History ScrewedByTheNetwork / AmericanBroadcastingCorporationLiveActionShows

When the ratings suffered because of this, ABC had the brilliant idea to air the show in primetime on April 23, 1982, — where it got its ass kicked by ''Dallas'' (like so many other shows from the early- to mid-1980s). Also not helping was the fact that NBC had gotten rid of Jean Doumanian and most of her ''SNL'' cast (Creator/EddieMurphy and Joe Piscopo were the only survivors of Season 6), with the show more-or-less recovering from its SeasonalRot with Dick Ebersol at the helm.

* ABC's high-profile cancellation spree of 2016, which did in ''Series/{{Castle}}'', ''Series/AgentCarter'', ''Series/{{Galavant}}'', ''Series/{{Nashville}}'' and ''Series/{{The Muppets|2015}}'', can be blamed on a couple of internal network factors. First, Paul Lee, who had headed ABC since 2010, was relieved of his duties and replaced by Channing Dungey, who decided to sweep nearly everything connected to Lee under the rug, leaving only established shows (like ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' and ''Series/{{Scandal}}'') to remain. Additionally, Disney, the parent company of ABC, posted an earnings miss for the second quarter of 2016 due to its under-performing video game (which it later shut down entirely) and television units [[note]]fueled in large part due to declining Creator/{{ESPN}} subscribers, the rapidly expanding popularity of Creator/{{Netflix}}, and then-new hit shows of rival channels such as ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' and ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' causing Disney Channel to lose viewers. [[/note]]. Thus, Disney decided that ABC's shows that were slated for renewal despite average ratings (''The Muppets'' is said to be one of those said shows) were to be canceled at the last minute in order to recoup losses in the television unit.

* For some reason, ABC decided to screw ''Series/SamanthaWho?'', which was undoubtedly one of their most successful shows with high ratings and an award-winning cast. The deathblow? The network decided to move the show from its popular Monday timeslot (right after ''Dancing With the Stars'') to a Thursday time slot right after ''In The Motherhood'', a complete flop that turned off most viewers.

* ''Series/ThePractice'' was having great success for six seasons. Then ABC decided to move it from Sunday nights to Monday, supposedly to get out of the way of the similar and strongly-casted NBC show ''The Lyons Den'' (which ended up being canned in less than a year). ''The Practice'' suffered a huge drop in ratings during that year. At the end of Season 7, ABC refused to renew the show unless its budget was severely cut, citing "poor ratings". As a result, six of the main cast members were fired. Ironically, the show was put back on Sunday nights for the final season...and to show that David E. Kelley can make lemons into lemonade, he introduced a new character: Alan Shore, played by James Spader. The final season mostly dealt with Shore being wooed by a rival law firm led by Denny Crane, portrayed by special guest star Creator/WilliamShatner. Spader and Shatner both won Emmys later that year for their performances, and both characters and actors were spun off onto a new show, ''Series/BostonLegal'', which lasted for several years.

* ''Series/ItsALiving'' during its two-season stint on ABC, changed timeslots five times.[[note]]In its first season, it was up against the premiere season of the hit series, ''Series/MagnumPI''. In the second season, it had more heavy competition from ''[[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney]]''.[[/note]] To make matters worse, the show also lost a major sponsor (Proctor and Gamble) due to what they felt were outfits that were too [[{{Stripperiffic}} revealing]] and a controversial segment in the pilot episode where one of the waitresses (who was a [[NatureAdoresAVirgin virgin]]) was agonizing whether she should go on a vacation with a new boyfriend because it could lead to sex. The other waitresses heartily encouraged her to go and not worry about it. ''It's a Living'' was also a victim of the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 1980 Screen Actors' Guild strike]], which caused the show to have an abbreviated first season. The show was [[{{Retool}} retooled]] extensively for its second season[[note]] Creator/SusanSullivan and Wendy Schaal, who played waitresses Lois Adams and Vicki Allen, respectively, were [[PutOnABus replaced]] by Louise Lasser, who portrayed waitress Maggie [=McBurney=].[[/note]] with the name changed to ''Making a Living''. Although ''It's a Living'' was [[SecondSeasonDownfall cancelled]] by ABC in 1982, the syndicated reruns garnered surprisingly [[VindicatedByReruns good ratings]]. Another key factor in the rediscovery of ''It's a Living'' was cast member Ann Jillian's public disclosure of her breast cancer diagnosis. With those factors in mind, the show was [[UnCancelled revived]] for the FirstRunSyndication market in 1985, where it would air for four more seasons.

