Worst network/cable TV program cancellations of all time

[johnnyu]

Andy Richter Controls the Universe (Fox; 2002-2003)
Arrested Development (Fox; 2003-2006)
The Critic (ABC; 1994, Fox; 1995)
Freaks and Geeks (NBC; 1999-2000)
Family Guy (Fox; 1999-2002; 2005-present)
Futurama (Fox; 1999-2003, Comedy Central; 2010-present)
I'll Fly Away (NBC; 1991-1993)
Men of a Certain Age (TNT; 2009-2011)
My So-Called Life (ABC; 1994-1995)
Police Squad! (ABC; 1982)
Sports Night (ABC; 1998-2000)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC; 2006-2007)
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (NBC; 2009-2010)
Undeclared (Fox; 2001-2002)
Wonderland (ABC; 2000)

The only show on this list that I've seen is Police Squad.  I still am amazed that it didn't make it.

[spencerkarter85]

My least favorite cancelations

1. malcom In The Middle - should have had 2 more seasons
2. Brady Bunch 0 Should have had another season maybe
3. Flintstones - could have run another several years on prime time
4. Wonder Years - another season maybe
5. What's Happening - one more season or two - it was reinstated in first run as What's Happening Now but that was just not the same

Of Course One Life to Live and All My Children was a sad one indeed.

NOW a show I think has run its course and should have been canceled 5 years ago - The Simpsons - Its just run out of plots and every episode is a remake of an earlier one. This show ran its course by 2002 but was still fresh somewhat till about 2007. Now though its just getting old. I hope this show gets canceled soon - we have enough episodes to last our lifetimes and then some. I used to and still like the show but begin to find recent episodes just not the same.

If Memphis Beat wasn't cancelled, it would go into season 3. I agree about What's Happening Now!! sans the late greats Mabel King and later Fred "Rerun" Berry.

[Ultimajock]

...I personally wish M-G-M would have gone into at least a third season of She Spies. There were a couple of romantic connections developing from the second season that would have been interesting to see complicate some storylines. But one that I really wonder how they would have developed past cancellation is Gangbusters, the TV version of the classic radio series. NBC ran it on an alternating weekly basis with the first season of Dragnet, and it seems as if the real reason Gangbusters was on NBC at all was because Jack Webb couldn't pull together weekly productions of Dragnet during the first season, a situation further complicated by the death of co-star Barton Yarborough after only three episodes had been filmed. Once Webb got fully cranked up, Gangbusters was scratched...

[hipman2]

I was thinking that the subject should mean TV shows that the networks cancelled but cost them in the short run. Some examples I can think of is when ABC cancelled Clueless when it ran in the 1996-97 season, but after its cancellation, the ratings for the reruns got strong, and it was too late for ABC to stop the show from beginning season 2 on UPN. Another show ABC canned was "Just the Ten of Us", which got decent ratings, but didn't fit the format of its upcoming TGIF lineup starting with the 1990-91 season. Couldn't ABC have moved the show to another day like Tuesday or Wednesday? The show that replaced "Ten"? Going Places, which went nowhere and was gone after one season.

Another good one I can think of is J.A.G., which ran for one season on NBC, then was cancelled, shopped to CBS where it ran far longer, then after the series ended, NCIS succeeded the show. To me, that was among the worst network cancellations of all time in a bidness sense, not as a personal opinion.

[easttxtv]

Lots of people hate to learn that their favorite TV program gets axed, sometimes there's nothing you can do to save them. But here's my list of the worst network/cable TV cancellations of all time:

2.)All My Children/One Life to Live (Cancelled by ABC thanks to TPTB Brian Frons in 2011, AMC aired it's last episode on 9/23/2011, OLTL in 1/13/2012) - .

What does TPTB mean?

'The Powers That Be'....

Or, alternately, TIIC - "the idiots in charge", which, in some of these cancellations' cases, they were/are.

-- Another World.  Already mentioned, but very worthy of mention.  Many stories still left to tell.  And 13 years later, still missed and fondly remembered by its fans.

-- As the World Turns / Guiding Light.

-- All My Children / One Life to Live.

-- Generations.  Never given a real chance by NBC to get its groove, and that up-against-Y&R time slot didn't help things either.

-- Santa Barbara.  One of MANY cases of NBC not leaving well enough alone.  Probably would have lasted much longer (if not still on today) had things gone differently.  One of the few latter-day soaps created from scratch that deserved any success it had.

-- Living Single.  This one definitely had more years in it, despite being overshadowed by overhyped competition (mainly Friends).  Great writing, great cast (well, if you don't count that guy that moved in at the last, he was a bit obnoxious), was sad to see it go.

-- Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.  Really talented cast, different/quirky situations that weren't dumbed-down.  A pleasant surprise that NBC actually gave this show 2 full seasons before booting it.  Probably a couple more seasons in it if Lifetime hadn't given up on it.

-- The Jeffersons.  Gets on this list not necessarily because it should have stayed on the air, but because of the way CBS handled it.

-- The Edge of Night.  Despite great and long-running headwriting by "blue herring" himself, Henry Slesar, the show was a victim of its timeslot--and the times (too many soaps tried to copy GH's storylines and ratings success when they weren't a GH-type of show to begin with).  Edge could have lasted much longer had stations not bailed on it (could have used better PR from ABC also).

-- The $(whatever amount),000 Pyramid.  Great game, players, host, exciting bonus round, what wasn't to like?  Oh, that CBS cancelled it.  It may not have lasted as long as Price is Right, but Pyramid surely could have gone on a while longer.

I know there are more shows than these, as boneheaded as the nets have been over the years.

EDIT:::: Cash Cab!  How soon I forget, having just posted about it....  Definitely one of the more surprising cable cancellations in recent memory.  And again, one of the few reasons to have cable or a dish.

[jwgreek8606]

WKRP in Cincinnati
The Wonder Years
Doogie Howser MD
Jeffersons

[WMC2006]

-The Lazarus Man, Turner Network Television, 1996.  Starred Robert Urich, cancelled when Urich came down with synovial cell sarcoma.  Urich died in 2002.
-Nowhere Man, UPN, 1995-96 (1 season)
-Midnight Caller, NBC, 1988-1991

[spencerkarter85]

-The Lazarus Man, Turner Network Television, 1996.  Starred Robert Urich, cancelled when Urich came down with synovial cell sarcoma.  Urich died in 2002.
-Nowhere Man, UPN, 1995-96 (1 season)
-Midnight Caller, NBC, 1988-1991

I remember Midnight Caller with Gary Cole as Jack Killian. I've got some promos recorded from WYFF 4 in 1989-1990. I wished they released MC on DVD! It fits on TVtropes.org category "Keep Circulating The Tapes" like NBC's The Bold Ones (1969-1973) which was produced by NBC's future owner Universal!

[nomadcowatbk]

Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That ’80s Show, Wonderfalls, Fastlane, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Skin, Girls Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freakylinks, Wanda at Large, Costello, The Lone Gunmen, A Minute With Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddie, The $treet, American Embassy, Cedric the Entertainer, The Tick, Louie or Greg the Bunnny

and

Kitchen Confidential, The Wedding Bells, Happy Hour, The War at Home, Drive, The Winner, Life on a Stick, The Loop, Head Cases, Standoff, Vanished, Free Ride, Method and Red, Tru Calling, Quintuplets, Stacked, Justice, North Shore, Back to You

All cancelled to make room for crap like Family Guy 

[nomadcowatbk]

Homeboys in Outer Space