Canceled before it's time.

[Hazardous]

So I just finished watching season 1 of Undergrads, which for any that watched the show, you know it was the ONLY season.. That got me thinking. What were some other shows that were canceled before their time?.. By that I mean had less then 5 seasons.

When they end on a cliffhanger episode that makes it even worse. I think Clone High, and Reboot (for all my Canadian readers) being the worst ones for that. Reboot REALLY ended on a cliffhanger, and then it was gone. Left many kids ripping their hair out after that happened.

Does anyone else got any others? This can go as far back as you like, and doesn't have to be animated either, can be a live action show as well. But remember, 5 seasons or less.

 

[Attitude]

My Name Is Earl-I felt like it didn't get the closing it deserved. They ended on a cliff hanger. If I remember correctly Earl found out that one of Joy's kids could have been his. I can't remember since it was a couple years ago. But they decided to cancel the show for Parks and Recreation instead. I thought that wasn't that good of a decision. I would prefer My Name Is Earl over Parks and Recreation.

Anyway MNIE ended at S4 I think. I feel they could have given them at least one more year to finish the show out. However we ended up with a not so funny Parks and Recreation.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Lucky Louie - Stared Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon (voice of Bobby from King of the Hill), and Jim Norton. Many people including myself thought it was to fast to cancel it after only one season. Its not like it didn't pull decent ratings, according to Wikipedia it had higher ratings than Deadwood and Flight of the Concords. The show was hilarious, was based on a blue collar family, which those shows tend to always do good, since people relate to them the best. One season just wasn't enough.

 

[Ferbian]

The only one I can really think of is the show Titus. Build around comedian Christopher Titus and his life growing up. It was pretty god damn hilarious, and really gave a nice insight into his life.

But it was canceled, due to an argument with the executives at Fox because Fox wanted to split up the couple of Titus and his on-screen girlfriend, due to the fact that Dharma and Greg had the relationship thing going back then, and were red hot.

It drew decent ratings, and it seriously didn't deserve to be pulled off the air. And certainly not because of something like this.

 

[The Crock]

Prison Break. I loved that show. The way they ended it was just too weird, it was all thrown together and characters started coming out of nowhere. The execs told the producers they had one season left so they threw an ending together, even though the story wasn't even close to over. It was extremely frustrating for me since I was a regular viewer. Also, My Name is Earl. It always annoyed me that a show that funny only got 4 seasons. Still makes me mad just thinking about it.

 

[bookerman]

Firefly comes to mind almost instantly. I have no idea why they would cancel a show that had...well...everything in its first season. Another one I can think of was Mortal Kombat Conquest. It was a huge blow for me when they stopped it with Kung Lao dead and all. I was the biggest little MK fan ever.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

If there is any show that was canceled before it's time, it's definitely Freaks and Geeks. This show was amazing, it dealt with a bunch of kids in high school and the normal things kids go through, drugs, love, money, greed, peer pressure...etc. The one difference here was that it was done spectacularly, and almost too real. Which I believe is part of the reason it got canceled. It also had a fantastic cast, many of which you see in Judd Apatow movies these days. What a fantastic show this was though, and I really don't understand why they pulled the plug on it, even after reading the reasoning.

 

[INDYjon22]

Deadwood. The show was brilliant and had a great cast. So many options and directions for the show to go in, however it was concluded after only 3 seasons. Not only that but the apparent finale was way to much of a cliffhanger and gave none of the characters any resolution at all. Deadwood definitely needed another season and almost got it, but HBO fucked it up. I don't know where the communication broke down between HBO and the show. There was obviously going to be some show down between Cy Toliver and Al Swerenger but the show ended before that could happen. A movie was rumored but to much time has elapsed since the time the show ended till now. I would welcome a movie, that would tie up the loose ends and would finally give the characters and myself some closure, but it just seems very unlikely at this point.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Samurai Jack​

We never got a true conclusion to the story that was Jack. For those of you who aren't aware of Jack's story, let's leave that up to Aku:

[YOUTUBE]6jgDEmW9nlU[/YOUTUBE]​

Jack's tale lasted for several seasons before the series ended with the episode Jack and the Baby. In the episode, Jack rescued a baby for it's mother. It was an okay ending to the fourth season, but no fifth season was ever made. Jack is, still to this day, stuck travelling between times. There was no big final battle with Aku, nothing.

However, recently JJ Abrams bought the rights to an animated movie and it seems as though Jack may get the conclusion he rightfully deserves.

