TV shows canceled during Season 1

1 episode

This ABC sitcom starred Heather Graham as a single career woman, unlucky in love, who employs a list-making system to help her determine when it's time to give up and move on. The series was canceled on January 10 by ABC after just one episode. The remaining seven episodes were never aired. It was later reported that ABC executives committed to the show without seeing the pilot.

1 episode

This was the NBC broadcast version of the popular MySpace series (remember MySpace?). The intent was to air it on Sunday nights following its debut on Thursday, February 28. After the dismal ratings of the premiere episode, the other five episodes were aired in a marathon on NBC's sibling channel, Bravo, on March 9.

1 episode

This FOX reality show about the Osbournes — Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly — premiered on Tuesday, March 31 following American Idol. The show consisted of sketches, stunts, celebrity cameos, live action audience participation and live musical acts. Although planned as an hour-long show, the premiere episode was cut down to 35 minutes and American Idol was extended to an hour and 25 minutes. The show was universally panned by critics, with Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant even going so far as to call it the "worst variety show ever". At least 26 Fox affiliates opted to preempt the program, 10 of them delaying it until a later time and at least 16 not showing it at all, due to concerns over the nature of the program. FOX canceled the show after one airing, with five episodes remaining unaired.

2 episodes

What if a 30-year-old loser named Travis could go back in time to high school and get a second chance to make everything right? Could he change his life and make everything better? Well we never found out because That Was Then never got past the second episode.

2 episodes

This musical-comedy-drama-murder mystery series on CBS was the first show canceled in the 2007-08 season after just two episodes. If you think that's bad, in Australia, Nine Network pulled Viva Laughlin after just one episode.

2 episodes

The first show canceled for the 2009-10 TV season. Life was short, and not beautiful, for Mischa Barton and company. The CW canceled this show about young, beautiful models living in New York after only two episodes.

2 episodes

Don't let anyone tell you that positive reviews are a good luck charm for a new show. Lone Star had great reviews but was the first show canceled for the 2010-11 season. FOX pulled this critically acclaimed show after just two episodes. Star James Wolk would go on to fame as coffee toting kiss-ass, Bob Benson, on Mad Men.

2 episodes

This mockumentary series premiered on September 23, 2010, and was canceled by ABC on October 1 due to the first two episodes' poor ratings. The six remaining episodes were never aired.

2 episodes

This reality show from the A&E network debuted with back-to-back episodes on December 6, 2010. And then it was canceled. Just like that. A&E was expecting Storage Wars type numbers (~2,000,000 veiwers) for the Hoff and his two daughters. But the first episode reportedly drew 718,000 viewers while the second attracted only 505,000 sets of eyes. The remaining eight episodes never saw the light of day.

2 episodes

This NBC series premiered on April 14, 2011. Due to extremely low ratings, the program was canceled on April 22, 2011, after airing only two episodes. The irony is that The Paul Reiser Show replaced Perfect Couples, a show NBC pulled off the air after 11 episodes for ratings that were deemed too low, though they were significantly higher than The Paul Reiser Show.

2 episodes

CBS pulled this bro-com after two low-rated episodes. The remaining seven episodes were supposed to be burned off on Saturdays, but CBS pulled the series from its Saturday night timeslot after airing only one episode that lost half of the audience from the Two and a Half Men rerun leading into it.

2 episodes

The first show canceled during the 2012-13 TV season. Apparently, nobody wanted to see a stereotypical Jersey girl try to make it in the big city. CBS burned off the remaining seven episodes on Saturday nights in November and December.

2 episodes

This NBC medical drama was their take on the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story. It was canned after two episodes and the remaining ones were burned off in the summer.

2 episodes

Work It may have been one of the worst shows in American television history. Metacritic collected 22 reviews for the show: 18 were negative, four were mixed and zero were positive. That's right, not a single positive review. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the pilot an F grade, stating, "Let's just get this out of the way first: Work It is awful. The grade should indicate that. But it's fascinatingly awful, in that way where you wonder how the hell something like this got on TV in the year 2012." ABC got the message after two dismally rated episodes. The remaining 11 episodes were never aired on ABC, but they did air on TV2 in New Zealand.

