The Middleman is no more. Of all the shows cancelled before their time, this one’s demise was the saddest, because it was so darned, gosh-Jimminy fantastic as its eponymous star may have said. Blogger Narin Bahar was at the San Diego Comic Con where the show's cast said farewell in a unique way

The Middleman’s Final Stand

From apes obsessed with Mafia movies to lucha libre wrestles, trout-eating zombies and even the legendary Sensei Ping, the Middleman could outwit every enemy except the TV execs of ABC, which cancelled the show before the final episode was shot.

But at San Diego Comic Con this morning fans of probably the greatest show most people have never seen were given an opportunity to see the episode in its (nearly) full glory, with the cast reunited with creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach for a read-through of the end of the arc relating to the sinister Manservant Neville (Mark Sheppard).

The Middleman is about a struggling artist, Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales) who is recruited by The Middleman (Matt Keesler) into a secret organisation to fight evil. Packed full of quotable lines and geeky in-jokes, the adventures of Dubdub (and if you can work out why she's nicknamed Dubdub, this show is for you) and friends' first season were made into 12 episodes based on the cult comics by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach had whet fans' appetites by putting a few pages from the script of “The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse” online earlier in the year, but this was the first chance fans got to find out some of the big mysteries of the series, from The Middleman's real name (Clarence Colton, fact fans) through to the identity of his lost love (thus scuppering the potential of a relationship with Lacey). One character died, one was resurrected, another two got together, and then a pairing broke apart, while the script zinged with references ranging from Star Wars to kung fu movies, along with a Doctor Who reference which Grillo-Marxuach told us later had been put in specially for British fans: "Yeah, I think you are the only ones who'd really get that joke. I hope the BBC won't mind."

The cast and crew, which included Keesler, Morales and Sheppard along with Mary Pat Gleason (Ida), Brit Morgan (Lacey), Brendan Hines (Dubdub's boyfriend Tyler), and Jake Smollett (Noser) along with show writers Margaret Dunlap and Andy Reaser, then met fans in a meet and greet to sign copies of the DVD box set.

* The Middleman DVD is out on Region One now. Plans are being made for the full table read (which was videoed) to be put online somehow shortly. In the meantime, the story is the subject of a graphic novel (which, as Grillo-Marxuach himself pointed out, gets round the pesky issue of budget costs).

Have you seen The Middleman? What do you think of it? What other great shows have been cut down before they've got the attention or acclaim they've deserved? Have your say in the comments below..