The TV industry has been known to cancel shows almost immediately, to the disappointment or relief of audiences. TV shows canceled after one season, or before the first season was even over, get to this point for multiple reasons. In most cases, the show wasn’t that great and the network wasn’t happy with the ratings, so they deemed finishing it wasn’t worthwhile. However, some viewers will still vehemently defend canceled TV shows that were becoming great, highlighting some subjectivity in critics’ opinions vs audiences’.

Additionally, shows may be canceled before the end of season 1 for reasons that don’t have to do with quality. Studios contending with production costs and delays might have been forced to choose one show over another, probably upsetting someone. Despite their untimely cancellations, some of these shows are still enjoyed by viewers — while others’ cancellations were well-deserved.

10 Cowboy Bebop (2021)

The Cowboy Bebop remake ended after season 1.

Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe favored a shorter story, which is why the original Cowboy Bebop ended after just 26 episodes, despite being a very popular and influential anime series. However, many still wondered if it could have been a longer series, which eventually led to a follow-up movie and a live-action remake. As is the case every time a beloved animated property gets this treatment, Netflix was running the risk of how well Cowboy Bebop would translate into live-action.

It is not an approach doomed to fail, as Netflix has seen relative success with One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, the live-action Cowboy Bebop had a rough reception and was canceled soon after. Watanabe said (via Variety) he watched just one scene of the remake before giving up on it entirely:

“It was clearly not
Cowboy Bebop
and I realized at that point that if I wasn’t involved, it would not be
Cowboy Bebop
. I felt that maybe I should have done this. Although the value of the original anime is somehow far higher now.”

Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Cowboy Bebop is a sci-fi/western action television series widely regarded as one of the best anime ever. The series follows a crew of four disconnected bounty hunters who all slowly come together aboard a ship known as the Bebop. The crew of the Bebop attempt to snag various bounties and embark on several misadventures to keep their pockets lined with coin and their stomachs full. The series also has a heavy musical motif, with each episode title named after various jazz “sessions.”

Cast

Koichi Yamadera , Steve Blum , Megumi Hayashibara , Wendee Lee , Unshô Ishizuka , Beau Billingslea , Aoi Tada , Melissa Fahn

Release Date

April 3, 1998

Seasons

2

Showrunner

Shinichirô Watanabe

9 Do No Harm (2013)

Do No Harm was canceled after two episodes.

Do No Harm is a concept with promise, following a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde scenario. However, it is also one that can be easily bungled if the creators don’t know how to utilize and build upon the themes of the source material. Do No Harm“[earned] the distinction of becoming the lowest-rated scripted premiere in the history of the Big Four networks” and was taken off of NBC’s airing schedule after the first two poorly received episodes (The Hollywood Reporter).

Do No Harm was immediately replaced by reruns of Law & Order: SVU. Reports on its cancellation characterized it as a medical drama as well as sci-fi/fantasy, perhaps demonstrating an interesting problem concerning why it failed. Caught up with the increase in medical dramas amid Grey’s Anatomy’s heyday but coming out before fantasy TV really took off, Do No Harm is a poorly-written blend of these subgenres.

8 Hank (2009)

Kelsey Grammer requested that Hank be canceled.

A new sitcom starring the legendary Kelsey Grammer sounds like something sure to be a hit, or would at least last for a decent amount of time out of respect for the lead actor. This makes Hank’s swift cancellation only more shocking. The circumstances of Hank’s cancellation suggest that ABC might have even persevered with the first season for this reason, but someone important argued against it. A show with a synopsis that only reads “A man and his family and lose everything” (typo included on IMDB) suggests it doesn’t have a lot to prop it up.

According to a Contact Music interview, Grammer himself knew the show wasn’t funny — and didn’t want to make the long drive every day for a project that he didn’t think was worthwhile. Grammer personally requested that the show be canceled as soon as possible. Warner Bros. agreed, production was halted, and several episodes of Hank never aired.

7 Moonlight (2007-2008)

Moonlight was canceled after the first season, partially due to the Writers’ strike.

Moonlight seemed like it could carry on as an okay, enjoyable new vampire romance show connoting an engaging divide between fans and critics. While reviewers critiqued the series’ writing and acting, Moonlight was fairly well received by general audiences and a second season was a real possibility. However, the effects of bad reviews doubled down when the production was halted by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

Only 12 of 13 planned episodes were produced, and CBS canceled Moonlight after season 1. There were hopes that Moonlight could be a canceled TV show saved by another network, with inquiries made to companies interested in reviving it. However, these efforts to save Moonlight eventually failed (via The Hollywood Reporter). Amid the rise of Twilight, it is possible that this show could have lasted for much longer by virtue of being about vampires, even if the rest of it wasn’t that great.

6 Selfie (2014)

Selfie was canceled midway through season 1.

Selfie had a pretty unremarkable rise and fall: It premiered on ABC with high hopes, got low reviews, and was shut down soon after. Hoping to be a solid addition to the repertoire of an MCU star, Selfie signaled a sharp genre departure from Karen Gillan’s best action movies, as well as her fantasy/sci-fi tenure with Doctor Who. In contrast to these properties, Selfie follows a self-obsessed pharmaceutical sales rep in an exploration of social media’s uses and pitfalls.

