9. Defiance (2013) (Syfy) (3 Seasons)

Recently did a rewatch of Defiance and again, I really enjoyed it. It has such an experienced cast, it had an overall arc, engaging stories, plenty of tension between the races, set in the near future. You could compare it like a western, it had a bar, a sheriff station, the mayor’s office, a medical facility and a marketplace. I think Defiance was rather popular, it still has the best ratings on Syfy 12 years later. It bested shows like The Expanse, Dark Matter, Continuum, Killjoys, 12 Monkeys and so on. Yes, the ratings did drop after the pilot episode, still, season 3 remained the most watched TV show of that year. But it also was costly to make and because of the ratings drop, Syfy decided to cancel it. The final episode does give some closure, it could be worse, on the other hand, season 4 would have been (partly) set in space, because Joshua Nolan was flying around in that alien spaceship. It’s a shame it didn’t get real closure.

8. Timeless (2016) (NBC) (2 Seasons)

Timeless definitely is one of my favorite time travel shows, if not my favorite. It got cancelled after its first season, fans backlash made NBC reconsider, a 10-episode second season was ordered. Fans were happy but apparently there weren’t enough eyeballs for NBC to renew it for a third season, so it got cancelled a second time. A month later however, NBC revived Timeless a second time, but not a season but a two-hour movie event to finish the story. Chapo NBC for doing this, for giving us fans closure. But still it sucks because this is just really good TV which deserved a third, fourth and a fifth season, this has become one of my favorite shows of all time. I am happy NBC was willing to go the extra mile, but another 10-episode season would have been even more appreciated. I am feeling the urge to start another rewatch! If you haven’t watched this yet, do yourself a favor, check this out, this is really good TV, I am certain you will love it too!

7. Project Blue Book (2019) (History Channel) (2 Seasons)

Writing this blog it sometimes gets so frustrating, all these good shows getting cancelled prematurely like this one also, an X-Files kind of a show, but not a man and a woman, but two men, and none of these guys are true believers like Mulder was. Although this show is based on real events, it definitely has that X-files feel. Conspiracies, UFO encounters, alien encounters, military obstructions, you name it, the same kind of things we saw happening in the X-files. It only got 20 episodes in total, two seasons of 10 episodes and it ended on a massive cliff-hanger. A true gem if you ask me, with a great cast, exciting and engaging storylines, character development, story-arcs. I applaud history channel to try this, a shame they didn’t have enough faith to give it another chance. I know, it is all about money, but this really is good TV!

6. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) (FOX) (2 Seasons)

This is perhaps one of the biggest F*ck-ups from FOX, cancelling this show after two seasons, and again, on a massive cliff-hanger. I sound like a broken record, but this too was a terrific show, a great cast, engaging storylines, character development and what not. It first aired early 2008 when the Writers Strike was still going on. It was the highest-rated new scripted series of the 2007–08 television season and therefore was granted another season. First season averaged at 11 million viewers per episode, second season the viewer numbers dropped more than half. Seeing that the audience mostly stayed away for season two, could you blame FOX for cancelling this? I want to say yes, but if something loses money. Still, sometimes you need to stick with it and I think they should have done this with Terminator. For the first two years after it cancellation, I kept hoping for someone to come to his or her senses but this never happened unfortunately.

5.Dark Matter (2015) (Syfy) (3 Seasons)

Dark Matter, created by some Stargate veterans Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Starring Melissa O’Neill, who has become a big tv star with The Rookie, Anthony Lemke, Roger Cross, Zoie Palmer, Jodelle Ferland and Alex Mallari Jr. Okay, it perhaps cannot best The Expanse, but it quickly has become one of my favorite SCI-FI shows of all time. My favorite character definitely is Three (Lemke) and I also think his character has been developed the most. When the show starts he basically is an annoying bastard, who only thinks of himself, obnoxious and what not, and he becomes someone the crew can rely on. To be fair, how he started out was also fun to watch, don’t get me wrong. The show was heavy influenced by Stargate and there are some recurring characters which you would recognize if you also are a fan of Stargate. Yes, again, it ends of a massive cliff-hanger, still, this show gives me so much viewing pleasure that I take that for granted, like with all the shows in my lists. Joseph Mallozzi has frequently spoke out the desire to give the show some closure in the form of a TV movie or miniseries, unfortunately, this has not happened yet.

