15 TV Shows That Just Got Cancelled

15 TV Shows That Just Got Cancelled

Hell no.

Fox

TV's version of The Hunger Games is underway, with series new and old fighting it out for survival as the networks' Upfronts presentations edge nearer.

With lots of newcomers to accommodate, it's simply a fact of TV schedules that some shows will have to make way, and the major networks ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW have already started wielding the knife and cutting the chaff.

While there have been a few surprising renewals and other shows remain on the bubble, a number have had the plug pulled on them. A few will be sorely missed, and to others it's a case of goodbye and good riddance, but - barring more revivals - none will be back on our screens again anytime soon.

Honourable Mention: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Fox

Brooklyn Nine-Nine was cancelled, but the show's demise lasted just 24 hours before NBC stepped into the breach to revive it.

Fox's decision to cancel the series led to an outpouring of support for the sitcom on social media, with celebrity fans lending their voice, which then led to NBC seeing the value in picking it up for a sixth run, set to air in the mid-season. NINE NINE!

15. Quantico

ABC

The Priyanka Chopra-starring thriller had already been on borrowed time, just scraping a renewal last year after its viewers halved from its first season, and after a continued decline the show has been wrapped after three seasons.

The show had started as an engaging mystery, complete with multiple timelines, but lost its way after continuing past what was perhaps a natural resolution, changed its showrunner, and never really recovered.

14. Life Sentence

The CW

One of just two shows cancelled by The CW, the series has always looked set for a life sentence in cancellation hell. The new series has been stuck at the bottom of The CW's ratings, pulling in less than half-a-million viewers a week and just 0.18 in the key 18-49 demo since its mid-season debut.

The comedy-drama centres on a woman whose terminal cancer is cured, and then has to face-up to the choices she made when loving each day as if it were her last (dancing all night, having a blast). Critics and viewers found the show cloying, and there'll be no reversing this diagnosis.

13. Rise

NBC

NBC had high hopes when Rise debuted, with a strong premiere thanks to a lead-in from the Winter Olympics, but the ratings instead continued to fall week-after-week.

The high-school musical comedy, which starred HIMYM's Josh Radnor and was created by Friday Night Light's Jason Katims, received mixed reviews and couldn't find a major audience, with fewer than a million viewers on average among 18-49-year-olds, although its overall ratings (over 4m) meant a cancellation wasn't nailed on.

12. The Mick

Fox

The Mick, a black comedy which saw Kaitlin Olson's Mickey raising her niece and nephews after their parents are arrested, has had its life cut short after just two seasons and 26-episodes.

Despite the comic talents of It's Always Sunny's Olson in the lead role, the show struggled for consistency with its humour and storylines, leading to a viewership of just 0.73m among 18-49-year-olds, the same amount that saw Brooklyn Nine-Nine cancelled by the bloodthirsty Fox network too.

11. Valor

The CW

As with Life Sentence, military series Valor was amongst The CW's lowest-rated shows, and it would've taken a miracle for it to survive.

The writing was already on the wall when the network announced they weren't picking up additional Season 1 episodes beyond the first 13, which averaged only 0.21 in the 18-49 demo, and now it's been officially put out of its misery after a four-month hiatus.

10. Alex, Inc

ABC

Although the premise felt a little dated - a radio journalist, husband and father of two, quit his job to launch his own podcast startup - there was reason to be hopeful for Alex, Inc, because it reunited Scrubs writer and producer Matt Lares with its star, Zach Braff in his first lead TV role since the medical sitcom ended.

Despite Braff's likeability, however, the series failed to get off the ground. The reviews were poor, and the show didn't have a great deal to recommend it to viewers, who subsequently didn't tune in, leading to ABC cancelling the series after just nine episodes had aired.

9. Kevin Can Wait

CBS

10 years after Kevin James' first CBS comedy ended, the actor returned to the network with a new sitcom that, ultimately, wasn't worth the wait.

