Too bad they didn't bring back Firefly... anyhow, I digress.
While being a little late to get into it, I did finally check it out a few months ago (borrowed the "box set" from a friend) and I absolutely loved it. Quite possibly my all time favorite sci-fi t.v. show. I guess the "problem" was that it didnt really fit into an easily marketable box, but rather relied on it's quality. It's dumb, but unfortunately the way things are looked from a networks perspective these days.
Other great "recent" t.v. shows that Ive gotten into are things like Arrested Devlopment (I managed to pick up all 3 seasons for $12 in total recently
, Masters Of Horror, Buffy (perhaps a little young for me now, but quality t.v. nonetheless that a lot of people write off because on the surface it appears to be something like the godawful Charmed (which is funny in a way seeing as buffy is supposed to be a little ironic and makes fun of Charmed, etc.), Angel (superior to Buffy and aimed at a slightly older audience), American Gothic (Lucas Black was amazing, probably the best child performance I've ever seen), Scrubs (although it probably should have finished more gracefully rather than push the last few seasons), Boston Legal, Dexter, Tru Calling, Veronica Mars, Lost (1st few season anyway), and I guess Simpsons should get an honourable mention here too, although it did start 21 years ago.
I personally think t.v. has in general improved in recent years. There's a lot more well written and clever television these days compared to the predominantely dumb and camp series of the 80's and early 90's. There's always exceptions, but I guess in the face of increased competition and I suspect also due to the fact t.v. shows are heavily collected on DVD these days there seems to be a genuine attempt to make good shows.
Im sure some of you will disagree here, both with my tastes in television and my opinion that t.v. has improved, but to each his own.
