SciFi, in the infinite wisdom they displayed at the time (they thought Tremors and the Dream Team were GOOD ideas. f*ck you Bonnie Hammer!) decided that FarScape, despite being their best and most acclaimed series, wasn't performing well enough in the antiquated Neilsen system, so in spite of a contract for a 5th season pulled the plug after Season 4 (and had the GALL to tag a "Thank you for watching" message at the end). The politics is WAY too much to go into here, but I'm pissed to the point I rarely watch SciFi today (most of their stuff is garbage now, anyway). Instead we got stuck with a 3hr miniseries to wrap the show up (which WAS good, don't get me wrong, but after seeing what they did it leaves you wondering what they could have done with a full 22-ep season to work with).
The REAL kick in the balls is that right afterwards SciFi announced that POS Battleshag remake, because they were in need of an "edge, sexy space-based drama." You prettythangHOLES! What the FRELL do you call FARSCAPE?! Even the rare, badly-timed reruns of FS are better than any of the new crap they run now.