Joss Whedon: His TV Shows Ranked From Worst To Best

2. Firefly

It's an unwritten rule of the internet that no discussion of cancelled TV shows can end without mention of Firefly, because it remains the most famous one season wonder of all time. For a series from 2002 with only fourteen episodes, some of which aired out of order, it still has a huge following, in part because of the talent involved and in part because it somehow still feels audacious today. Firefly is most simply described as a space western in which the swashbuckling Captain Mal Reynolds (played with overwhelming charisma by Nathan Fillion) leads his team on some fairly shady jobs in pursuit of cash, but of course there's a lot more to it. Like the best of Whedon's output, Firefly's tone can flip from witty to heartfelt in a single scene without stalling. It also rivals Dollhouse for flat-out disturbing ideas, particularly in its exploration of life under an authoritarian regime. Despite having so little time to develop its characters and its world, Firefly undoubtedly has the strongest ensemble right off the bat, and it's consistent. In War Stories, the uncompromising Zoe interrupts the villain's monologue about choosing her captain or her husband and gestures to Wash: "Him. I'm sorry. You were going to ask me to choose, right? Do you wanna finish?" A lesser show would have milked that moment for melodrama, and many still do, which is why Firefly remains refreshing and endearing to new Browncoats as the years go by.