* Disney originally was pretty nice to the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' franchise, going so far as to show episodes on three different channels. Ratings declined eventually (which many blame on the DorkAge of Bruce Kalish), and the last season (''Series/PowerRangersRPM'') was delegated to a Saturday-morning spot on ABC among tween sitcoms, where it was constantly preempted in the West Coast because of football and golf. Many stations aired the series during ungodly hours or refused to show it at all because it cut into the ability to fulfill their EdutainmentShow requirements. It's been stated by ''RPM'''s first showrunner that Disney is embarrassed to show the series, let alone produce it.

* ''Series/ItsALiving'' during its two-season stint on ABC, changed timeslots five times.[[note]]In its first season, it was up against the premiere season of the hit series, ''Series/MagnumPI''. In the second season, it had more heavy competition from ''[[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney]]''.[[/note]] To make matters worse, the show also lost a major sponsor (Proctor and Gamble) due to what they felt were outfits that were too [[{{Stripperiffic}} revealing]] and a controversial segment in the pilot episode where one of the waitresses (who was a [[NatureAdoresAVirgin virgin]]) was agonizing whether she should go on a vacation with a new boyfriend because it could lead to [[CoitusEnsues sex]]. The other waitresses heartily encouraged her to go and not worry about it. ''It's a Living'' was also a victim of the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 1980 Screen Actors' Guild strike]], which caused the show to have an abbreviated first season. The show was [[{{Retool}} retooled]] extensively for its second season[[note]] Creator/SusanSullivan and Wendy Schaal, who played waitresses Lois Adams and Vicki Allen, respectively, were [[PutOnABus replaced]] by Louise Lasser, who portrayed waitress Maggie [=McBurney=].[[/note]] with the name changed to ''Making a Living''. Although ''It's a Living'' was [[SecondSeasonDownfall cancelled]] by ABC in 1982, the syndicated reruns garnered surprisingly [[VindicatedByReruns good ratings]]. Another key factor in the rediscovery of ''It's a Living'' was cast member Ann Jillian's public disclosure of her breast cancer diagnosis. With those factors in mind, the show was [[UnCancelled revived]] for the FirstRunSyndication market in 1985, where it would air for four more seasons.

* As the 1980s rolled around ''Series/AmericanBandstand'', which was the longest-running broadcast program aimed at mainstream youth to air on American network broadcast television, started a steady ratings decline. One key factor in this was the rise of Creator/{{MTV}}, who with their slick production values and expensively produced music videos quickly made ''Bandstand'' an [[WereStillRelevantDammit anachronism]]. Not helping matters was ABC's handling of the program during its later years. Since September 7, 1963, ''Bandstand'', aired on Saturday afternoons for an hour on ABC. But by 1986-87, ''Bandstand'' was truncated to just a half hour[[note]]ABC actually offered Creator/DickClark a three-year extension, which would have kept ''Bandstand'' on through 1990. Clark declined because ABC wanted to continue at 30 minutes and Clark felt it needed to be an hour.[[/note]]. By this point, ''Bandstand'' was preempted on many occasions by televised college football games (especially in light of a court-ordered deregulation in 1984) and even occasional special presentations, like unsold game show pilots. By September 1987, the writing was pretty much on the wall and after over 30 years on ABC, ''Bandstand'' was dropped from the schedule. ''Bandstand'' however, would limp along for two more seasons, first in [[FirstRunSyndication first-run syndication]] and finally on the Creator/USANetwork, where Creator/DickClark passed the hosting baton to comedian David Hirsch.

