Sometimes its hard to believe that good television even gets produced, when so much of it cancelled because of an ancient ratings system that in no-way reflects what the public is actually watching. (Nielsen’s I’m looking at you). Sometimes a Network just doesn’t give a show enough time, sometimes they just don’t understand what they have until its too late, and sometimes the people that handle scheduling are just plain idiots.

Below, we have a list of 5 TV Shows that never should have been cancelled - and each of them was for one of the reasons listed above.

5. The Screen Savers

When TechTV was merged with G4 - every fan of TechTV knew that the glory days were over. Bizarre changes started immediately, and Leo Laporte left the show, and things looked really bad. The new co-host, however, was an aspiring actor named Alex Albriecht. He, along with Kevin Rose, managed to usher in a new era for The Screen Savers. The show was reborn, but after a few months Alex was fired, and the format was changed over an over again until they finally cancelled the show all together, and moved the staff to a new program called Attack of the Show!.

The Screen Savers should have never been cancelled, and the hosting team of Alex Albriecht and Kevin Rose would later re-team for an online show called Diggnation that has officially made them tech-rock stars.
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Some Christmas Specials seem to last forever. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has aired very year since the early 1960s. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is another one that has been on for as long as I’ve been alive, and will probably be on every Christmas until well after I’m dead.

Then there are other Christmas Specials. Specials that, if you’re a child of the 80s, you probably watched more than once, but that haven’t lived on into the immortal status. They aired annually for a few years, but these shows will never be the holiday mainstays that they were intended to be…but that doesn’t make them any less great.

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, however, we can remember these shows…

5. A Garfield Christmas

The Garfield Christmas Special was one of my favorites as a kid, and is available on a really cheaply produced DVD that includes his Thanksgiving and Halloween specials as well. Even though the special doesn’t air annually anymore, and the DVD looks like a VHS copy, I’m glad I share this one with my kids.

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M.A.S.K. was one of the my favorite 80s cartoons. I loved the concept behind the show. It was G.I. Joe meets Transformers - and if you can think of a better combination of action cartoons I’ll buy you a steak (but you can’t - because that one is the best). The vehicles became other vehicles and the the action figures had cool masks ta boot!

M.A.S.K. is one of those shows that I really wish would get a second chance. I’d love to see it back in action. The line was slightly reused for another toy project a few years ago, but it wasn’t M.A.S.K.

It’s a Living was a sitcom that first aired in 1980, but the show didn’t fair well. It was retooled for a second season, but that didn’t catch on either - so the show was cancelled.

However, all 39 episodes of the episodes went into syndication, where the show finally picked up an audience. As a result, the show was revived in 1985 and ran until 1989. This may be the first show in history to be un-cancelled.

The Wuzzles were one those really interesting ideas for toylines that came out after the Care Bears crazy of the 1980s. I’m actually surprised they haven’t returned to toy shelves yet - they’re much more interesting than Popples. The Wuzzles was actually a Disney cartoon, and only 13 episodes of the series were ever produced. It is, in fact, the shortest running Disney cartoon on all time.

Another interesting fact, is that The Wuzzles debuted on the same day as Disney’s Gummie Bears (which was far more successful). Still, for the few of you that remember The Wuzzles, I’m sure you’ll in enjoy this trip down memory lane…

Want more? There’s an old television for the Wuzzle plush dolls after the jump!

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One of the thing I like most about YouTube, is how you can find just about any old video you can think of on there. If you’re looking for an old TV show, or television commercial, you can almost always find it with a few clicks. With that in mind, from time to time, I’m going to be posting RETROVISION! - old commercials, videos, and tv shows to spark the old nostalgia bug.

First up is SHAZAM!, a 1970s take on the DC Comics Captain Marvel (who has to be referred to as SHAZAM! in the title for legal reasons…long story). This series is absolutely nothing like the Captain Marvel in the comics. In comics, Billy Batson is a little boy, here he’s a lanky, almost full grown teen, and the old guy he drives around the country with in an RV is completely made up for this series as well.

This show didn’t last long, and it’s not terribly hard to see why…