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 ...

42 Danny: Season 1

(2001) Remember when CBS had a Friday night comedy lineup? It did, and this Daniel Stern vehicle (paired with another short-lived sitcom, Ellen DeGeneres' The Ellen Show) pretty much sealed its fate. Danny, which found the Home Alone star playing a single father of two who also managed a rec center, ran for just two episodes. Beginning the following season, CBS would stick to dramas on Fridays.

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