2. Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars starred Kristen Bell in the role of the titular character, a former popular girl who has since become a social outcast at school, and works on the side as a private detective. The show is completely indebted to and in love with film noir, making this one to watch for movie buffs. It's also surprisingly dark for a network show, dealing with some rather unpleasant criminals while balancing things out with witty humour and a great lead performance from Bell. One of the stranger cancellation stories, Mars' ratings were rising when The CW decided to bin it, an indication that they were just fed up with the show's middling level of success despite strong critical acclaim from the get-go. Though Mars is never coming back in TV show form, a recent Kickstarter fund that aimed to raise $2m for a movie ended up rustling up almost $6m, so there is a semi-happy ending to the story after all.