Much like my last installment in Brilliant But Cancelled -- in which I reflected on the bitingly funny genius of Chris Lilley's Summer Heights High (and hell yes, you better believe I'm excited about the recently announced Ja'mie spin-off show) -- it's technically unfair to call this week's choice a cancelled series either. That's because Ricky Gervais, like Lilley, knows that shows only have a certain shelf life. Gervais -- whose new series Derek debuts on Netflix on Thursday, September 12 -- applied that theory to The Office and, the show under discussion here, Extras.

Oh Tyra. Ms. Banks is one cuckoo lady, y'all, and I am so thankful that someone was clever enough to give her her own talk show for five seasons. Of course, we can still catch all the crazy when America's Next Top Model returns August 2 -- and I expect to see even more weirdly sexual remarks and desperate grabs for attention this cycle, considering that male models are competing as well.

While it would be disingenuous for us here at TWoP to write anything in praise of Cory Monteith after we so openly snarked on his performance as Glee's Finn Hudson, our hearts do go out to his loved ones. But the cancellation of The Glee Project? Now there's something we can gush about.

This week, we honor the bravery of our founding fathers who, over two centuries ago, fought a war against an empire so that we could have the freedoms we enjoy today. And what better way to celebrate American exceptionalism then by watching a made-for-TV movie about aliens? Syfy is airing its latest flick, Independence Daysaster, starring Tom Everett Scott on June 27. Scott's character, Sam, must defend the planet from invading extraterrestrials along with a team of "rogue scientists." Scott, as you may well remember, played Detective Russell Clarke on Southland, the guy who was kicked off the force for selling pictures of a celebrity crime scene. Independence Daysaster looks like quite a step down from the critically-acclaimed Southland -- though who knows, maybe this alien flick will reinvigorate the entire genre. Whatever the case, this momentous occasion provides a great opportunity for us to take a look back at Southland, which was just cancelled in May after its fifth season finale.

FX's Elmore Leonard-inspired neo-Western Justified is closing out a stellar fourth season, with a fifth already greenlit for January 2014. It just reinforces the old adage about the third time being the charm, as Justified represents television's third attempt at launching a successful Leonard-based series. The first was Maximum Bob, which came and went in 1998 and while that show has its fans, it never had the makings of a breakout hit and the author himself reportedly didn't care for it one bit. That was followed by Karen Sisco in 2003, which seemed destined for success. It had a gorgeous star (Carla Gugino), a great setting (Miami), an experienced producing team (including Danny DeVito and future FX head honcho, John Landgraf), sparkling scripts (including a handful by Leonard himself) and a high-profile primetime berth on ABC's Wednesday night line-up. The ace pilot alone deservedly inspired critical hosannas, suggesting that U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco -- previously seen in the form of Jennifer Lopez in Steven Soderbergh's equally great big-screen Leonard adaptation, Out of Sight -- would be solving crimes for years to come.

Upon hearing that there was a real possibility of a Veronica Mars movie, if creator Rob Thomas could raise enough money through his Kickstarter campaign, the first reaction of any self-respecting fan of the show was to reach for their wallet and hand over all of their money. But the bigger question is: if they do meet their $2 million goal [Update: accomplished in a mere ten hours], is a Veronica Mars movie actually a good idea? We weigh the pros and cons.

We don't know what's more confusing: Why VH1 is bringing back Best Week Ever now, or why it was cancelled in the first place. We always enjoyed watching the pop culture show, and even read the fantastic Best Week Ever blog until it was shut down last June. We're happy it's coming back (assuming TPTB don't screw around with the original format too much) and hope that it's wildly successful so that the cabler will bring back these other recent -- we're not talking the Music First era, here -- gone-too-soon programs:

After Monday's exciting news that Life-Size, Tyra Banks' greatest contribution to television, is getting a sequel, a world of opportunity opened. The 2000 straight-to-TV movie became an instant guilty pleasure, but it was just one of Disney's many original movies to premiere on ABC or Disney Channel. There are plenty of others that deserve sequels of their own, but we're focusing on the best of the pre-High School Musical era -- because let's be honest, nothing was ever the same after that. Before that franchise, Disney Channel movies were adorably cheesy with cute, if completely unbelievable, storylines. Since the ill-fated day that Zac Efron had to choose between drama club and the basketball team, the movies lost all of their charms and became mere vehicles for the network's latest stars (all of whom were required to sing, apparently). Here are some of the classics (we use the word lightly in all respects) that haven't gotten sequels yet, and are long overdue:

Disney Channel's new animated series Gravity Falls introduces us to a bizarre town where instead of freaking out about pimples on date night, teens worry about their dates suddenly turning into cats. Twins Dipper and Mabel Pines get shipped off to live with their Uncle Stan for the summer in (wonderfully named) Gravity Falls, Oregon, where zombies, ghosts, and chainsaw-wielding beavers run amuck.

While there are many already-canned shows from the 2011-2012 TV season that we won't miss, Best Friends Forever is decidedly not one of them. The NBC series only seemed to improve from the fairly strong pilot and I think it wrongly got clumped together with the season's gender-obsessed failures like Are You There, Chelsea? and Man Up!, just because it featured two adult female friends and a slightly overwhelmed dude. In reality, BFF was a fun and promising series that deserved a bit more room to breathe. NBC will be burning the last few episodes off next month, so before the network officially puts a pin in it, here's what I'll miss about the show.