【I Am a Plaything (2025)】

Welcome toPop Culture Throwdown,I Am a Plaything (2025) a weekly column where Mashable's Entertainment team tackles the big questions in life, like what Star Wars movie is best and which superhero would win in a fight.

This week, we asked each other (and all of you, on Twitter): What TV show deserves another season? Let the throwdown begin.

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Freaks and Geeks

You knew this was coming. Any time a debate ignites about one-season wonders that deserved better, Freaks and Geeksis one of the first shows thrown into the ring. And for good reason, as NBC's 2000 teen-comedy-drama created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow has become as legendary for its soon-to-be-stars cast — James Franco, Seth Rogen, Busy Phillips, and more — as for its premature cancellation.

There were only 18 episodes completed of Freaks and Geeks, but killer episodes they were, following two different groups of high school outcasts in the fictional suburb of Chippewa, Michigan in the early '80s: the “freaks," a group of cool kids befriended by protagonist Lindsay (Linda Cardellini); and the “geeks," three delightfully awkward young nerds led by Lindsay’s brother Sam (John Francis Daley).

After one of the best Halloween episodes in TV history, a lot of Jason Segel drumming (and finding that disco doesn't suck), and a truly stylin’ blue Parisian night suit, the show ended. We literally left our friends on the way to a Grateful Dead concert. What happened to them? Feig answered some of those questions in an interview with Vanity Fair, but it’s not the same. Sure, high school doesn’t last forever, but we could have used a little more time with our geeky, freaky bunch. — Shannon Connellan, U.K. Editor

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Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23

Don't Trust the B was the bubbly joyride of a sitcom lover’s dreams. Running for just two seasons on ABC between 2012 and 2013, Nahnatchka Khan’s tale of roommates Chloe and June (Krsyten Ritter and Dreama Walker, respectively) and their pal James Van Der Beek (Van Der Beek himself) was immensely clever and surprisingly sweet. A fantastic story of female friendship packaged with some of the best lines in comedy history (“I just had one of those moments where I realize what a great girl I am”), this terribly named treasure was ahead of its time. Sadly, its unceremonious ending left lots of dangling questions and no conclusion in sight. Bring back the B, if only so we know what happened with Ben. — Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter

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Invasion

While fellow 2005 dramas Lostand Prison Break ended up churning along merrily for multiple seasons, Invasionwas suddenly, unceremoniously yanked from our viewing schedules after just one outing. As I'm sure we can all agree, this was a tragedy. It's 15 years later and I'm still not over it. That show was going places. It pretty much had all the right ingredients every good mystery/thriller needs: a strange event we all wanted to get to the bottom of, the tantalising hint of alien life, and of course the smouldering acting prowess of the highly underrated William Fichtner.

Speaking of Fichtner, he actually spoke to Colliderabout Invasionin 2010, five years after the show disappeared from our screens. He said he still had a bunch of people asking him when it was coming back. Obviously it never did, and presumably — unless we get a miracle reboot — it never will. But dammit, ABC, it should. — Sam Haysom, Deputy U.K. Editor

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Happy Endings

At three seasons, Happy Endingsalready lasted longer than most of the series on this list. And yet, it feels like a waste that it was cut down in its prime. The cast chemistry was ah-mah-zing, the jokes were sharper and faster than ever, the universe was getting richer and more colorful with every new episode...and then, it was all over. We don't want Happy Endingsback because we were left with dramatic cliffhangers or unresolved character arcs. We want Happy Endingsback because we miss piling on with our weirdest, hottest, funniest friends. — Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment Editor