Selfie also has a remarkably impressive supporting cast, including John Cho and the now-Oscar-winning Da’Vine Joy Randolph. However, their and Gillan’s talents combined still did not work for Selfie. The concept of the show has promise but perhaps didn’t work out for similar reasons to the movie Men, Women & Children because its approach to the social media discourse was too preachy.

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5 Freaks And Geeks (1999-2000)

Freaks and Geeks was canceled before the end of season 1.

Many now-famous actors appeared in Freaks and Geeks, which has attained the status of a cult classic since its cancellation. The comedy-drama showcasing the daily struggles of a group of teenagers did remarkably well, featuring the talents of early-career Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and more. The consensus is that Freaks and Geeks is an excellent show that did not deserve to be canceled, which was announced 12 episodes into its 18-episode first season.

What’s even more shocking is that creator Judd Apatow turned down the chance to produce Freaks and Geeks season 2 for MTV; however, this choice was made because of the lower budget MTV was offering. Freaks and Geeks ultimately just had bad luck when it came to the shows it was competing with, budgetary concerns, and struggles with ratings. However, it can be agreed upon that the first season is still a valuable depiction of teenage life.

Freaks and Geeks

Judd Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks is a comedy-drama series centered around several now-popular stars in their first-ever appearances as outcast teenagers dealing with the “hilarious unfairness of teen life.” The friend groups are split into “freaks” and “geeks,” each with their own quirks that resonate with teens today as they try to find their place in the socially complex world of high school.

Cast

James Franco , Busy Philipps , Jason Segel , Linda Cardellini , John Francis Daley

Release Date

September 25, 1999

Seasons

1

Showrunner

Paul Feig

4 My So-Called Life (1994-1995)

My So-Called Life was canceled after season 1.

My So-Called Life is another coming-of-age drama starring some would-be famous actors, namely Claire Danes and Jared Leto, that met its end early. Focusing on Danes’ character, a 15-year-old girl managing school as well as social and familial relationships, My So-Called Life is another interesting case of a failed teen drama. In this case, the show came only a few years after the Brat Pack fell out of fashion, and possibly struggled with the genre losing popularity.

However, My So-Called Life was ultimately canceled for the simple reasons of low ratings and marketing issues. This evidently was not the end of Danes’ career, who starred in Little Women the same year. Yet, like Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life is also praised for its realistic depiction of teenage woes, again suggesting that the genre was facing some biases in the 1990s.

3 Forever (2014-2015)

Forever was canceled after season 1.

Similar to Moonlight, Forever is a fantasy series that could have been carried by its fanbase despite troubling reviews. The popular first season received middling ratings, leading to its cancellation. Lead actor Ioan Gruffudd was especially disappointed by this turn of events, calling the immortal New York City medical examiner Dr. Henry Morgan “the role of [his] dreams” (via Deadline).

Forever fans were briefly given false hope for a second season with positive updates from the creator Matt Miller. Forever was the only new drama not owned by ABC to debut on the network this year, and other series were possibly given preference. Also, before epic fantasy had been cemented as the dominant genre of TV, Forever was not the priority, but was viewed as a strange show that wasn’t worth another season to further develop the story. Any hopes of another network picking it up did not come to fruition.

2 Connecting… (2020)

Connecting… was canceled after four episodes.

Connecting attempts to show a fun story about a group of friends dealing with the modern monster of lockdown, and remaining in touch over Zoom, with video chat grids being the format of the series. Assuming that people would want to watch this was a leap, especially because it aired during 2020. After a few episodes, NBC took the show off the air and the rest of the season was released on Peacock before it ended.

The intention of Connecting may have been to create a story relating to what everyone was going through at that moment in time. However, the effect was just a dull reminder of it all, when other fictional TV shows were available for a better escape. The way the series was filmed also provided the technical challenge of a non-traditional format, which was never guaranteed to land well with audiences.

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1 Firefly (2002-2003)

Firefly famously got only one season.

Firefly is still one of the most famous post-season 1 cancellations in TV history. At the time, Joss Wheedon was the most popular director of sci-fi and fantasy in the industry, and fans were sure that his new brainchild would be a long-running hit. Initially, the announcement that it was ending, later to be followed by a movie, provoked shock and outrage.

As far as why Firefly was canceled, it looks to have been caught up in Fox’s approach of immediately canceling shows that did not meet their expected ratings. However, Firefly in particular was a very expensive show to produce and risky to continue. The effects of Firefly being canceled vs. what they would have been if the show carried on constitute one of the most interesting debates over a show being almost immediately canceled.

Firefly

Set in the year 2517, Firefly follows the crew of the Serenity, a smuggling ship operating on the fringes of Alliance space. Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is a veteran of a civil war, bitter about having fought for the losing side and now making his living as an outlaw smuggler out among the distant colonies forgotten and ignored by the Alliance. However, after taking on paying passengers, Mal finds himself caught up in a conspiracy likely to bring the whole Alliance military down on him and his crew. 

Release Date

September 20, 2002

Seasons

1

Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, IMDB, Contact Music, Deadline