[TV] Shock! Tru Calling, ... good?

Previously on Tru Calling, someone created a TV show that played nice variations on the premise that Elisa Dushku can groundhog-day to save dead people - but couldn't make me care.

Now Tru Calling has the elements of an interesting TV show: a relationship with sparks in it (Tru-Jack); a character I actually care about (Jack, played by a sombre Jason Priestly); subtext in the form of Tru's dad having arranged the murder of Tru's mum - and while we know this, Tru hasn't discovered it yet. And finally, the show has an ongoing tension: a nosy reporter who's on the road to nosing out Tru's secret - that she relives days to save people who have already died.

All of this happening (I think) around Episodes 13-14 - the midpoint of a 22 episode season, where usually you throw in something new to raise the overall tension of the situation. Buffy fans might recall previous mid-points such as: Faith meets the deputy mayor, Adam wakes up, and Willow realising she might have a teensy weensy problem with magic and driving and baby-sitting.

Plus, in last night's episode Jason Priestly's character revealed he had once been clinically dead. I thought this was cool because I was expecting him to reveal the even bigger secret he's keeping - which for once is showing up in the writing, forcing Dushku's Tru to display some of her personality.

So the question I'm interested in: why the show was cancelled before it screened any of the episodes it shot for season 2.

Also, I'm still in shock that not only was Smallville still pretty good last night (continuity, developing Pete, Chloe vs. Lionel!), but that Tru Calling was better. Inconceivable.