by Shelby Windham

Created on: June 08, 2009

A great television show is like a great book series. We get to know and learn to love the characters. We want to continue on their journeys with them. And we look forward to the next installment in the series that has touched our hearts.

But it may be said that money makes the world go 'round. And it may be true. Considering this, even the most loved of shows can be cancelled due to low ratings. After all, if not enough people are watching, no one makes money.

Many shows have had this unfortunate end. Most of them went with little or no notice. But some were noticed. Some were loved and lost. My So-Called Life, Felecity and Dark Angel and the animated show Clerks were all cut short and missed dearly. And a few shows' cancellations were downright protested.

An excellent example of this is the show Firefly. Premiering in 2002, and created by Joss Wheden, creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, it was cancelled even before all of the filmed episodes were aired. But during that time, it gained a fierce following of fans. The show mixed western and futuristic space genres and had typical Joss Wheden action and humor.

After being cancelled, the fans rallied in support of the show. Websites were constructed. Petitions were started. Money was raised for an ad in Variety Magazine. Postcards flooded UPN. Those who loved this show were not going down without a fight.

This support aided in the creation and production of the film Serenity, a movie based on Firefly. The movie was successful and fans of Firefly were soon joined by fans of Serenity. Those who had never seen the show were now in the know. The cult following Firefly already had now grew substantially. These were the Browncoats; fans self named after the brown dusters worn by the show's characters.

On the web, a petition may be seen and signed Here .

And so the fight continues today. While most of the fervor has died down, Firefly will always have its die hard fans. And just maybe those fans will have Firefly again. There have been rumors of sequel to Serenity. While Joss Wheden says it's not happening right now, he has not ruled it out. It has been said that the cast is interested. We already know the fans are.

Until then, Browncoats can placate themselves with watching what they have; 14 episodes of a series they love and a movie they never get tired of.

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