List of television series cancelled after one episode

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Sometimes a television series is successful, and goes on to become well-known. Other shows are cancelled shortly after their first airing. Rarely, a show is cancelled after (or during) its first airing, and never given a second airing; these rarities are the subject of this list.

Note that this list excludes backdoor pilots (pilots which are shot in such a way that they can be aired either as a TV movie or as a regular episode of another series), or pilots that aired during the summer after not being picked up by a network. This list is not exclusive to American series and contains a few examples of shows that, while successful in one country, were cancelled quickly elsewhere.

1 List of television series cancelled after one episode
2 Series cancelled before airing a single episode
3 References
4 Related Links

[edit] List of television series cancelled after one episode

Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos: 1992 comedy series spun off from Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, hosted by Doug Mulray. This show was actually cancelled during its first episode when then-Nine Network owner Kerry Packer reportedly called the station and personally ordered them to "Get that shit off the air." After the plug was pulled, they went to a commercial break, and two re-runs of Cheers or Married With Children (depending on the source) was aired instead. It is understood that Packer was alerted to the program by several of his personal friends at a dinner.
Co-Ed Fever: 1979 sitcom that attempted to imitate the then successful National Lampoon's Animal House. The pilot was aired as a "special preview" of the up-coming season on February 4, but the series was cancelled shortly thereafter. Five completed episodes remain unaired.^[1]
Comedians Unleashed: 2002 Animal Planet's attempt to mimic Comedy Central's stand up comedy shows but with animal-themed jokes. The episode was rerun a few times before being removed from the programming lineup.
The Debbie King Show: 2007 quiz show on ITV Play with Debbie King, finishing only minutes before the station's suspension, and was not restored during the station's limited service or since the station has shut down. The interactive quiz show, which started (and ended) on Monday 5 March 2007. Due to the announced closure of the ITV Play channel[1] it is unknown if the show will return.
Dot Comedy: 2000 American version of a British comedy show on ABC featuring humorous material found on the Web.
Emily's Reasons Why Not: 2006 comedy show on ABC starring Heather Graham as a single, career woman unlucky in love who employs a list-making system designed to serve as an internal warning on when it's time to cut bait and move on.
Genesis: 2000 game show on PAX TV. Jim MacKrell was the host of this hour-long show. Two teams of four, each representing a different church, competed to answer Biblical trivia questions to win money for their church & a trip to Israel. The first episode aired as a "Sneak Preview" on Easter Sunday, and was never seen or heard of again afterwards.
Heil Honey I'm Home!: 1990 comedy show on British Satellite Broadcasting in which Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun live next door to a Jewish couple.
Lawless: 1997 Fox action series starring former American football star Brian Bosworth as a private investigator.
The Master: 2006 Australian quiz show hosted by Mark Beretta on the Seven Network. Axed after the premiere received low ratings. ^[2]
Public Morals: 1996 Steven Bochco-produced sitcom about a vice squad unit of the New York Police Department that aired on CBS. The show's pilot had been scheduled to air, but several affiliates refused to show it. CBS aired another episode that turned out to be the only one that was aired out of the thirteen episodes that were produced.
The Rich List (US version): 2006 game show by the British producers of Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog. It was heavily promoted on the Fox TV network during the World Series. Two days after the broadcast of the premiere episode, The Rich List became the second U.S. game show (after You're in the Picture) to be axed after one airing.
South of Sunset: 1993 private detective show on CBS starring Glenn Frey of rock band The Eagles. This was the first U.S.-produced series to be cancelled after one episode since 1969 and was heavily promoted during the World Series. The remaining five episodes eventually aired on the VH1 cable network a year later. MTV also aired episodes while celebrating the Eagles' reunion tour.
Turn-On: 1969 poorly-received derivative of Laugh-In. Although not the first series to be immediately cancelled, Turn-On is generally considered the best-known example. It's considered one of the most notorious flops in television history. Some local markets cancelled the show midway through the broadcast, but the story that it was yanked midway through its first episode nationwide is untrue. After the first show, the sponsor (Bristol-Myers) cancelled. The show was viewed by many as being an example of straightforward poor taste.
Who's Your Daddy?: 2005 reality series on Fox TV that involved an adopted woman trying to pick her biological father out of a group of imposters. The show attracted protest from adoptive families and adoption-rights groups before airing. This combined with the fact that the first episode had poor ratings caused the five additional episodes to be permanently shelved from the network before eventually appearing on FOX Reality.
The Will: 2005 reality TV show on CBS in which family members and friends competed to be named the beneficiary of a will. Five episodes were produced and were later aired in Australia and New Zealand.
You're in the Picture: 1961 game show starring Jackie Gleason; notable in part for Gleason going on the air the next week and saying of the show: "Honesty is the best policy. We had a show last week that laid the biggest bomb! I've seen bombs in my day, but this one made the H-bomb look like a two-finger salute." Technically the series wasn't cancelled, but rather Gleason renamed it The Jackie Gleason Show and it became a talk show for the remainder of its limited run. Since the series substantially changed format, as well as its title, after one episode, it is usually referenced as having lasted a single episode, with the later talk show being considered a separate series.

Although two episodes of Animal Planet's situation comedy Beware of Dog aired and thus precludes its inclusion in the above list, it should be noted they were presented back-to-back on August 13, 2002 for the only appearance of the series on U.S. television.^[3] The show featured Look Who's Talking-style observations (voiced by Park Bench) by a stray dog named Jack who adopted a suburban family.^[4]^[5]

[edit] Series cancelled before airing a single episode

Even more rare than series cancelled after a single showing are series cancelled before a single episode is broadcast. While many pilot episodes for series are made each television season and only a select few get picked up, there have been occasions in which a network has announced the debut of a new series only to cancel the series before broadcast.

