The Real Reasons Why Your Favorite TV Shows Got Canceled
Some of the best shows ever to hit our television screens were only really appreciated after they got canceled. Isn't that always the way it goes? In the words of Joni Mitchel, "you don't know what you've got til it's gone."
Some of these shows didn't deserve to get canceled, some of them did. Some of them came back, and some of them didn't. Keep reading to discover why some shows just aren't made to last.
Roseanne
On May 16, 2017, ABC announced it would be airing a revival of the hit show Roseanne with the original cast.
The premiere of the show was extremely successful. However, ABC canceled Roseanne on May 29, 2018, after the show's star, Roseanne Barr, made some racist comments on Twitter.
Futurama
Futurama creators and the Fox network disagreed about a lot of things, including what time the show should air. Fox kept moving the show around to different time slots, and midway through the show's fourth season, Fox decided to stop buying episodes of Futurama entirely.
Luckily for Futurama fans, Comedy Central picked up the show after Fox dropped it.
Freaks And Geeks
Freaks and Geeks had a huge audience in its day. Every actor who worked on that show went on to have a pretty successful career. Garth Ancier, the network president who started at NBC shortly after the show started airing, is still defending his decision.
Apatow thinks it's because Ancier "didn't understand public school life" and its relevance because he went to boarding school. Ancier wanted high school to seem cool, and Freaks and Geeks did just the opposite.
Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies was one of the shows affected by the annoying writer's strike of 2007 and 2008. The first season only had 9 episodes, and basically, nobody watched the second season. The show did receive 17 Emmy nominations, so I'm not sure why nobody was interested.
This show was way ahead of its time.
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien
The whole deal with Conan and The Tonight Show could be a TV show of its own. The drama started before Conan even had the show. He was supposed to take over when Jay Leno retired. Then NBC didn't feel like Conan would get the ratings they wanted, so they pushed him out.
Conan's doing fine though. He has his own show, so take that NBC.
Undeclared
Undeclared was another coming-of-age Judd Apatow show that aired after Freaks and Geeks.
One of the show's stars, Charlie Hunnam said, "I think 17 episodes aired over the course of, I don't know, 25 weeks? In three different time slots, so the goal post kept changing. And Judd, again, was very tenacious in doing exactly what he wanted to do. You know, Fox had wanted us to put a laugh track on and he said no - and that kind of led to another argument. And they couldn't quite agree on what the show was going to be."
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks' first seasonwas one of the top-rated series of 1990, but declining ratings led to its cancelation after its second season in 1991.
Since it originally aired, the show gained a cult following. In 2017, Twin Peaks came back as Twin Peaks: The Revival. Finally, the show got the attention it deserves.
Party Down
For some reason, this show just didn't have the numbers. I'm not really sure why. It had all the makings of a hit show. Show creator Rob Thomas believes that the show would have been renewed had it not been for incoming network president, Chris Albrecht.
It seems like incoming presidents are always to blame. I hope some other network realizes what a gem this show was and picks it up.
Terriers
Terriers was an underrated FX show about two friends who start their own detective agency. The show didn't perform as well as the network hoped (probably because it didn't star a notable comedian or a recognizable dramatic actor).
FX president John Landgraf said, "If I legitimately believed that the reason the show didn’t succeed on air was that we felt we failed to adequately describe to the audience what the show was about, that would have been reason alone to renew it."
Deadwood
Deadwood is a show from a pre-Game of Thrones HBO. From before HBO had a reputation for being one of the most groundbreaking networks out there. Deadwood had its fans, but it was no Six Feet Under. HBO would have to wait until Westworld to have a successful western show (if you can really call Westworld a western).
Deadwood ended on a cliffhanger, which makes it's cancelation all the more tragic.
Man Seeking Woman
This FX show started out really strong. The concept, making metaphorical dating struggles literal, worked super well in the first season.
Then the main character actually managed to land a girlfriend, and the concept fell apart a bit. The show just wasn't as entertaining anymore. I guess that's the price you pay for a happy ending.
Veronica Mars
In 2007, Veronica Mars was one of the only shows with an intelligent female protagonist. It didn't have much competition on the air, so I'm not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to cancel it.
Apparently, the head of CBS decided the format didn't work and took the show off the air.
Dollhouse
You would think that a show created by someone as experienced and established as Joss Whedon would be sure to succeed. Sometimes, even a storytelling genius isn't enough to get a show off the ground.
According to Whedon, Dollhouse failed because the executive producers "pretty much wanted to back away from the concept five minutes after they bought it."
Better Off Ted
We didn't deserve Better Off Ted. It was too smart, too weird, and too funny for our small minds. The show had two successful seasons, but it kept making advertisers angry by making jokes at their expense.
The show's creator said, "[The Network] liked it, but they just felt it didn’t get enough eyeballs. To their credit, they didn’t tell them to 'introduce a lovable neighbor' or something."
Happy Endings
Happy Endings followed the dysfunctional adventures of six best friends living in Chicago. This show was pretty polarizing. People either thought it was the funniest show ever created, or they didn't care about it all that much.
Apparently, ABC felt like this multilayered comedy wasn't "on brand." The show ran from 2011 to 2013.
Togetherness
The Duplass brothers always knock it out of the park. Their show Togetherness was no exception. Maybe HBO wasn't the best home for it. I think it probably didn't live up to the audience's grand vision of the network.
This is a show about having feelings, and most HBO shows are more action based.
Arrested Development
There is no question that people loved Arrested Development. The problem is that some people loved it more after it got canceled than when it was on the air.
Lucky for us, Netflix brought the show back years later, and almost all of the original cast was up to the task.
Firefly
To be honest, I've never seen an episode of Firefly. I think a lot of other TV watchers could probably say the same thing.
Joss Whedon's one-time producing partner Gail Berman had to cancel the show because of poor ratings. “It was a numbers thing. It was a wonderful show and I loved it and I loved working with him on it but that was a big show, a very expensive show and it wasn’t delivering the numbers.”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
There was universal upset when Fox abruptly canceled Brooklyn Nine-Nine after five seasons in May 2018. Although Fox didn't explain their decision, some people have speculated that it was to make room for more football programming.
The day after Fox announced the show's cancelation, NBC was quick to swoop in and pick it up. Thanks, NBC!
Penny Dreadful
Penny Dreadful was a beautifully tragic show about love and loss. It didn't get canceled because of network drama or poor viewership.
Series creator John Logan simply felt it was the right thing to do for the story. He said, "To me, the show was always going to achieve closure with the death of Vanessa. And all the storylines this season were meant to be leaving characters at a place of appropriate and beautiful stasis."
