By Stu Robinson,

FOX has canceled the action drama Human Target after two seasons.

The show featured square-jawed Mark Valley – brilliant in Keen Eddie, an earlier victim of FOX’s chopping block – as an assassin reformed by his own conscience. Using the name Christopher Chance, he partnered with ex-cop Laverne Winston (Chi McBride) and quietly creepy freelancer Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) to protect clients by placing himself in the line of fire.

The show’s creators tried to boost ratings in Season 2 with a double dose of estrogen, casting Indira Varma as wealthy, widowed philanthropist Ilsa Pucci – who ends up bankrolling the business – and Janet Montgomery as a nubile young thief and conwoman named Ames.

The Ames character worked, providing additional plot options and a dose of humor. But the Pucci character never really fit: She didn’t mesh with the other characters, the subplot about her husband’s murder became a tedious soap opera and attempts to ignite romance between her and Chance were implausible at best.

I share the view of Entertainment Weekly critic Sandra Gonzalez that the Guerrero character deserved to live on:

“Much of the credit for turning that character into a fan favorite is owed to Jackie Earle Haley, whose unique combination of dry humor and pure badassery made Guerrero eclipse other characters without even trying. In fact, I’d pluck the character out of the Human Target universe and plop him into any show I currently watch just for a chance to enjoy him again every week.”

As for Valley, he deserves a hit show and might have had one had FOX given Keen Eddie more time. In that 2003 show, he played an American cop working with police in England and sharing a tension-filled flat with Sienna Miller. Perhaps there is still hope for Valley. After all, the CBS hit Hawaii Five-0 was Alex O’Loughlin’s third attempt at carrying a show.

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