What Were the First TV Shows Canceled Each Season?
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 ...
(2016) This soapy legal/political drama starred Hayley Atwell from Marvel's Agent Carter, another ABC series that struggled to find an audience. But a series of good reviews helped the latter get a short second season. Mostly lousy reviews for Conviction gave ABC no valid reason for extending the series. On November 8th (burying the news as election results were being announced), ABC indicated that it would not produce the second half of the season, though it said that all of the unaired but already-filmed episodes from the first half will eventually air. It was the fourth straight year that an ABC program was the first to get the ax.