 

[Hazardous]

I will say, even if people hate it I'm happy they ended up bringing Futurama back for that 3 movies broken into a season. Plus the new season which I only found out about a few days ago. I enjoy that show more then something like Family Guy.

 

[Cracka Jack]

I'm going with a pretty unknown show, Aliens in America. It was about a family's interactions with the Pakistani foreign exchange student they housed. It sounds kind of cheesy, but the writing and tone of the show made it all work perfectly. Great acting by the whole cast, especially Dan Byrd, who played the lead as Justin, made sure none of the characters were boring. I still consider this one of the funniest shows I've ever seen, despite it only having aired for one season. The fact that it was on the CW didn't help...

 

[Cookie]

Shame on everybody in this thread for not saying Arrested Development. It sadly only ran 3 (hilarious) seasons and I think its humour was a bit ahead of its time and audience. I know it was praised by critics but it just never got high enough ratings to continue which fucking sucks because it was awesome and provided us with one of the greatest comedy ensemble casts ever. On the bright side, at least it got cancelled and left us with 3 great seasons of material instead of running on and deteriorating in quality like most long-running TV shows do these days.

And I'd like to echo whoever said Freaks and Geeks. I mean seriously, only one season? Not fair at all.

 

[harrythem]

Mortal Kombat Konquest. Was a good old show and the series ended with Shao Kahn killing the entire good guy cast. What a bastard way to end it!

 

[Mustang Sally]

Quantum Leap.

That show had so much more life left in it. Yes, it was formulaic drama with the same back story (based on "The Fugitive"). The difference was in the versatility of Scott Bakula, who could make each of the characters he had to play every week seem fresh and believable.

The first couple of seasons, Dr. Sam Beckett was only able to travel to time periods within his own lifetime, but in the last season, they had him zapping into the bodies of people who lived during the Civil War.

A great, great show that should have been allowed to continue. The very last episode was open-ended enough that I thought a feature length movie was going to ensue, but that never happened either.

 

[JenksIX]

10 Items or Less (TBS show that took place in a grocery store.)

Heroes (Pretty well made Sci-fi show that had a lot too offer.)

Flight of The Conchords (HBO Show about two New Zealand guys who come too America in hopes of becoming big time musicians. Jemaine Clement is brilliant in anything he does.)

Late World with Zach (Comedian Zach Galifiankis' (from Dinner with Schmucks and The Hangover) late night talk show which aired and was short lived on VH1 in 2002. Galifiiankis has always been a popular stand up comic and is currently a huge box office draw in the movie industry. The show was very funny, but was given no time to develop or gain a following.)

 

[Davi323]

Besides Arrested Development and Quantum Leap (two amazing shows), I would say the Ben Stiller show that was on Fox in the early 90s. It didn't even last a full season to the best of my knowledge, but it was FUNNY.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I wish Garth Marenghi's Darkplace had gone on longer. It was only 6 episodes in total. Probably only intended to be that long originally anyway, but it was so great that it surely deserved to be 12 episodes.

I personally thought the ending to Mortal Kombat Conquest was pretty bad ass. Shao Khan beat everyone! And it wasn't just the heroes, because Quan Chi got wiped out by him as well. Makes sense considering he was supposed to continue ruling Outworld until Lui Kang comes along several centuries later.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The Wayans Bros.

Shawn and Marlon Wayans are my favorites out of the entire family, and I loved this show when I was younger. The writing wasn't great, but Shawn and Marlon would always make me laugh, and they were an awesome duo. I also thought John Witherspoon was hilarious as Pops. Other characters would crack me up were Dee, Lisa, T.C.,and Mia. I know the show became kind of weak towards the end, but I just wish The Wayans Bros. would've had a proper send off.

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

umm when they brought TGIF back on ABC they had a show complete savages, i thought it was extremely funny and i think Mel Gibson produced it.

Scrubs didn't get a good enough sendoff after they came back from the dead, it might have been better if they brought back the orginal cast with everybody. Mike and Mike have issues was funny, along with my name is earl, i really hate clifhanger endings when they get canceled. Little Bush was another funny one, i loved how they had little dick cheny in there and secret girlfriend was another good one i like because it had everything hot chicks, pushing nuditity and strong sexual content while not getting a MA rating. Also Drawn Together was another good one, i am glad they got a movie but i can't find the damn thing anywhere.

