Three cancelled shows that could be worth watching on DVD

We all know about the astronomical success of the "Family Guy" DVD box sets, which motivated the network that originally cancelled the Seth MacFarlane-created series (Fox) to offer the residents of Quahog, R.I., a second chance.

There were also the considerable sales of "Firefly," the Joss Whedon sci-fi/western (also cancelled by Fox) which found new life as a Universal-backed motion picture called "Serenity" (even if its total box office take didn’t even cover the film’s modest $40 million production budget).

While most cancelled shows don’t get a second chance on television or the big screen, their eventual release on DVD offers viewers the chance to check out what they missed the first time around.

Here are some of the very best of the very cancelled, emancipated of commercials and chocked full of commentaries no one will ever listen to:

* Wonderfalls

Canadian indie film standout Caroline Davernas starred in this 2004 comedy about an MTV generation underachiever who graduated from Cornell and now works at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Jaye Tyler (Dhavernas) frequents the bar where her best friend is a waitress, lives in a trailer and is generally content with an achievement-free existence (despite being the de facto redheaded stepchild in her family).

Her entire life changes, however, when she discovers that manufactured representations of animals (like wax figures and those of the stuffed variety) can speak to her. As much as she tries to ignore them, she is all but forced to listen and repeatedly commit that most dreaded act of any self-respecting slacker: the good deed.

Ever the reluctant hero, Jaye saves relationships, reputations and even lives through the course of the 13 produced episodes on the DVDs.

The good news is that the writers knew the series was being cancelled and were able to conclude the initial story arc; the bad news is that we will never find out who exactly was talking to Jaye (or if she was actually suffering from a mental illness).

Either way, the acting in this series was absolutely superb, particularly from Tracie Thoms ("Rent," "Cold Case") as Jaye’s best friend and the venerable William Sadler ("The Shawshank Redemption," "Roswell") as her caring but aloof father.

* Mission Hill

Originally dubbed "The Downtowners," this 1999 WB cartoon has found new life on Cartoon Network’s "Adult Swim," and for good reason.

The 13 produced episodes (only six of which were aired before cancellation) nearly ooze with biting satire and sardonic wit.

The protagonist is Andy French (voiced by Wallace Langham), an aspiring cartoonist/slacker-alcoholic who lives in a "funky" neighborhood and is forced by his parents to take in his hopelessly nerdy little brother Kevin.

Not only do the clashes between the two yield hilarious results, but "Mission Hill" also, sometimes mercilessly, skewers youth culture in a way that is still (and perhaps even more) relevant today.

The animation style employed by the series is also worth noting, with its vibrant-yet-imperfect neons and characters that, despite being drawn as caricatures, somehow seem indefinably more real because of that.

* Greg the Bunny

What began on the cable access show as "Junktape" and later as a series of interstitial movie-spoofs on the Independent Film Channel culminated with this 2002 Fox sitcom which disappeared quickly from the airwaves.

Although the show was obviously flawed and maybe even directionless, at times, it also exhibited the kind of creativity sorely lacking in a genre overrun with cop, doctor and lawyer shows.

The series is set in an alternate universe where puppets are not only alive, but an oppressed minority.

The titular character and his best friend, a human named Jimmy (played by Seth Green), work on the set of "Sweetknuckle Junction," a failing children’s show run by Jimmy’s father (Eugene Levy, in a rare sighting outside of the "American Pie" series). Greg is the star of the show; Jimmy, a personal assistant.

Although of different species, the two share a common bond of video games, women and marijuana-laced brownies.

The show is fantastic at sending up the children’s entertainment industry, and jabs at shows like "Sesame Street" abound.

The puppets are the stars of the show, especially Warren Demontague, a washed-up monkey puppet who was once a world-renowned Shakespearean actor, and Count Blah, who harbors a particular grudge against another certain Count.

Yes, gentle viewer, you do indeed live in a television world where shows like the above three are cancelled to make room for yet another season of "Smallville."

Did Tom Welling apply for his AARP card yet?