What Were the First TV Shows Canceled Each Season?

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – November 1, 2017

This gallery was originally published in 2015 and has been updated for the new TV season.

They're usually not the worst (though, with a few notable exceptions, they're almost never among the best). And they aren't necessarily the most derivative or least interesting, nor are they lacking in talent. What they are, for a variety of reasons, is unwatched ... and thus extremely short-lived. We're talking about the fall TV season's first cancellations.

Like in 2016, this year's first cancelation came a bit later than normal—in early November. And, once again, it was not the season's lowest-scoring show that got the axe. How many canceled shows can you remember from past years? Find out in our brief look back at the last 18 years of television infamy ...

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57 Me, Myself and I: Season 1

(2017) Set in three different time periods, with three different actors (including, somehow, John Larroquette and Bobby Moynihan) playing the same character, this CBS sitcom was perhaps too complicated to explain to potential viewers—or too incompatible with the remainder of the network's lineup.

Either way, it was the weak link in the network's Monday lineup, and continued low (and declining) ratings caused CBS to pull the show from its schedule after six episodes aired, even though it was far from the fall's worst new show (and wasn't even the worst newcomer on CBS).

While the show hasn't officially been canceled, we're not fooled: The act of removing the show from the schedule with only a vague promise of airing the remaining seven episodes at a later date is a death sentence for the series.

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