We have all been there. You fall in love with a brilliant, whimsical, moving TV series that you know is flying under the radar or struggling in the ratings, and then out of nowhere — BOOM! — cancelled. A series with terrific promise cut short of its prime. Devil!!! Dozens of amazing TV shows have fallen into that trap over the years, and now the Great Pop Culture Debate wants to determine: what is the Best TV Series Cancelled Too Soon?
For the purposes of this debate, we’re looking at TV series that were cancelled — actually cancelled, not with a planned ending — with two seasons or less. If it got a third season, it doesn’t qualify (sorry, “Happy Endings” and “GLOW” fans). If it got two seasons and a wrap-up movie, we left it in (“Sense8”). If it had two seasons and then a reboot WAAAAAY later (“Twin Peaks”) we also let it stay.
Below find a list of…a lot of cancelled TV series. Pick up to 32 of your favorites. (You can also take the poll by clicking here.) We couldn’t include EVERY great early cancellation, so if we missed your favorite, please write it in the field provided below. We’ll try to include it in the warm-up for this episode! (Note that we had to scale back on including ABC Family/Freeform and MTV series, as those network are just graveyards littered with series that don’t make it past one season.)
The poll will run until Saturday, May 29. Make sure to submit your answer by then! And please share with your TV-loving friends, the more people who vote the better!
The 32 top vote-getters will be discussed on Season 4 of the Great Pop Culture Debate podcast, debuting in late summer 2021. For similar episodes, like Best
2000s Sitcom, scroll through the Episodes link above.