The Wire.

Totally agree. Shame season 2 was not the same caliber.

Nutso wrote:I'm cheating with this one, possibly, but True Detective Season 1. The acting, the visuals, the story, the tension, the twist, using actors from The Wire.

Definite fan of Season 1. Never even watched 2, the reviews were all so awful.