Marc B. is correct. The Babylon 5 producers were in fact told that there would be no fifth season because the syndication company was disappearing. So JMS started moving up all the Season 5 events into Season 4 so there would be closure to the series. Then, near the last minute, TNT picked up the show for a fifth season. That left gaping holes in the original Season 5 storyline, and it was filled in as best they could. That meant that the whole telepath storyline was dragged out way too long. On top of that, there was a contract renewal dispute with Claudia Christian (I've given up trying to determine the truth, as both sides present "truths" that differ greatly), so Ivanova disappeared and the remainder of her story arc was shifted to Captain Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), a change that never really worked very well. But none of that would have happened if they'd not been cancelled then got the last-minute reprieve.
I thought the first story in The Lost Tales was good, I just didn't think it was a good B5 story. I expected The Lost Tales to focus on B5-centric stories, and that first story could have been set anywhen, anywhere in the future....