4. The Pretender (1996) (NBC/TNT) (4 Seasons)

We got 4 seasons and two TV movies, still it was not enough! TNT had bought the rights and wanted to finish the story, which would consist of 3 TV movies, but after two movies, TNT decided to cancel the last one, so after we first saw a cliffhanger at the end of the 4^th season, TNT did it to us again with the 2^nd TV movie, not giving us this much needed closurer. Shame on you TNT. The Pretender will forever be one of my all time favorite TV shows. I dare to say that this is quite a unique TV show, especially back in 1996. Michael T. Weiss was Jarod, Andrea Parker was Miss. Parker. The story-arc ran through the whole series, but there were more than enough standalone episodes to catch a breath from the massive storyline. I rewatched it in 2024, still holds up, still a fantastic show which you need to see at least once in your lifetime!

3. Stargate Universe (2009) (Syfy) (2 Seasons)

Of course SGU cannot be absent from this list! One of the greatest crimes in TV history was the cancellation of SGU. Till this day there are Stargate fans who love SG-1 and SGA but hate or dislike the bastard child of the Stargate family, while to me SGU gets better with every rewatch. Currently I am rewatching this with my wife and every time we watch an episode, we make a note of it how stupid it was to cancel this show. Yes, it is different from the other ones, yes, it was darker and such, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. With a new Stargate TV show in the making, I really hope we get some kind of resolution for SGU, even if it is just mentioned, but I rather would see an dedicated episode to SGU, but if that ever happens, it certainly won’t be in the first season.

2. Stargate Atlantis (2004) (Syfy) (5 Seasons)

Even shows which have 5 seasons can be cut off short, without any conclusion. Because it was the intention that we would get TV movies of Stargate Atlantis as well as SG-1, the storyline could eventually be concluded in a movie, but that never came to fruition and we fans are left with an still open ending. I told you before that at the time, I didn’t mind the fact that Stargate Atlantis would continue into movies instead another season, but in hindsight, I really would have liked at least another season. Rewatched it last year, it still is my favorite Stargate show, it has the best regular cast but what I didn’t like was that the creators were so eager to kill of regular characters. Anyway, as with SGU, I hope the upcoming new Stargate show, can give some sort of a conclusion. Again, if this even does happen, it won’t be in season one.

1. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) (UPN) 4 Seasons

My number one is Enterprise, cut in its prime, after the phenomenal 3^rd season, we got an even better 4^th season. Perhaps it may surprise you that I am not a fan of the first hour, I really had to get used to this new crew, this new captain, but I now can honestly say that this is my 2^nd favorite Star Trek series, after DS9 of course. It would have been exciting, 3 more seasons, with the Romulan War and all. Besides that, its last two seasons were really strong, it deserved another season at least, but it kept struggling with the ratings and behind the scenes, at UPN, the new management weren’t Star Trek fans, they didn’t gave it the love it deserved. The possible upcoming Star Trek: United, may also give some form of closure for the characters, who knows, let hope it will.

Shows that missed the Top 25:

• V (2009) – There were parts I liked but the CGI, like with Sanctuary, was awful.
• First Wave – It did end of a major cliffhanger, but I don’t remember much more of it. I only own the first season, other seasons have never been released on physical media.
• Sanctuary – I did like this, I hated the CGI, I want to believe I am in this world when I am watching, but with the awful CGI that wasn't impossible.
• The Expanse - They did end at a natural break in the story, so it felt more or less done.
• SeaQuest DSV – Yes, I would have liked another season, but it didn’t get better after the first season.
• Primeval – Five short seasons, it ended on a cliffhanger but we never got to see a follow-up season.
• Counterpart – Have yet to see the complete series, but I hear it is really good

Final Word

This is my Top 25 Multiple Season Wonders, as I said earlier, this document is a ‘living’ document, because it all depends the mood you are in, if you see new things on a show, how you see a show a few years later, because you as a person evolves also, so it is possible there are things you liked before, you don’t like now or visa versa. So in a few years, I may create a follow-up, we’ll see, hope you enjoyed this blog post and if you want to share your Top 25 with me and the other readers, please let me know in the comments section below.