One such example is Manchester Prep, a series based upon the film Cruel Intentions that was commissioned by the Fox Broadcasting Company and advertised as a new series, but, perhaps due to its controversial subject matter involving teen sexuality, was cancelled before broadcast. The pilot episode of Manchester Prep was later partially refilmed to add nudity and adult subject matter, and released as the R-rated direct-to-video film, Cruel Intentions 2. Likewise, in 1998, Fox heavily advertised a series called Rewind that would have followed two advertising executives (Scott Baio and Mystro Clark) in the current day and in flashbacks to their experiences in the 1970s but eventually cancelled the series before any showings.

Australian series Hotel Story, made by Crawford Productions, was cancelled by Network Ten before a single episode had been aired and only seven episodes shot. After Network Ten cancelled the series, Crawford found that the contract had never been signed, so they had no legal redress. The first four episodes later went to air as a "miniseries" screened over two nights.

The BBC commissioned a cartoon series called Popetown in 2002 which consisted of comical misrepresentations of the Roman Catholic church. After a sustained campaign from senior Catholic theologians, the series was never broadcast on the grounds that it was not of sufficient quality. However, Popetown made its debut on New Zealand music television network C4, and was released on DVD in September 2005.

In 2003, ITV in the UK commissioned a six-part series based on the controversial US Fox TV special Man vs. Beast. It was withdrawn two days before its scheduled debut after protests from animal rights groups.[2]

Another animated series that was cancelled at the last minute was an animated version of Garbage Pail Kids, based on Topps' bubble gum parody of the "Cabbage Patch Kids". Originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 1987 on CBS's Saturday morning schedule, it was cancelled before its debut, after complaints from parental groups. In its place on the schedule was an extra half hour of Muppet Babies. The Garbage Pail Kids series remained unseen in the U.S. until 2006, when the series was released on DVD.

In 1974, ABC featured in its Fall 1974 promo reel, scenes from a slated-to-premiere-in-Fall-1974-sitcom called "Where's the Fire", but was withdrawn before the Fall 1974 launch.

In 1976, comedian David Brenner was slated to star in Snip, a sitcom where he would portray a hairdresser dealing with his ex-wife (portrayed by Lesley Ann Warren) moving back in with him. Created by James Komack, who had earlier created hits like Chico and the Man and Welcome Back Kotter, Snip seemed to have great potential, and was heavily promoted by NBC. However, the network decided to pull the show at the last minute after seven episodes were filmed (it was so abrupt even TV Guide was caught off guard, and still listed the show in its schedule guide). Brenner thinks this was due to fears of controversy, as one of the supporting characters was openly gay. Brenner quipped that, apparently, "In 1976, there were no gay people in America."

One series that never made it to the air due to political pressure was Mr. Dugan, a three-week trial series set to be aired on CBS from March 11 through March 25, 1979. Starring Cleavon Little as a fledging black congressman, Mr. Dugan was yanked from CBS' schedule after several real black congressmen took umbrage after a special screening.

In spring 1988, a CBS sitcom called The Dictator, starring Christopher Lloyd as a former dictator of a foreign country now living in a laundromat, was ready to air as a spring replacement show, and ads ran in TV Guide announcing its debut. The Dictator was pulled before a single episode aired.

In 1997, the WB Network slated to air an American version of the British game show In The Dark on its prime time Sunday schedule, but was yanked before its premiere.

The 2005, ABC reality show Welcome to the Neighborhood was cancelled before it aired because of its subject matter that "risked fostering prejudice." A conservative white neighborhood has to choose their new neighbors from a group of families that are black, Hispanic and Asian; two gay white men who've adopted a black child; a couple covered in tattoos and piercings; a couple who met at the woman’s initiation as a witch; and a poor white family.

Judge Reinhold has been on two shows which have been cancelled before an episode was aired. In 1995, he and Mel Harris starred in Raising Caines, a family sitcom which was supposed to have aired on NBC. In 1997, he starred in another sitcom, Secret Service Guy, which Fox decided not to air. However, both shows aired overseas.

For the 2003-2004 TV season, The WB announced production of Fearless, based on the young adult series of novels by Francine Pascal for its Tuesday nights. The show starred Rachael Leigh Cook, Bianca Lawson, Ian Somerhalder, and Eric Balfour. The WB decided to put One Tree Hill in its place and move Fearless to midseason after hearing of issues producers were having with the lead character's emotions and later issues of casting. After many delays, the show was cancelled. The pilot was the only episode shot and never aired, but was leaked to the Internet after the show was put onto the schedule.

For the 2005-2006 season, NBC's Thick and Thin and The WB's Misconceptions were announced as midseason replacements. In each case, six episodes were produced, but none were ever aired.

In 2006, CBS ordered a midseason replacement series that was scheduled to air in 2007, Waterfront. The drama dealt with the political and personal lives centered around the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. But after completing production on five unaired shows, CBS decided to cancel the series altogether, citing creative and financial issues. There is no word on whether Warner Bros. Television will find a new home for the project, but chances are that it will not do so.

There have also been occasions in which a studio or network has commissioned production of a pilot in anticipation of airing a series, only to decide to shift gears and produce a feature film instead. One of the earliest examples of this is Star Trek: Phase II, a planned revival of Star Trek that was to air on a proposed Paramount Pictures television network in the fall of 1977. When plans for the network fell through, the first episode of Phase II was given an expanded budget and became Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Walt Disney Studios produced four episodes of a Cheetah Girls television series for the Disney Channel, but cancelled the series before airing a single episode.