Eureka (2006-2012)

Fans of Eureka were baffled by a Syfy press release that both praised the show’s fifth season episodes as “some of the best we’ve seen” and announced that the network wouldn’t be giving it a sixth year. The creators gave voice to those emotions in the form of the endearingly nerdy Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston), who learns that the government has cut funding to the super science lab where he and all of the show’s central characters work. He nearly quotes the release, asking how their budget could be cut considering the good work they’re doing and becoming increasingly flustered when their closing date is pushed up, a reference to the six-episode final season that was promised and later scrapped. He also pokes some fun at Warehouse 13, Syfy’s show about a government-run facility for storing mystical artifacts, asking if Eureka could get some of their funding since they had “paved the way for those guys.” While a wealthy patron swooped in to save the town, no one did the same for the show, and Warehouse 13 shared the same fate just two years later. [Samantha Nelson]