* While ''Series/SixHundredSixtySixParkAvenue'' received modest ratings by Nielsen standards, it was later revealed that 77% of its viewings came from DVR recordings. However, ABC ignored this, and the show was canceled anyway. Fortunately, this announcement came early enough for the final episodes to be re-written and re-shot to give the series closure. Unfortunately, unlike ''Last Resort'', the show was pulled off the schedule before they could actually ''air'' that finale. It finally did over the summer, only to see another screwing with the literal last minute of the show's finale being pre-empted for the George Zimmerman trial verdict in the East.

* As the 1980s rolled around ''Series/AmericanBandstand'', which was the longest-running broadcast program aimed at mainstream youth to air on American network broadcast television, started a steady ratings decline. One key factor in this was the rise of Creator/{{MTV}}, who with their slick production values and expensively produced music videos quickly made ''Bandstand'' an [[WereStillRelevantDammit anachronism]]. Not helping matters was ABC's handling of the program during its later years. Since September 7, 1963, ''Bandstand'', aired on Saturday afternoons for an hour on ABC. But by 1986-87, ''Bandstand'' was truncated to just a half hour[[note]]ABC actually offered Creator/DickClark a three-year extension, which would have kept ''Bandstand'' on through 1990. Clark declined because ABC wanted to continue at 30 minutes and Clark felt it needed to be an hour.[[/note]]. By this point, ''Bandstand'' was pre-empted on many occasions by televised college football games (especially in light of a court-ordered deregulation in 1984) and even occasional special presentations, like unsold game show pilots. By September 1987, the writing was pretty much on the wall and after over 30 years on ABC, ''Bandstand'' was dropped from the schedule. ''Bandstand'' however, would limp along for two more seasons, first in [[FirstRunSyndication first-run syndication]] and finally on the Creator/USANetwork, where Creator/DickClark passed the hosting baton to comedian David Hirsch.

* ''Series/BetterOffTed'' quickly grew a ''Series/{{Firefly}}''-level intense fanbase, and to ABC's credit was given a second season despite low ratings. Then screwing truly began with [[InvisibleAdvertising the network providing minimal promotion]], launching the season in December (exceptionally late for a returning show on the network), airing episodes during the holiday season (even though by 2009 most US viewers had been conditioned to expect new shows to be on mid-season break and so likely didn't expect the series to be on at that time), and when the ratings weren't stellar began burning off the episodes two at a time in January, cancelling the series, thus giving the show a Season 2 that ran for less than two months with the last two episodes not being aired in the U.S. (they did air in Australia later that summer, and both are available on Netflix) due to the network's plan of airing them as Filler if the NBA Finals ended early wasn't needed due to that year's series going a full seven games.

* ABC had a potential hit with ''Series/CommanderInChief'' -- rave reviews and a Golden Globe for Creator/GeenaDavis's performance, and the best ratings of the Fall 2005 crop of debut shows -- but wound up fumbling it badly. Creator/Executive Producer Creator/RodLurie took too long to produce episodes for the network since he wanted to write and direct everything himself. ABC was understandably upset, but their unwise next moves hurt the show beyond repair. Instead of giving Rod Lurie a scriptwriter to help him out, ABC instead fired Lurie and brought in Creator/StevenBochco as the new showrunner midway through production of its first season. They also didn't bring it back right away after the traditional holiday break due to not wanting to compete with Winter Olympics coverage on NBC -- and when it ''was'' brought back, it was in a different timeslot that wasn't properly advertised. Ratings suffered, so they canned it, one season in.

* ''Series/{{Cupid}}'' was bounced around from the FridayNightDeathSlot to Saturday (the two nights people are least likely to be home to watch television) to Thursday against NBC's Must-See TV, justifying its cancellation before the end of the season. The show was UnCanceled years later, as ABC has given its creator permission to try again...but the revival didn't get much better treatment, and after ratings slipped it was quickly canned once again.

* Despite being mentioned in promos aired on ABC that week, the final episode of ''Series/FreeSpirit1989'', "Love and Death", was pre-empted at the last minute for a rerun of ''Series/FullHouse''. The episode never wound up airing at all in the United States, though [[ShortRunInPeru it did air overseas.]]

* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'' got the ax after the end of the 2014-15 season despite modestly good ratings and an intensely loyal fanbase. It was hurt by ABC's sparse promotion of the show, the fact that the more action and sci-fi oriented ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' was its lead-in[[note]]aside from Henry's immortality, ''Forever'' was a straight police procedural, and was geared toward a different demographic than ''SHIELD''[[/note]], and that it was produced by rival company Creator/WarnerBros. By contrast, ABC renewed ''American Crime'', which had similar ratings but was produced in-house; and ''Series/{{Galavant}}'', which had ''lower'' ratings (and was cancelled a season later anyway) but was also produced in-house.
* ''Hope and Faith'' was still getting decent ratings in Season 3 despite being scheduled opposite ''Series/AmericanIdol'', but ABC cancelled it anyways so they could make room for an expanded ''Series/DancingWithTheStars''.

* ABC screwed over ''Jake In Progress'' after its Season 2 premiere by replacing its timeslot with ''Series/TheBachelor'' and cancelling the show a few short months afterwards (they screwed over ''Emily's Reasons Why Not'' in a similar manner), leaving eight episodes unaired, ABC cited lackluster ratings in the premiere as its reason; it seems more like ABC just wanted an excuse to cancel the show so it could fill another time slot with more of their LowestCommonDenominator reality shows.

* ''Series/JustTheTenOfUs'', a spin-off of ''Series/GrowingPains'', was screwed because of politics. Although ''Just the Ten of Us'' did well in the ratings on Friday nights (and frequently won its 9:30 PM timeslot), ABC wanted all shows in the TGIF block to be produced by Miller-Boyett Productions (as was the case with fellow programs ''Series/FullHouse'', ''Series/FamilyMatters'', and ''Series/PerfectStrangers''). Ultimately, after finding no other suitable timeslot for ''Just the Ten of Us'' in time for the 1990-91 season, the series was canceled outright and replaced by ''Going Places'' (which lasted only one season of 19 episodes, changing its premise on #13).
* Feeling that ABC wasn't promoting it enough, Creator/StephenKing spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to buy print ads for ''Series/KingdomHospital''. The network then decided to change the timeslot to compete with ''Series/{{CSI}}'', meaning all the ads King bought gave the wrong time. King was ''probably'' pissed off at this.

Creator/TimAllen and a lot of fans, in comparison, suspected that ABC cancelled it because the show was a conservative-leaning sitcom that did not fit with liberal-leaning ones like ''Modern Family'' and ''Series/BlackIsh''. But that theory runs contrary to Dungey stating that ABC was now trying to attract Middle American audiences, ''Blackish'' showrunner Kenya Barris quitting his show because he felt that the network was censoring the show's anti-[[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]] stance to appease said demographic, ''and'' the subsequent revival of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' that portrayed the title character as a straight-up Trump supporter. In any case, due to popular demand Fox successfully revived ''Last Man Standing'' in 2018.\\

* ''Series/LessThanPerfect'' was royally screwed by ABC during its final year, first by shortening its Season 4 order from 22 episodes to 13 despite solid ratings for the previous season, then the season was delayed until April. Then only 5 out of 13 episodes were aired; the next two episodes scheduled to air were pre-empted by NBA games and ABC unceremoniously cancelled the show without giving any explanation whatsoever.
* Fans of ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had no reason to suspect Season 4 would be its last, as 4-5 had been confirmed for some time as part of a single contract deal. Then ABC got both new Disney ownership and leadership who wanted the timeslot for a revival of ''The Wonderful World of Disney'' and the contract was reneged on, leaving the cliffhanger unresolved and the hasty removal of "To be continued..." over the last scene.
** ''Series/AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' may have suffered for this too, given that its 7 pm Sunday timeslot was the first half of the two-hour timeslot Disney wanted for the ''Wonderful World'' revival. That ''Videos'' was already facing trouble, with a weary Bob Saget leaving at the end of the 1996-97 season, couldn't have helped. In any case, the {{Retool}}ed show [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Funniest_Home_Videos was treated poorly (start at 3.2 at the linked page)]] from that point on, with three timeslot changes -- ending up on Saturdays. From there, it was demoted to occasional specials. In the end, however, it survived the screwing; once it relaunched as a series with Tom Bergeron as host in 2001, it gradually clawed its way back to being a network fixture and returned to its old Sunday at 7 timeslot.

