One Season Wonder

One of my favorite series on my PBS station back at the farm was One Season Wonders.  It was series from the UK (usually comedy) that only ran one season, around 6 or 7 episodes.  And my very favorite show was Meet the Savages starring Marcus Brigstock (who I still adore and have subsequently discovered some radio shows that he wrote).  I recently finished the show Monday, Monday (also from the BBC) which was another show that only lasted one season.   I have such a strange attitude towards shows that last only one season.  Often, I get bummed after finishing the episodes because if the show has done it's job, I care about the characters and I want to know what happens.  But, if that is the case more often that not, I get imagine what ever I want happening to the character.  And sometimes (more often with British shows I find), the last episode of the series wraps up most of the story lines, not completely, but enough that the end is satisfying.  So then you get this perfect little bite of a totally enjoyable show that hit it's peak without showing any wear that you see in later seasons.  There are many shows that I like that seemed like the writers didn't really know what to do with the characters anymore ( Veronica Mars, Alias, King of the Hill (which I liked in later seasons but the writing was not a tight as it was earlier on) and The Office which is really showing it's age during this post-Steve Carrell season).  And occasionally, I will think of one really amazing season of a long running show as a one season wonder.  This is certainly true with the second season of the show Justified (which I watched in the span out about 18 hours (and this includes about 7 hours of sleep).  That second season can almost stand completely separately from season 1 (except that the beginning of the first episode begins right were the previous episode leaves off).   They did such a great job expanding the characters that you aren't too handicapped if you hadn't seen the first season at all.