Firefly (2002-2003)

There have been a lot of shows that were cancelled after just one season, whose cancellation is now viewed as an absolute travesty. While comedy has Freaks and Geeks and drama has My So-Called Life, when it comes to sci-fi there's no debate: it's Joss Whedon's Firefly. Debuting on Fox in 2002, the show takes place in 2157, after humans leave earth and terraform a bunch of new planets. "The Alliance" was a group of planets close to the center of the solar system who banded together and declared themselves rulers, leading to war with the independent planets who didn't want to join their group. Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is a Veteran of the "Unification War", who fought against The Alliance, but ended up on the losing side of that skirmish. These days, he captains the "Firefly class" ship called Serenity, alongside a few of his former war buddies as they smuggle goods and try to keep to the far reaches of the solar system where The Alliance doesn't have much control. Cannibals called "Reavers" will kill the gang if they land in the wrong place, but the real drama comes when Serenity picks up a telepathic woman called Tam (Summer Glau) who Alliance forces are desperately searching for. A space Western said to be inspired by the Civil War novel "The Killer Angels" Fox killed any chance the show had by airing it out of order, which confused viewers in a major way. Fire whoever made that call. Lots of "straight" sci-fi loving dudes were probably feeling pretty confused when Nathan Fillion's fanny made an appearance. We salute Fillion for his fine firmament which we see in one hot episode where he is left naked. We definitely want to fill Fillion when he stands naked with his round buns facing the camera. He's been left behind in the desert totally naked, but eventually a lovely lady will swing by to pick him up. Oh, to be a Firefly on that desert planet, so we could see Nathan's front side! More shots of that can and this one never would've been cancelled!