History Main / TooGoodToLast

* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'': UPN pulled the plug after just five episodes, but Adult Swim picked it up for the rest of the first season and then another three years.

* ''Ride/WondrousJourneys'', a Ride/{{Disneyland}} nighttime spectacular celebrating [[MilestoneCelebration 100 years]] of inspirational Creator/{{Disney}} movies and shorts, originally only ran for eight months, ending well before the exact date of Disney's centennial. Disney has announced that they will occasionally revive the show, but some Disneyland fans wish that it would just become the park's default nighttime spectacular, even if off-season performances would reduce it to projections and music.

* ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' started life as a rail shooter on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn and was successful enough to get a direct sequel, and then a spin-off RPG that was acclaimed but sold poorly. After returning to its rail shooter roots with ''Panzer Dragoon Orta'' on the Xbox the series died due to poor sales, despite receiving lots of acclaim from critics and fans alike.

* ''VideoGame/EvolutionTheWorldOfSacredDevice'' was a fantastic RPG on the shortlived [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]]. After a mediocre sequel and an amazing reboot on the Gamecube, the series was left out to die. It doesn't help that it was developed by Creator/StingEntertainment.

* A console example, the infamous UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. Same could be said for most of Sega's systems.

* ''VideoGame/ActRaiser'': The sequel removed the simulation gameplay, and unlike the first game which had a well balanced difficulty level, the sequel was NintendoHard to almost unplayable levels. Needless to say, the game [[FranchiseKiller flopped]], despite having some of the best graphics and sound the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo was capable of at the time.

* ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' was immensely successful in its prime and gained an incredibly passionate fanbase thanks to its slick, uniquely cinematic identity, [[QuirkyWork incredibly off-the-walls storylines and characters]], and some of the biggest special-effecs spectacles the medium had to offer, but it only lasted four years between 2014 to 2018 [[QuietlyCancelled before dying a quiet death]] with [[CutShort lingering storylines left unfinished]]. The promotion had been fraught with questionable management, constant issues with talent over contract negotiations, and budgets spiralling out of control, leaving it in a place where it really wasn't sustainable enough to last, where even executive producer Eric van Wagenen commented that had they gotten a fifth year, the promotion still would've required a major reboot just to stay fiscally coherent.

* ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' was immensely successful in its prime and gained an incredibly passionate fanbase thanks to its slick, uniquely cinematic identity, [[QuirkyWork incredibly off-the-walls storylines and characters]], and some of the biggest special-effecs spectacles the medium had to offer, but it only lasted four years between 2014 to 2018 [[QuietlyCancelled before dying a quiet death]] with [[CutShort lingering storylines left unfinished]]. The promotion had been fraught with questionable management, constant issues with talent over contract negotiations, and budgets spiralling out of control, leaving it in a place where it really wasn't sustainable enough to last, where even executive producer Eric van Wagenen commented that had they gotten a fifth year, the promotion still would've required a major reboot come a fifth year just to stay fiscally coherent.

* ''Series/ThePlayboyClub'' has now been cancelled after 3 episodes, which was better than it sounds, although it was probably doomed from the start.

* ''ComicBook/Youngblood2017'' was cancelled after just 12 issues, with a number of plotlines left unresolved. An attempt to restart it was derailed by Creator/RobLiefeld losing the rights to ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}''.

* As stated on ABC, ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' suffered a similar fate to other Disney animated action/adventure shows, ending after two seasons and with a massive hint at a third season to boot. The reason, according to this [[http://www.tv.com/w.i.t.c.h./show/29931/w.i.t.c.h.-faq/topic/13689-485279/msgs.html FAQ]] from tv.com, is there was "little to no interest both from the investors’ and the producer’s side" to continue the series. Coincidentally, Creator/GregWeisman was brought on board for the second season which was widely regarded as an improvement over the first. Check the man's page to see how [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the network has]] ''[[ScrewedByTheNetwork regularly]]'' [[ScrewedByTheNetwork treated him like a two dollar call girl]].

* Music/TheFugees, as even after a short reunion tour, Pras stated "you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies, before there will be a Fugees reunion". Music/LaurynHill's solo career, given she felt very uncomfortable about success, and her only attempt at a second album was a disastrous MTV Unplugged performance.

* Jellyfish. Two commercially ignored [[http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:k9fwxq95ldke fantastic]] [[http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wvfwxqugldje albums]], two different lineups, end of story. Other members formed groups and solo acts since, but it seems to be the last we'll ever hear of them.

* The Traveling Wilburys. Roy Orbison's death probably didn't help... not to mention of course they were all superstars to begin with.

%%* ''Series/HotLBaltimore'':

** LongRunners, where a show can last for a long time

** SeasonalRot, when the duration of the show has far overstayed its welcome

* ''Series/{{Reunion}}'': What makes this example especially glaring is that the premise made it easy to end after one season, yet Fox pulled it after ten episodes with the mystery unsolved.

