15 Shows That Were Canceled Before Their Time

This is a story with a relatively happy ending. "Veronica Mars," an endlessly entertaining and surprisingly mature mystery drama geared towards young adults, was cancelled only three seasons into its short life. Afterwards, the screenwriter behind the show put together a movie script which wasn't picked up by anybody. That said, back in 2013, star Kristen Bell launched a successful Kickstarter campaign with Thomas in order to fund the movie, which debuted on March 14, 2014.

Sure, it's an obvious pick, but at the same time it's staggering that Joss Whedon's wonderful space western got dropped just 14 episodes into the show. Sure, it got a movie, and it has legions of devoted fans, but nothing really makes up for the fact that the show was cancelled before it could really catch on. Could you imagine if this show aired today? It'd be Game-Of-Thrones-tier appointment viewing.

Like "Firefly" before it, "Scream Queens" was probably too cultish for its own good. This wound is still fresh, however – Fox announced that the show would be cancelled on May 15 – a crushing blow to fans of comedy horror everywhere.

"Twin Peaks" was, without a doubt, one of the best serial dramas ever to appear on television. And despite its critical acclaim, despite its wonderfully weird cast of characters, and despite the inimitable surreal atmosphere it had, it was cancelled after two seasons, though there was a prequel movie afterwards. Luckily, we will be getting more "Twin Peaks" soon, in the form of a mini-series produced by Showtime that is scheduled to air later this May.

This show was doomed from the start. It debuted the exact same year as "30 Rock" did, and the cutthroat world of prime time TV was not big enough for both of them. Tina Fey's show (rightfully) beat out Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" when push came to shove, but judged on its own merits, "Studio 60" was a great show. It just suffered from the worst timing in the world.

Before Community's epic string of cancellations and re-airings, there was "Arrested Development." A groundbreaking and hilarious sitcom, it was canned after three seasons due to low viewership – they even mentioned it on the show with a winking nod to the camera. Luckily, it has been revived by Netflix with a fourth season that aired back in 2013 – with a fifth season now greenlit for 2018.

If "Deadwood" aired 10 years later, after "Game of Thrones" made HBO a necessary cable plan purchase for people too young to have watched "The Sopranos" when it came out, we wouldn't be having this discussion. "Deadwood" was a brilliant show – an honest-to-goodness western that was incredibly well-researched and, more importantly, was entertaining. That said, we might not have seen the last of "Deadwood" –star Ian McShane said back in April that the script for a TV movie has been written, and is ready for production when HBO gives the word.

Before you stop me, no, I'm not going to claim that "Dollhouse" was one of Joss Whedon's best shows. But in terms of shows that were cancelled before they truly had a time to find their feet, this is high on the list. "Dollhouse" was pulpy, action packed, well-written, and above all, fun – it deserved more than the two seasons it got.

Anyone who has ever had even the slightest interest in acting loved "Party Down," a hilarious send-up of what happens when young, bright-eyed actors move to LA to follow their dreams. Unfortunately, after losing actors Jane Lynch and Adam Scott, the show didn't have enough star power to continue.

Wait, "Freaks and Geeks" only lasted 18 episodes? The show that launched the careers of pretty much all of America's favorite actors and actresses? Yep. Unfortunately, the Paul Feig comedy that launched a thousand careers (Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogen...) only lasted one season.

On one hand, this kind of makes sense. "Caprica" was a spinoff of a sci-fi series that really struggled to find its footing in the 18 episodes it was around for. On the other hand, it was a spinoff of Battlestar Galactica, one of the most-beloved sci-fi TV series of all time. 

If there's one thing you should have learned by this point in the slideshow, it's that networks really love canceling great shows geared towards high-schoolers. "My So-Called Life" lasted one season, and though it launched the careers of both Claire Danes and Jared Leto, it was cancelled after just 19 episodes.

"Pushing Daisies" was a wonderful mishmash of genres – neither comedy nor drama, with elements of noir, fantasy, and even soap-opera sprinkled in. It might not be that much of a surprise that this wonderful show about pies that bring people back to life got cancelled given its eclectic nature, but it hurts nonetheless. Though there are talks about bringing the show back as a movie or musical, nothing concrete has been confirmed yet.

Yes, it ran out of steam the longer it ran, but the fact remains that there was tons of unfinished business left after "Heroes" got canned back in 2010. Sure, it fell into the same trap that many shows do – they couldn't advance the main story since they wanted to extend its run – but that proved to be the show's downfall. And to add insult to injury, "Heroes Reborn," the show's newer spinoff, was cancelled last January after it disappointed fans of the original show.

There is no happy ending here. This cancellation was devastating. The wonderful adult cartoon, featuring a stacked voice cast including Will Forte, Nicole Sullivan, Phil Lord, and special guests including Michael J. Fox, Zach Braff and Marilyn Manson, was groundbreaking. And when it ended, it did so on a cliffhanger that, well, doesn't seem like it's going to be resolved anytime soon.