TV business is first and foremost a business, which, sadly, means that if your favorite TV show doesn’t hit the required numbers, it’s probably gonna get cancelled soon. We’ve lost many shows to this enemy. Too many to count. Some were actually bad, others – simply brilliant. There’s nothing worse, IMO, than an unfinished story. Thankfully some shows got the cancellation notice while still filming (like Castle, for example), and were able to rush the story and wrap things up. Not everyone was that lucky.
Let’s look at these 9 popular TV shows that were cancelled too soon.
1. Almost Human (2014)
Almost Human was an amazing sci-fi show about a future cop and his android partner living in a society where androids were treated like trash. It had such a potential, but, sadly, FOX killed it after airing the episodes completely out of order. Of course people couldn’t follow the story and dropped it. Now that Disney owns FOX, maybe there’s a chance of a revival.
2. Agent Carter (2015-2016)
Old-school spy show set in the MCU? Hell yeah! We were told we’ll see how SHIELD was established, but instead got only 2 awesome seasons of Peggy Carter playing a detective. Well, at least the Endgame gave us a glimpse into what the show could have been, but I won’t spoil it here.
3. Selfie (2014)
Karen Gillan is freaking adorable and awesome in everything! The show had great writers and cast, along with a hook and even a deeper message, but I guess people didn’t like it. Damn you, ABC!
4. Constantine (2014-2015)
John Constantine, the Hellblazer himself, finally got a TV show… which was cancelled only six episodes in! They didn’t even let the showrunners finish the first season, leaving dozens of unanswered questions and dangling plot lines. Thankfully, Matt Ryan’s Constantine found a temporary place to live – DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which is a very corny superhero show. It’s not ideal but we’ll take it!
5. Galavant (2015-2016)
2 seasons of the funniest, most phenomenal musical comedy with medieval knights, princesses, kings, love, betrayal, friendship, and a stunning cast – all this wasn’t enough, apparently. The ratings were low, so they had to go.
6. Dollhouse (2009-2010)
Created by Joss Whedon, the genius behind Buffy, Angel, and the Avengers, Dollhouse is a story about erasing memories and identities, to then imprinting them with handcrafted identities. It’s like that “I know kung-fu” scene from the Matrix. Of course, things go south very fast and by the end of the second season we’re left with a huge cliffhanger and gaping mouths. Luckily for the fans, the story continues in the comics, but that’s just not the same.
7. Lie to Me (2009–2011)
Tim Roth playing Cal Lightman, the man who can read faces like no-one else in the world, helps solving crimes, while explaining what every single muscle twitch means. It was super fun to watch, even if the science wasn’t always on point.
8. Netflix Marvel shows
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, the Defenders… all these great shows have been cancelled almost at the same time and we can only speculate as to why. Was it Disney pulling the strings? Or maybe they did under-perform on Netflix? Who knows? Maybe it’s both.
9. Firefly (2002)
You knew Firefly would be here, didn’t you? Of course, I’m going to include the best unfinished show of the century. Just like with Almost Human, FOX aired the episodes completely out of order, thus making it hard to follow the story. We did get the “Serenity” movie years later, but it’s not the ending we deserved. Like Dollhouse, Firefly still continues as a comic book, however, so there’s that.