The Sopranos had a great run, hell they are the only show to win an award after being ended, but they should have got a better sendoff, i mean cutting to black in mid sentanc is like a big Fuck you. You know did Tony die, what the hell was that guy doing when he was walking near them, if Tony died would AJ be the new head, when was AJ gonna trim that fucking facial hair. Too many questions and not enough answers DAMN YOU HBO FOR THAT ENDING

 

[Theo Mays]

I don't watch many shows, but a show that I enjoyed that got canceled was Flash Forward on ABC. It had a great start, but it seemed like it was going down, only to have an awesome cliff hanger that set up season 2, but ABC pulled the plug on the show. Starz is rumored to pick it up, but who knows what is going on there. What the show is was the world suffered a blackout and everyone saw into the future on a certain date and it would be pretty much a flash forward. It had a great mix of action, suspense, and drama. It is definitely worth a watch if you ever have some time.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

I just thought of another show, Early Edition. It starred Kyle Chandler as the main character of the show as Gary Hobson. He would receive the newspaper a day before it was supposed to be published by a cat, so he would then prevent tragedies from happening. The show only was on for 4 seasons, I thought they could've done a few more. Other people featured on the show were Fisher Stevens (Ben from Short Circuit movies), and Kristy Swanson for one season.

 

[The Jabroni]

I would have to say that "Clerks: The Animated Series" was cancelled far before it's time. It was cancelled after two episodes and only six were made. Those six, by the way, are hilarious. It was a highly clever show and had several classic moments (including the art shift in one episode). I don't know if it would've kept the comedy consistent had it not been cancelled, so it might've been a good thing, but I do believe it was cancelled before it's prime. If you ever get the chance, watch all six episodes. Laughter is guaranteed.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

One of the best shows (to me) that was cancelled before its time was Angel. I was pissed how they ended the season and just let it fade to black. I loved how they built it back up with Angel taking over Wolfram and Hart. I truly loved how he ultimately took control and was finding out more about the 'Senior Partners' and what the ultimate scheme was, then you find out BOOM series cancelled..I was so mad. Then the ending was as ambiguous as the Sopranos when it went to black, plus how they killed Wesley, with Illyria/Fred looking at him, and the battle raging back and forth between him and Lindsey for most of the series. I was always a Lindsey fan, who didn't love the Karaoke bar that Lorne had? I was still kinda sad when Cordelia left and it wasn't the same, but then after the show ended, and rumors swirled about a movie possibly, I was so excited, then it never came to fruition, and just recently, I read in an interview that Charisma Carpenter did have some bad feelings after leaving Angel with creator Joss Whedon, which made me feel a bit bad. But I still love seeing my Angel re-runs on TNT.

 

[justinsayne]

Two shows that have already been mentioned FireFly & My Name Is Earl, FireFly had fucking everything, interesting story, humor, action, the right mix of everything, and it was canceled after only one season, I was glad that they did at least get to make a movie and tie up a bunch of loose ends and give it a proper closing

My Name Is Earl, was just plain funny, I never could understand why they just up an canceled, people loved this show, this was just another example of NBC fucking up, you have something fans love, so you get rid of it, and replace it with something fans don't give a fuck about, I had heard rumors that TBS was going to try an pick up the show and air new episodes but couldn't afford the rights, and now with Jason Lee working on a new show that pipe dream seems pretty dead now

One show I havn't seen get mentioned (and tbh I'm not too surprised) is My Own Worst Enemy, this show stared Cristian Slater as a spy who had something done that allows the government to switch personalities between and everyday normal guy and what basically amounts to some sort of super spy, in the show the technology starts fucking up and he starts just randomly switching between personalities (I always felt this idea would work much better as movie instead of tv show), the show ends on a cliffhanger with an insane amount of unanswered questions, and it would've been nice if NBC had just given them at least one more season to finish the show of properly, or at least a few more episodes if nothing else, the show wasn't the greatest but toward the end of the first season things were really starting to pick up and get interesting, would've been nice to have a proper ending

 

[Hazardous]

If there is any show that was canceled before it's time, it's definitely Freaks and Geeks. This show was amazing, it dealt with a bunch of kids in high school and the normal things kids go through, drugs, love, money, greed, peer pressure...etc.

After reading this post, I was reminded of another one, which Fox dropped the ball on. It was the follow up to Freaks and Geeks, called Undeclared. Starring Jay Baruchel (Knocked up,Tropic Thunder), Carla Gallo (Knocked Up,The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Seth Rogan (do I really need to list any of his movies?) With guest stars including Tom Welling, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and Ben Stiller. It was about College life, and dealing with Sex, Drugs, Relationships. They canceled it after 16 episodes. I found the show pretty funny myself, and thought the cast of the show was great. That's when I became a fan of Seth Rogan's work.