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 ...

9 of 19

40 The Beautiful Life: Season 1

(2009) In the fall of 2009, the struggling CW network premiered what would become one of its biggest hits, The Vampire Diaries. But it was also trying to recover from years of disastrous series launches, and its other two fall newcomers, including a reboot of Melrose Place, were duds. The first to fall, though, was the Ashton Kutcher-produced supermodel soap The Beautiful Life, which starred Mischa Barton (who was hospitalized just prior to the show's premiere) and Elle MacPherson. It departed after 2 low-rated episodes—though another 3 eventually found their way to YouTube.

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