With all that in mind, can you blame us for thinking of these five dearly beloved - well, and Knight Rider - shows that could perfectly translate into the animated format so that they could stick around for a few more years (and hopefully get the Futurama treatment, coming back to life with a complete season order)?

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Why it’d work: Man versus machine, including time-traveling and ridiculous stunts? The biggest surprise is that the Terminator franchise hasn’t made it to Saturday mornings already.

Why it may not be the best idea: Could the show’s larger questions about the nature of identity and predestination thrive in an animated series? And, even if they could, would the audience be even smaller without Summer Glau, Brian Austen Green and Lena Hedley to make it look pretty (admittedly, in bruised and bloody way) each week?

Verdict: There could definitely be a Terminator cartoon... But a Sarah Connor Chronicles cartoon...? We’re not convinced.

Pushing Daisies

Why it’d work: Quirky, filled with color and with four detectives solving weird mysteries on a weekly basis, it’s a less-annoying Scooby Doo with Ned’s magic finger replacing the comedic titular dog.

Why it may not be the best idea: Would network standards and practices have a problem with a cartoon with such a high body count every episode? Would the show’s tendency towards the saccharine seem even more pronounced with animated actors?

Verdict: If it could keep the level of writing as the original - and Chi McBride and Kirsten Chenowith as voice actors - we’d happily tune into an animated Daisies every week.

Knight Rider

Why it’d work: It’s a man fighting crime with the help of his talking car. Let’s face it; this should’ve been a cartoon to begin with. Maybe the scripts would’ve been better than this recent go-around, if it had.

Why it may not be the best idea: Without the real-life car porn, is there any point to Knight Rider at all? Also, could the show’s creators resist the lure of turning KITT into a Transformer now that CGI budget constraints would be gone?

Verdict: Thanks to the thoroughly generic nature of the original, there’s nothing worth tuning up for a Knight Rider cartoon model.

Firefly

Verdict: Sadly, we’re saying that the Serenity should stay grounded.

The Middleman

Why it’d work: From its origins as a comic book to its broad cartoony comedy as a television show, this is another series that has always felt like a cartoon despite its flesh and blood stars. Plus, as a cartoon, imagine everything it could get away with but couldn’t afford on an ABC Family budget!

Why it may not be the best idea: We have no reasons why. Seriously, this is a no-brainer.

Verdict: Did you miss the part where we called it a no-brainer above?

So, did we forget a show that would be perfect for the animated treatment? Do you think that we’re insane for arguing that a cartoon Firefly wouldn’t work? And, most importantly, who do we have to beg for a Middleman animated series?