The 32 greatest TV shows that were canceled too soon

Aug. 14, 2024

You can binge in one sitting, but you’ll be left wanting more

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Television is a tough business. Getting any show to the airwaves is one thing - it’s staying on that is a different battle entirely. In an industry predicated on shows getting cut to make way for more, there are inevitablymanygems of TV that get axed just a little too soon. But which TV shows actually deserve mention?

From acclaimed gems too quirky to attract a wide enough audience, to expensive productions whose exorbitant price tags couldn’t justify continued costs, TV is a proverbial wasteland of unfulfilled potential. Unresolved storylines, cliffhanger endings, and obvious promise to improve with more time all characterize some of the greatest shows that audiences routinely consider gone “too soon.” While some shows can garner a big enough fanbase to enjoy some kind of revival, most times, these cult shows suffer an unceremonious end.

These are just 32 TV shows that are often considered “canceled too soon.”

32. Terriers

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After The West Wing went out on a high note, creator Aaron Sorkin embarked on walking-and-talking his way through entirely different corridors. Set behind the scenes of a Saturday Night Live-style comedy show in Los Angeles, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip told of the lives of its cast and crew whose lives intermingle in amusing ways. While the series was eventually outclassed by another show just like it that premiered at the same time - a generational classic called 30 Rock - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has maintained a devoted audience ever since it went off the air.

In what was basically a TV-sized version of Fast & Furious, Fastlane told of two mismatched cops who work undercover in a secret division of the LAPD. Peter Facinelli and Bill Bellamy play the two cops, while Saved by the Bell’s Tiffani Thiessen co-stars as their lieutenant who gave them their daily cases. Though lauded for its action movie vibes and entertaining chemistry among its stars, Fastlane was too expensive for Fox to keep on the air. Weird observation: When Fox canceled the now-beloved cult series Firefly, it used Fastlane to take up Firefly’s Friday night timeslot. The change also doomed Fastlane as ratings dropped considerably afterward.

In a time when Hollywood can’t get enough of recycling old ideas, the Hulu comedy Reboot grilled the industry to a crisp. In Reboot, the cast of a 2000s sitcom happily reunite for a streaming revival. But behind the scenes, the cast and crew still have unresolved personal problems, not to mention finding themselves in a wildly different Hollywood environment than what they knew. With a cast that included Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy, Judy Greer, and even Paul Reiser, Reboot was a mirror to Hollywood and its bad habits of redoing everything. Ironically, Reboot’s originality may have been its death sentence, with only eight episodes made before it was canceled.

Every generation needs a comedy where friends get together with friends and just… hang out. In the spirit of Friends, there was Happy Endings, an acclaimed TV comedy about six adults in their twenties and early thirties in Chicago who together navigate the ups and downs of modern love. With a cast that included Damon Wayans Jr., Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Casey Wilson, Zachary Knighton, and Adam Pally, Happy Endings breathed new life in a stale TV genre. While the show saw stiff competition in otherverysimilar shows, including Perfect Couples, Mad Love, and Friends with Benefits (the latter also set in Chicago), Happy Endings eventually won acclaim from critics; Rolling Stone deemed it “the most underrated, under-watched series on TV.” While three seasons made of 57 episodes is an impressive run for any TV show, those who’ve experienced Happy Endings still yearn for more.

When Pushing Daisies hit the airwaves in 2007, it was truly unlike anything viewers were used to. With bright, bold colors and an arresting bucolic atmosphere, Pushing Daisies - notably the work of TV auteur Bryan Fuller, whose name is typically associated with TV classics - delighted anyone who dared to stop and smell its roses. The series, billed as a “forensic fairy tale,” follows Ned Lee Pace), a pie chef with the ability to bring the dead back to life with a single touch - and brings death upon them once more with a second touch. As Ned teams up with a P.I. (Chi McBride) to solve murder cases, he ends up falling in love with a deceased childhood crush, Chuck (Anna Friel), the tension being he can never touch her again. Noted for its whimsical storytelling and charming characters, Pushing Daisies won a devoted following throughout its two seasons and even racked up plenty of Emmy nominations. Despite its buzzy popularity, Pushing Daisies was canceled by ABC in 2009. To this day, it earns frequent recognition as a show that didn’t deserve its cancellation.

Has there ever been another show with a legacy like Freaks and Geeks? From creators Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, Freaks and Geeks aired for only one season on NBC during the 1999-2000 season. Set in the 1980s, the show follows the sad but hilarious lives of teens living in suburban Michigan. Among its star-studded cast is Linda Cardellini as Lindsay, a gifted mathlete who reinvents herself into a rebel by adopting a new circle of slacker friends. Many shows strive to explore the complex lives of teenagers and the currency of their identities, but few ever do it like Freaks and Geeks did. Alongside Cardellini, the show also starred James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Busy Phillips, as well as John Francis Daley who went on to co-direct movies like Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he’s your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also appeared at Vulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.

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