I think that when, in popular media, things that are critically acclaimed and are cancelled because of bad ratings, it means that in five or ten years time all the popular shows in the same genre will be emulating them.

I think it's similar to how each generation sees a certain movie in a different way: Something that was subversive, controversial and original for the generation of its time, can become ordinary for the next.

I'm stil pissed that Angel got five seasons that I found sucky, while Firefly didn't get a full one.