Spring cleaning for television

Age of the Geek Column: It's that time again.
More suspenseful than the season finales of your favorite shows is the death watch as networks decide which ones come back for another season.
I've been pretty lucky the last couple years, avoiding any major heartbreaks. Even this year my TV schedule managed to squeak through without many unexpected casualties, thanks to the last second saves of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Gotham."
But there's always something on its way out. Lots of shows got the axe this season, expected or not. These are five of them.
Ash vs. Evil Dead
Gonna be honest. I've never been a huge fan of the cult classic Evil Dead series. I like Bruce Campbell and have enjoyed some of Sam Raimi's work, but "Evil Dead," its sequel/remake, and even the campy "Army of Darkness" never really hit home for me.
But I loved "Ash vs. Evil Dead."
It's unapologetically crass and gory, throwing cheesy 80s pulp into a modern day setting in a way I hope will become a new trend. (The recent hit "Cobra Kai" on YouTube Red does something similar.)
Sadly, it was announced a month ago that the third season would be the final one, meaning this will likely be the last we ever see of the chain-saw wielding Ash Williams.
Still, I suppose it's better to go out on a high note than to have a show wear out its welcome.
Deception
I'm cheating with this one. I never watched "Deception." In fact I'd never even heard about it until I found out it was canceled. This ABC show about a team of illusionists teaming up with the FBI to solve crimes flew completely under my radar, which makes me sad because I really like that premise.
I'll have to go back and see if I actually missed anything good, but the experience will always be tarnished with the knowledge that whatever there is of the show is all that ever will be.
Lucifer
Of all the cancelations this year, "Lucifer" is the one that surprised me the most.
Under normal circumstances the supernatural police procedural probably would have gone on for at least a couple more years, but Fox's recent acquisition of "Thursday Night Football" ate up an abundance of programming time, forcing a tightening of the belt.
The cancelation of "Lucifer" wasn't just a shock to me though. It was a shock to the showrunners, who were confident enough in their renewal that they left the season on a cliffhanger. And unfortunately, while two episodes meant for season 4 will eventually air, it's unlikely that we'll get a proper resolution to the devil's story.
Marvel's Inhumans
I'm not going to pretend I'm shocked or even saddened that "Marvel's Inhumans" got the axe.
Generally it's hard to go wrong when you have the Marvel logo on your program, but this was easily the biggest flop the company has seen since Ang Lee's Hulk movie.
It's not hard to see where things went wrong. "Inhumans" was the pet-project of Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, seeking to substitute the company's beloved mutant characters with a different race of super-powered people as a petty jab at Fox.
After the split between Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios, "Inhumans" was taken off the movie slate and demoted to television. From there things only got worse.
The premise of exiling the Inhuman royal family to have wacky adventures in Hawaii seemed like a parody and in spite of a ludicrous amount of promotion the show ended up exactly as bad as everybody expected it would.
Which is not to say there weren't bright spots.
Anson Mount did a stellar job playing the silent Black Bolt. He delivered some great acting without speaking a single word.
"Game of Thrones" alumni Iwan Rheon likewise put in his all for this show. Unfortunately while he was acting at an 11, everybody around him was more at a four, making his arc almost painful to watch.
Sorry, Inhumans. Back to the dark side of the moon with you.
Star Wars Rebels
Set five years before Episode IV, the adventures of a plucky and overly marketable crew of misfits made for a worthy entry into the Star Wars mythos.
I don't know if I would say that I liked "Star Wars Rebels" more than its predecessor, "Star Wars: Clone Wars," but it certainly had its charm. Episodes could be hit or miss, but when they hit they really hit. No fewer than two of the most spectacular scenes in the franchise's history can be found in the show.
But, all good things must eventually end. Particularly when those things are racing towards the uncompromising continuity of the first Star Wars movie.
The ultimate fate of Kanan, the Jedi rogue and his young apprentice was inevitable but no less heart-wrenching.
Fortunately, we won't be without a Star Wars cartoon for long. Dave Filoni, producer of both "Star Wars: Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" is already at work preparing for "Star Wars Resistance," a new series set in the years before Episode VII.
If "Star Wars: Clone Wars" salvaged some decent stories out of the underdeveloped prequel trilogy, hopefully he can do the same with the sequel trilogy.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and can't wait to see what's coming for next season.