* This is the general belief of fans from both the OVA and ''Decode'' series of ''Anime/BirdyTheMighty''. The OVA series only had four parts and the ''Decode'' series two seasons and both series still had many loose ends when they ended.

* ''Series/{{Boomtown}}'': showed a crime from multiple points of view (the beat cops, the detectives, the paramedic, the D.A., the reporter, and the criminal.) It aired for one season, winning multiple awards. After its first season it was retooled, the uniqueness drained; and it was canceled six episodes into its second season.

* ''Series/TenspeedAndBrownShoe'': A lighthearted SaltAndPepper DefectiveDetective series teaming up Ben Vereen as a savvy ex-con and Creator/JeffGoldblum (in his first lead role in any medium) as an ex-stockbroker with a love of pulp detective novels, from the creative team behind ''Series/TheRockfordFiles''. A January debut, it handily won its Sunday night timeslot and ranked 29th in the Nielsens for the 1979-80 season but its early ratings momentum didn't last -- ABC gave up on it come the end of March and burnt off the last five episodes in early summer, mostly in a FridayNightDeathSlot to boot. Received a full DVD release in TheNewTens thanks to both a loyal cult fanbase and Goldblum's subsequent stardom.

* ''Series/NewYorkUndercover'': In spite of solid writing and acting and being rather revolutionary at the time (as it starred two people of color as detectives instead of the standard pairing of SaltAndPepper), it received no visible support from the network and [[Creator/DickWolf not a whole lot from its creator]], had the network [[ExecutiveMeddling constantly screw]] [[WhiteMaleLead with its formula]] and then unceremoniously canceled after barely lasting four seasons.

* Also similar to these, ''VideoGame/{{Beyond Good and Evil}}''. But although this beautiful masterpiece didn't sell that well, it will get a sequel.

* UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} artist Miami Nights 1984 announced in 2016 that he was working on a third album [[NewSoundAlbum that would focus on chillwave]], [[ThatWasTheLastEntry but has since vanished without a trace]], with even his Facebook page being deleted.

** In August of that same year, the league was sold to Alpha Aquino LLC, a group of investors, the most notable being Wrestling/DwayneJohnson, with plans to start back up in 2022. Time will tell whether or not this plan will come to fruition.

* ''WesternAnimation/SilverSurfer'': Cancelled within a month and a half and replaced with something completely forgettable.

* ''Series/{{Galavant}}:'' was an AffectionateParody of various fairy tales set in medieval times with memorable songs written by the legendary Creator/AlanMenken filled with tons of LyricalDissonance. Sadly, despite the show being a cult hit, it was quietly canceled with only 2 seasons. At least most of the plotlines were able to get resolved.

The observant reader will note that the vast majority of Too Good To Last shows are from the last 15-20 years. This is likely because of the increased emphasis on ratings above all else. On the other hand, the list might be biased toward the past decade because shows like this have an unfortunate tendency to fall off the face of the earth upon cancellation, so our ability to recall and report them is inversely proportional to how long ago they aired.

Another theory is that the advent of the Internet and the explosion of cable channels has made it harder for these too-soon canceled shows to be forgotten.

* ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures (the second volume): a comic written by Ty Templeton and Creator/DanSlott as a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' that did its best to tie in with the Franchise/{{DCAU}}. It was very sadly killed after only 17 issues to be replaced with a WesternAnimation/TheBatman tie-in comic, leaving all of the plotlines (sadly the creative team planned on to at least 40 issues, some details on the Toonzone boards) except for the ones that they scrambled to cover in the last four issues [[LeftHanging dangling]].

Either the mainstream isn't interested or the network never even gives it a chance to build an audience. Or the creator [[CreatorBreakdown buckles under the growing pressure to keep making high-quality installments.]] Sometimes, someone high up at the network takes a dislike to the show and [[ScrewedByTheNetwork does everything in his power to kill it]]. Other times [[NetworkDecay the network doesn't think it fits in]]. If the show is lucky enough to be shown on a cable network in reruns, it may build up a bigger following there than it ever had in its first run.

* ''SSeries/{{Jeremiah}}'': Many people praise the strong acting, generally good writing, and cool setting and world building of the show (a former TeenageWasteland trying to move onto something better) and lament how it only aired two seasons out of the five originally planned.

* ''Noonbory And The Super Seven'': Easily the best Saturday-morning show that CBS aired after the 2006 break-up with Nickelodeon, Creator/CookieJar yanked it out of CBS' Saturday-morning line-up after one season because it wasn't based on a big enough license. However, Cookie Jar decided to place it on one of their Syndication packages in October 2010. However, it was short-lived, as it was off the air AGAIN after only one season due to Cookie Jar cancelling its Syndication deals!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a rather notorious example of this. Despite being one of the most popular Disney shows in recent years and being hailed as one of the best cartoons of the early 2020s, Disney decided to abruptly cancel it during its second season due to it, “not fitting the Disney brand (many believe that is was partially because the main character was bisexual).” Although it technically got a third season, it was just divided up into three 45-minute specials.