In the wake of the brutal cuts to the 2012 television season, I pick my own all-time worst TV show cancellations.

Louie and I decided to duke it out about which five TV series were most unfairly cancelled before their time. Read both and tell us which list you most agree with!

Remember the first season of Buffy? That was pretty rubbish. And what about The Vampire Diaries? In my opinion, practically unwatchable! But look at them now. Buffy is arguably the most influential television series of all time (alright, Twin Peaks and Star Trek don’t count… for some reason. Just go with it), and The Vampire Diaries is one of the most engaging shows on the air right now. And look at Fringe‘s development: without that clunky start, we never would have had alternate universes, Observer lore, Fauxlivia, Lincoln… sometimes networks need to give their shows a chance to grow into their own.

But of course, sometimes they don’t, and we’re left with the could-have-beens. There have been countless numbers of great shows over time that have been unfairly cancelled, and even terrible shows that just had that spark which could have developed into something amazing.

This list doesn’t represent the shows I miss the most, nor the ones I just would have liked to see more of. These are the five shows that I believe had the most potential for developing into truly epic television series had they been allowed to continue.

5. The Secret Circle

I guess this show partly made the list because it’s fresh in my mind. And I’m still annoyed about the Secret Diaries podcast situation. I know that a lot of people didn’t think Circle‘s cancellation was all that unreasonable – it was clunky, took too long to find its footing, and it used a lot of cliches in its storytelling. All that is true, but I can’t help but compare this show to The Vampire Diaries. As I said earlier, TVD had a terrible start but developed into something truly wonderful, and I actually think that Circle‘s first season was much more solid.

Under Andrew Miller’s leadership and with Kevin Williamson’s supervision, I think this show could have been truly incredible; with the four new Blackwells arriving in town, season 2 would have begun a whole new era of the show, and by season 5 (of what by then would be one of The CW’s highest rated series), we would have said, “LOL remember season 1? We’re lucky this show got renewed at all, because look at it now!” Or something to that effect but less cheesy.

4. Firefly

I switched up my #3 and #4 a bunch of times before deciding that I’d rather stay true to my gut instinct and incur the wrath of the Browncoats than betray my One True Love, Fran Krantz, so I placed Firefly in the lower spot. That said, this show was obviously amazing, and while the movie tied up some of the loose ends, a lot was left open for future movies/seasons to explore. I discussed a potential River spin-off in another column, but that could have worked in this show, too. Get her active and functional, and have her and Mal square off about leadership of Serenity’s crew.

This is the textbook example of a show that could have been epic had it been allowed to continue; this is Buffy 2.0, and I’m just glad that fans have honoured the show’s one season and given it the cult status it deserved.

3. Dollhouse

One of my favourite shows of all time, I wish Dollhouse could have gone on forever. That said, to a certain extent I feel like the two seasons it was given satisfied me. Season 1 was definitely a learning curve, with completely throwaway self-contained episodes, but the overarching threads of what the Dollhouse was and what Rossum Corp. was really after were just incredibly intriguing.

I feel like, had the show been allowed to survive, season 2 would have been a lot different. The final twist of [spoiler alert, I’m not cruel enough to reveal this one] being evil was, in my opinion, completely ridiculous, but other than that there was not a main character I didn’t enjoy.

I really really really want more Dollhouse, you guys. I want to see what they did in between the present day and the future. I want to see more zombie season-era storylines. I want to see what happened after the end. I want to see Victor and Sierra owning most other TV couples, and I just need more Topher Brink in my life. Excuse me, I’ll be in my hole in the floor crying and scribbling on the walls.

2. Veronica Mars

Season 3 sucked, let’s just get that out of the way right now. But, of course it did. On the brink of cancellation, the showrunners were told they had to get rid of the “confusing” central narrative and drive the show on an episodic basis, with self-contained mysteries. That wasn’t what Veronica Mars was ever supposed to be about.

Honestly, in my opinion, it was hardly about the mysteries at all (as great as the Lilly Kane storyline was). It was about the kooky set-ups, the layered characters and the borderline cartoonish feel of Neptune. Looking back on it, Veronica Mars feels like it had five seasons, probably because the first two were so rich in scope. It was fun, entertaining and heartfelt, and the should-have-been-cliche teen angst Logan/Veronica plot just somehow worked. And while Kristen Bell kicks ass in general, Veronica was the perfect role for her, and probably the role she will always be remembered for.

Is it too late for a movie?

1. Dark Angel

After having gone through the classic choices, I’ve arrived at my controversial #1. The thing with Dark Angel, of course, it that it was a very flawed show. There were holes in the mythology, the villains were a bit cartoony, and most of the actors seemed to mentally check out in season 2 (except of course Jensen Ackles, who carried the show!). But it was in these imperfections that you could truly see the potential for amazing development.

And despite all these flaws, Dark Angel was a fantastic show; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Created by David Cameron, it followed a young girl who was trying to make it in a post-apocalyptic world after escaping from the military facility where she had been genetically engineered and raised as a supersoldier. She was one of many with the same face, and some of the best scenes were the ones in which Max confronted her younger doppelgangers. The first season was driven by Max’s quest to find her “siblings,” the group of children she had grown up with. In the second season, she escaped capture for the second time, and had to fight a deadly virus keeping her from the man she loved while working to take down Manticore. While the science of the show was never explored as much as I’d have liked, the concept of cloning and genetic engineering was extremely rich and offered so much deep, borderline controversial character exploration, which I would have liked to see the writers take to the next level.

As the second season ended, the characters were left at a huge crossroads: having “come out” as transgenics, Max and Logan were now leading Terminal City hand in gloved hand, and so much could have happened from that point. Max would have, naturally, gravitated towards Alec. Logan, fraught with rejection and bitterness, would have potentially turned against them. The transgenics – both human and otherwise – would have had to form a united front against the outside world, probably with a lot of conflict and drama. It would have been awesome. Of course, what I really want is a Dark Angel remake, but that’s a column for another time.

Honorable Mentions

Awake, Caprica and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. They’re runners-up because I never saw them, but from what everyone’s been saying they could have been incredible.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Make sure to check out Louie’s list, and let us know your personal top five in the comments!