2 episodes

CBS apparently didn't learn their lesson with "How to Be a Gentleman" and tried another bro-com. It too, was canceled after just two low-rated episodes. The two additional produced episodes were never seen.

2 episodes

The Job was a reality-competition television series that aired on CBS. Hosted by Lisa Ling, the series featured contestants competing in various challenges for a chance to win "a dream job at their dream company". After two low-rated episodes, Lisa Ling was looking for a new job herself.

2 episodes

After two low-rated airings, The CW moved Cult to a Friday night burn off slot. After five weeks of that, the network pulled the show altogether. The remaining six episodes were later broadcast in the summer.

2 episodes

NBC cancelled this reality dating show from producer Eva Longoria after two episodes. The remaining unaired episodes were made available online.

2 episodes

This series about about a group of seven lottery winners had the distinction of being the the lowest rated fall drama premiere in the 70 year history of the ABC network. But they let it air one more episode just to be sure that wasn't a fluke. It wasn't, and Lucky 7 was canceled after two episodes.

2 episodes

Did you see that note right above about Lucky 7 being the lowest rated fall drama premiere in ABC history? Just three months later, The Assets set the record for the lowest rated drama premiere ever on ABC, NBC or CBS.

2 episodes

This crime drama starring Chloë Sevigny debuted on the A&E network with 1.4 million total viewers, and drew 830,000 viewers for its second episode. A&E then pulled it from its schedule. The series was later burned off on sister network, Lifetime Movie Network.

2 episodes

In this summer reality show dud, Ryan Seacrest would knock on a door of a random house and surprise the occupants with lavish gifts and a celebrity guest. (And by random, I mean picked out weeks in advance in order to have the people who live there screened.) Two episodes of this nonsense was all that viewers could take, as FOX pulled it off of the summer schedule due to low ratings.

2 episodes

ABC just can't seem to find a show that can succeed in the Tuesday 10/9c timeslot. This Biblical drama was supposed to be the broadcast network's answer to Game of Thrones. Ha!

2 episodes

This legal drama starring Katherine Heigl saw its rating in adults 18-49 fall to a 0.6 for episode 2. That might be good enough on The CW but it's an embarrassment for CBS.

3 episodes

First Years was a legal drama that aired on NBC from March to April 2001. It is a remake of the British series This Life. It was canceled after only three of the nine episodes produced had aired.

3 episodes

The first new show of the 2006–07 television season to be canceled, Smith revolved around Ray Liotta's crew of thieves who planned a new heist each week. CBS pulled it after just three episodes but made the four unaired episodes available on their website.

3 episodes

Megan Wants a Millionaire was a reality television show on VH1 in which former Rock of Love contestant Megan Hauserman had seventeen wealthy single men compete for her love. It was pulled off the air after it was announced that contestant Ryan Jenkins was being sought by police for questioning in connection to the murder of his estranged wife, swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore. On August 23, 2009, Jenkins was found dead, of an apparent suicide, at a motel in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. On August 24, 2009, Megan Wants a Millionaire was officially cancelled by VH1. It was later confirmed from a contestant's Twitter account that Jenkins had placed third in the competition.

3 episodes

The first show canceled in the 2011-12 TV season. Despite Amber Heard and Jenna Dewan-Tatum prancing around in Bunny outfits, low ratings forced to NBC cancel this 1960s period drama about Hef's famous Chicago club after only three episodes.

3 episodes

NBC pulled this culture clash sitcom after three episodes. But the remaining eight produced episodes were made available on Hulu.

3 episodes

NBC announced the cancellation of this cop in a wheelchair reboot after three episodes. A fourth episode did air the next week, and the final five episodes were made available on iTunes.

3 episodes

CBS announced this based-on-a-movie sitcom's cancellation after just three episodes. The remaining 10 were burned off in the summer.

3 episodes

This serial killer drama set in the 1980s was the first new series to be yanked off the air in the 2015-2016 season. The third and final airing of this show got a 0.4 rating in adults 18-49. That was the worst in-season rating for a show on the big four networks since 18-49 ratings started being recorded.

