TV Shows We Loved But Ended Too Soon

At some point in our lives, we have all gotten attached to certain television shows and their beloved characters, causing us to re-watch them repeatedly. Unfortunately, some of the best shows across the years (both on-air and streaming) were canceled even after one season. 

This iconic ‘90s show was groundbreaking for its time, considering it accurately portrayed high school students and their lives. Claire Danes’ performance as Angela Chase will forever be cemented into our brains. Each character went through things that audiences could understand and sympathize with, making it an effective character study of American life in the ‘90s. 

Although this series was immensely popular and ran for three seasons, fans weren’t happy with how it ended. Kristen Bell stars as Veronica Mars, a teen sleuth who becomes her a PI after her best friend is murdered. 

This visually sumptuous and comical show, created by Bryan Fuller, stars Lee Pace as a pie-maker who brings his dead crush back to life with his unusual abilities. Sadly, the one stipulation is that he can’t even touch her after she becomes undead. 

This super successful sci-fi hit from Netflix and the Wachowskis (the brilliant minds behind The Matrix) has remained one of the most heartbreaking cancelations in recent TV show history. It explored in-depth the topics of gender, identity, and humanity with a nuance that is unusual for most shows today. 

Although this HBO show earned a Golden Globe win for lead actress Laura Dern and retained high critical acclaim, the network canceled the intriguing show after two seasons. Dern plays a powerful executive who returns home following a rehab stint, determined to live a more spiritually fulfilling life. 

Ok, this one hits the hardest for us. Judd Apatow’s cult comedy hit Freaks and Geeks is a brutally honest depiction of being a teenager in the early 1980s and was taken from his own life experiences. Set in a small suburb on the outskirts of Detroit, the series was fresh and funny, but Apatow and the studio heads weren’t on the same page.

It’s nearly a miracle that this show was on air for as long as it was, considering its subject matter was ultra-violent and graphic. Following a younger version of Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) before he went to prison and his complex dynamic with Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).

This unexpectedly charming legal sitcom starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage was a modest success among fans. Lowe plays an actor who desires to pursue a real-life legal career after playing a lawyer on TV. He attempts to try it, much to the doubt of his actual lawyer brother, played by Savage.

This follow-up to Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Gilmore Girls centered on Sutton Foster who leaves her life behind as a Las Vegas showgirl and returns to her late husband’s hometown to go back to her job as a ballet teacher.

Selfie was a very smart millennial take on My Fair Lady, which centered on Karen Gillan as a narcissistic wannabe influencer. John Cho played a “marketing image guru” to assist Gillan’s character with all her social media priorities.

Set 500 years in the future, the sci-fi series Firefly starring Nathan Fillion centers on a group of rebellious space pirates navigating a universal civil war. It’s weird in the best way possible. Oh, it’s also a western.

This ABC sitcom about six dysfunctional best friends living in Chicago ran for only three seasons (solid ones at that). Happy Endings was funny, realistic, and wacky, but it’s unfortunate that even all the things the series had going for it, couldn’t save it.

This hilarious show starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as a married couple in the suburbs that have to deal with a dark secret: Barrymore’s character has a hunger for human flesh. The Netflix series debuted in 2017 and was a clever, rompy delight. 

Here’s another sad example of a show that died way too early in its life on air. The Showtime series Dead Like Me was visited by the Grim Reaper after two seasons, much to fan’s displeasure. Georgia, an 18-year-old, becomes a Grim Reaper after she’s hit by falling debris from Russia’s MIR space station. 

The OA is yet another show that found itself in the Netflix graveyard of canceled-too-soon series. Without a doubt, this was Netflix’s most bonkers and otherworldly show. Brit Marling plays Prairie, a woman who resurfaces after a seven-year disappearance. 

This Lifetime series starred ‘90s girl-next-door Jennifer Love Hewitt as the lead character, Riley Parks. Riley is a housewife living in Texas who, abandoned by her husband, becomes in a bind for cash. 

The satirical workplace comedy definitely deserved better than the run that it got! Ted, a businessman, and father, decides to take a look at his company’s business practices and is horrified by what he discovers.   

This HBO comedy stars the incredible duo of Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis, and Jason Schwartzman. The show followed the story of a Brooklyn-based writer by day who works as an unofficial private detective by night. 

Taking place in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, this American western show stars Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock, a hardware store owner, and sheriff. The show mixes historical figures with elements of fiction and was a critical darling. Not to mention, it also garnered a dedicated fanbase. 

Based on a series of short stories written by Simon Rich, this hysterical and surrealist comedy is about Jay Baruchel’s Josh who is an adult trying to navigate his life after a painful breakup. Again, this extreme gem of a show was canceled too soon. 

One of Netflix’s funniest shows in recent memory, American Vandal was about two amateur high school filmmakers, Peter and Sam, as they attempt to track down the teenage pranksters who were behind an inappropriately hilarious prank. 

This Canadian drama is loosely based on the 1908 book Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The series follows the titular character of Anne (played by Amybeth McNulty), an orphan who finds a loving home with two adult siblings. 

Based on the novel by Nick Hornby and the 2000 film starring John Cusack, Hulu’s short-lived series High Fidelity starred Zoe Kravitz as she navigated the dating world of New York City. The show was well-written and wonderfully acted, and was refreshing to see the previously male role revamped for a female actress. 

This American superhero drama series created by Tim Kring has had an extremely devoted fanbase since it aired in 2006. If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to drop everything you’re doing and start binging. 

Marvel’s Jessica Jones is a powerful and strong female character who has seen more screen time than any other character in the MCU. The Netflix series chronicles Jones (played by Kristen Ritter) as a PD who navigates the seedy underbelly of New York City. 

Set in the South Bronx of New York in the late 1970s, this series follows a group of young people and delves deep into their lives. Baz Luhrmann was the creative force behind The Get Down and it was remarked as the most expensive Netflix show ever made. Its dazzling visuals, expensive production, and realistic characters made it memorable, despite the sad fact that it only lasted for one season. 

Created by Dan Harmon, the show starred Joel McHale along with a fantastic cast of actors and comedians. McHale played a lawyer who returns to community college after his bachelor’s degree is revoked. It’s there where he forms an odd but heartfelt friendship with other students in their study group. 

This show was adapted from Jane Austen’s unfinished seaside romance novel of the same name. It originally aired in eight parts and starred Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood who moves to Sanditon, a fishing village from her countryside home. 

The mystery series starred Eliza Dushku as a medical student who ends up taking a position at a local morgue after her hospital internship doesn’t go as planned. She finds out very quickly that she possesses the ability to travel back in time and help alter the fate of those that end up in the morgue.