The cancelled TV shows that didn’t make it past the first episode
Navigating the role of a successful showrunner in today’s entertainment landscape is no small feat, particularly with so many studios, networks and streaming sites to choose from. It demands a seamless blend of creativity, business acumen, and networking finesse, lest you become cast away as nothing more than just another addition to the long list of cancelled TV shows.
It all starts with conceiving an idea that possesses that elusive spark, capable of doing the delicate task of captivating audiences. Then, crafting an enthralling script that breathes life into the concept and mastering the art of pitching is another essential skill to secure the right connections within the industry.
Once you manage to impress network executives with your vision, the journey is far from over. You may be tasked with producing a compelling pilot episode: a make-or-break moment that could determine the show’s destiny. After all of that, you could find yourself with a full series commission at your feet – but only if the network likes your work.
It’s a fiercely competitive world out there – around 90% of TV pilots fail, with the vast majority of projects ending up as dead pitches. Or worse, dead pilots, like The CW’s live-action remake of The Powerpuff Girls titled Powerpuff, which was scrapped due to being “too campy”.
Most of the time, you can tell why shows got cancelled after the first episode. Either they fall flat, lacking in the very thing they set out to do, or there are conflicts or controversies among staff or cast members, or the network no longer has space to schedule new programming. But then there are the ones that were actually good and raked in the viewers but, for whatever reason, were cancelled by the network anyway.
This was the case with Bryan Fuller’s Mockingbird Lane. The Hannibal showrunner produced a modernised take on the show The Munsters and assembled a wonderful cast, including the likes of Portia de Rossi and Eddie Izzard, and aired it as a Halloween special in 2012, accruing some 5.4 million viewers. Boasting Fuller’s signature dark humour and impressive special effects, the show was a hit and garnered instant critical acclaim. However, NBC didn’t see a future in it, and the single episode ended up being the only thing that ever came of Mockingbird Lane.
In the early 2000s, one of the few things on TV about superheroes was Smallville. Sensing this, the CW execs wanted to monetise its popularity, and soon they got to work making Aquaman, which initially had a working title of Mercy Reef. With the addition of Awolnation’s ‘Sail’ in the trailer, the entire thing doesn’t actually look all that bad. For a teen take on the superhero genre in 2006, it’s difficult to grasp exactly why this one didn’t make it – but as we know, the superhero wave came a little later, so maybe it was all in the timing.
Some producers attempt to re-make shows in a way that corrects their predecessor’s mistakes – either they were cancelled, or they became solidified in TV history as classics, and it’s time for a reboot. Public Morals was a show that sought to fix its original’s issues but ended up being cancelled too. The show centred around a group of mismatched vice detectives and suffered at the hands of other popular detective shows that aired at the same time in 1996. Public Morals, however, was too vulgar and crude for audiences and included harmful racial stereotypes, deeming it too offensive.
Not all scrapped pilots are lost causes, though. The original Buffy The Vampire Slayer pilot episode didn’t do too well among execs – it was 24 minutes long and needed some serious script tweaking. It consisted of almost entirely the same primary cast, but there was something about it that felt slightly off. They extended it to an hour and replaced two characters with different actors; Alyson Hannigan for Willow (originally played by Riff Regan) and Ken Lerner for the vice principal (originally played by Stephen Toblowsky of Memento and Californication fame).
Many, many more TV shows didn’t make it past their initial pilot episodes, including the original attempt at Fargo in 1997 and Heat Vision and Jack in 1999 which starred Jack Black and Owen Wilson. A lot of them were victims of being ahead of their time, like Conan O’Brien’s metafictional Lookwell, or just plain outdated, like Lawless, a 1990s action show starring Brian Bosworth which sought to bring back hyper-masculine ‘90s notoriety.
The classic cancelled TV shows:
- The Amazing Screw-On Head (2006)
- Aquaman (2006)
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Original pilot, 1996)
- Clerks (1995)
- Dot Comedy (2000)
- Emily’s Reasons Why Not (2006)
- Fargo (1997)
- Heat Vision and Jack (1999)
- Justice League of America (1997)
- Lawless (1997)
- Lookwell (1991)
- Mockingbird Lane (2012)
- Public Morals (1996)
- Swamp Thing (2019)
- Quarterlife (2007)