3 episodes

This Kal Penn-starring sitcom had some of the lowest demo ratings of any scripted show on a Big 4 network. After 3 episodes NBC announced they were pulling it off the schedule, with the remaining episodes produced being moved to the NBC app.

4 episodes

Even a young Bradley Cooper couldn't save this show. Three episodes aired in the Fall of 2005 before it was bumped for the MLB Playoffs. And then after the World Series ended, it was postponed. Then one more episode aired in early December. And then FOX canceled it. All 13 episodes that were produced were later made available on Hulu.

4 episodes

The first series canceled in the 2008-09 TV season. This was the US version of an Israeli show, and it was pulled by CBS after just four episodes.

4 episodes

This drama series was loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, but set in a kingdom that culturally and technologically resembles the present-day United States. After four episodes aired, NBC moved it to a Saturday slot but only showed one more episode before pulling the series until summer.

4 episodes

The whole truth is that ABC pulled the plug on this legal drama after four episodes.

4 episodes

Jimmy Smits became famous by playing a lawyer on the NBC legal drama LA Law. So Smits playing a maverick judge on a new NBC legal drama can't miss, right? Wrong. The network canceled Outlaw after four episodes and burned off the remaining four on Saturday nights.

4 episodes

ABC initially ordered 13 episodes of this remake of the iconic 1970s show, but Charlie's Angels ended on October 14, 2011 after airing only four episodes due to extremely poor ratings and savage reviews. ABC eventually burned off three of the four remaining episodes that had been produced.

4 episodes

Are you interested in watching people like Snooki and Kim Kardashian try to convince people not to hate them? Neither was anybody else. The CW canceled this reality dud after four episodes.

4 episodes

NBC had a huge hit with their version of the UK hit, The Office. So why not take another British workplace sitcom and give it an American spin? NBC tried just that with Free Agents. But after four episodes were broadcast, it was obvious this would not be the next Office and NBC yanked it off the schedule. The remaining four episodes produced were eventually released on Hulu.

4 episodes

Riot was a FOX game show where two teams of celebrities competed in a number of challenges and games. Australian Rove McManus hosted the show that ended after four episodes.

4 episodes

The first show canceled for the 2014-15 television season. ABC yanked this rom com off of the schedule after airing four low-rated episodes. On the bright side, series stars Analeigh Tipton and Jake McDorman became a couple in real life. Awwww . . .

4 episodes

NBC just can't stop making Jimmy Smits legal dramas. After only four episodes NBC announced that they had halted production on Bluff City Law, but they would air all the episodes that had been produced.

4 episodes

How do a group of friends hangout in the age of COVID-19? Via Zoom of course. But that didn't make for good comedy material since most people were living in that frustrating reality. NBC cancelled this sitcom about life during lockdown after four episodes. The remaining episodes were released via NBC.com and the Peacock streaming service.

5 episodes

CBS ordered only six episodes of this mid-season replacement series, but pulled the plug after five episodes had aired.

5 episodes

Kelsey Grammer played the title character on this ABC sitcom that ran for five episodes before it was canceled.

5 episodes

In the Motherhood was an ABC sitcom that debuted as a midseason replacement on March 26, 2009. It was canceled after five episodes.

5 episodes

Friends with Better Lives was a multi-camera sitcom that premiered on CBS on March 31, 2014. On May 10, 2014, CBS canceled the series after only five episodes had aired, but they did air the remaining three episodes in the summer.

5 episodes

Famous in 12 was a reality television-social experiment series that aired on The CW. The series chronicled the Artiaga family as they relocated to Los Angeles in order to seek fame over the course of 12 weeks. TMZ and Harvey Levin provided the family with opportunities and situations to increase their chances. While on the series, the family continued to build their brand utilizing social media to interact with viewers. Each week featured a "star power meter" that calculated which individual family member was receiving the most interest. The show was canceled in week five and the family was sent home early due to lack of viewer interest. And thankfully the world was not subjected to another family getting famous for doing absolutely nothing of merit.