The show saw James star as a recently retired police officer, and after a poor first season retooled by killing off his wife (played by Erinn Hayes) and replacing her with Leah Remini's Vanessa, a former rival of James' Kevin. The handling of it garnered a lot of controversy, the ratings fell sharply (although that likely would've happened without the change-up), and now CBS have sent the show to the TV graveyard.

8. Inhumans

ABC

While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fate remains up in the air, ABC's other Marvel series is definitely dead.

To be fair, Inhumans was pretty much dead on arrival, with the series - despite a heavy marketing push and an IMAX launch - receiving a critical mauling, disappointing fans with its long-awaited portrayal of the Inhuman Royal Family, and failing to pick up many viewers along the way.

The characters were once set to be the focus of an MCU movie, and instead ended up with just eight episodes and a single season of TV, which has all but killed them off in every medium. That's how bad it was.

7. Taken

NBC

No one was even asking for the sequels to Taken, let alone a TV series set before the events of the film focusing on a younger version of Bryan Mills.

Clive Standen stepped into the considerable shows of Liam Neeson, who actually did an admirable job considering the material he was given to work with. The show just didn't work and that was reflected in the ratings, where it sat bottom of NBC's shows this year after a huge 55% drop-off in the 18-49 demo, evidence that the franchise had been, er, taken too far.

6. The Last Man On Earth

Fox

Unlike a lot of shows on this list, The Last Man On Earth had consistently strong reviews, with the show - from creator, writer, and star Will Forte - consistently smart and funny.

Unfortunately for its fans that never translated to good ratings: Season 4 may have critical acclaim, but just under 2m viewers overall (and 0.79 in the 18-49 demo) have condemned it to a life in the apocalypse, with a cliffhanger ending that'll never be resolved and yet still somehow works as a fitting end point.

5. The Exorcist

Fox

A sequel to the 1973 horror classic, it was in much the same vein as the movie - priest deals with demonic presence targeting a family - although never managed to offer up the same level of quality scares.

The show's second season was Fox's lowest-rated series, dropping off by over 30% from its first season (and losing star Geena Davis), which has meant there was nothing possessing them to renew it, and there'll be no resurrections. This one is definitely dead.

4. Great News

NBC

It's bad news for any fans of NBC's broadcast news sitcom, which has been canned after two seasons.

The series, which came from 30 Rock's Tracey Wigfield and starred Briga Heelan and Andrea Martin as a mother and daughter working together in TV news, suffered a bit of a sophomore slump in terms of both critical appraisal and ratings, meaning it was always likely to be taken off the air. With just 3m viewers overall, it wasn't great enough to scrape a third season.

3. Designated Survivor

ABC

Despite the title, the Kiefer Sutherland vehicle just couldn't survive poor ratings and ABC's need to create some room for its new shows.

The show, which starred Sutherland as a man who finds himself President after an explosion kills everyone in the line of succession, went through four different showrunners over just two seasons, which didn't help its quality any. That in turn led to a serious decline in viewers, with just 0.73 in the 18-49 demo, and ABC designating this one for cancellation.

2. Lucifer

Fox

Gotham may have scraped a revival, but its fellow Fox comic book series - and Thursday night partner - wasn't so lucky.

Lucifer has a loyal fanbase, with plenty of outcry over the decision, but unfortunately not a big enough one, although it did actually have more viewers on average than Gotham.

The end comes after three seasons, despite plenty of story being left to tell, but it's unclear whether any other network will rescue it at this stage.

1. The Expanse

Syfy

Although not from one of the big five networks, Syfy's cancellation of The Expanse is noteworthy in part because of how surprising it is. The show has been lauded as one of the very best sci-fi series on TV for the past couple of years, with Season 3 pulling in 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ultimately, though, money talks, and The Expanse wasn't worth the expense. The show was pulling in just over 500k viewers on average, and only around 0.2 in the key demo, but the quality might mean another network or streaming service - Netflix would be a good fit - could step into the breach and save it from extinction.