* ABC screwed over the Damon Wayans sitcom ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'' by cancelling it after the creators had already been promised another season, thus ending the series on a cliffhanger as a result (though WordOfGod's explanation for what would've happened next season lessens the blow somewhat).

* ''Politically Incorrect'', the first talk show from Bill Maher, had a highly successful ChannelHop from Creator/ComedyCentral to ABC in 1997, becoming the network's first late-night talk show in nearly 20 years. The show was more crude in subject matter and more politically-centered than other late-night shows, but proved to be a major success for ABC, pulling in good ratings and earning ten Emmy nominations and winning one in 2000. Unfortunately, the show's edgy humor became too much for ABC when, in the episode airing six days after 9/11, Maher agreed with conservative activist Dinesh D'Souza that the airline hijackers were not acting in a cowardly matter, adding that the ''United States'' were the cowardly ones, "Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away." To say the public was outraged in an understatement, but the two events that ultimately convinced ABC to cancel the series afterward were advertisers boycotting the series, costing ABC much advertising revenue, and a number of ABC affiliates banning the series after the controversial episode. ABC wouldn't return to the late-night field until Creator/JimmyKimmel was hired to host ''Politically Incorrect''[='=]s ultimate replacement, ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'', which continues to run to this day. Fortunately for Maher, Creator/{{HBO}}, who co-produced ''Politically Incorrect'', offered him a time-slot on their own network to get his job back. This resulted in what would become his flagship program, ''Series/RealTimeWithBillMaher''.

* Disney originally was pretty nice to the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' franchise, going so far as to show episodes on three different channels. Ratings declined eventually (which many blame on the DorkAge of Bruce Kalish), and the last season (''Series/PowerRangersRPM'') was delegated to a Saturday-morning spot on ABC among tween sitcoms, where it was constantly preempted in the West Coast because of football and golf. Many stations air the series during ungodly hours or refused to show it at all because it cut into the ability to fulfill their EdutainmentShow requirements. It's been stated by ''RPM'''s first showrunner that Disney is embarrassed to show the series, let alone produce it.
** And even once ''RPM'' ended, Disney still held the rights for another year, during which they aired a {{Recut}} of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. This had all of the scheduling problems ''RPM'' had, with the added strike against it of being nearly-twenty-year-old reruns.
** Even more, after ''[[Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Operation Overdrive]]'', Disney tried to take control of the ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' portion of the series to tone down the violence. Creator/{{Toei}} wasn't thrilled.
* ''Series/ThePractice'' was having great success for six seasons. Then ABC decided to move it from Sunday nights to Monday, supposedly to get out of the way of the similar and strongly-casted NBC show ''The Lyons Den'' (which ended up being canned in less than a year). ''The Practice'' suffered a huge drop in ratings during that year. At the end of Season 7, ABC refused to renew the show unless its budget was severely cut, citing "poor ratings". As a result, six of the main cast members were fired. Ironically, the show was put back on Sunday nights for the final season...and to show that David E. Kelley can make lemons into lemonade, he introduced a new character: Alan Shore, played by James Spader. The final season mostly dealt with Shore being wooed by a rival law firm led by Denny Crane, portrayed by special guest star Creator/WilliamShatner. Spader and Shatner both won Emmys later that year for their performances, and both characters and actors were spun off onto a new show, ''Series/BostonLegal'', which lasted for several years.
** ''Boston Legal'' received similar treatment. Despite all the critical acclaim and the core big-name cast, the show was bounced around several nights. By the show's final season, the characters were breaking the fourth wall and taking potshots at ABC. The show's ratings were decent through its run (not huge, but decent), but because the demographic that watched skewed older, ABC quickly stopped promoting the show.
* For some reason, ABC decided to screw ''Series/SamanthaWho?'', which was undoubtedly one of their most successful shows with high ratings and an award-winning cast. The deathblow? The network decided to move the show from its popular Monday timeslot (right after ''Dancing With the Stars'') to a Thursday timeslot right after ''In The Motherhood'', a complete flop that turned off most viewers.

* ABC originally slotted ''Series/TwinPeaks'' against ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' on Thursdays, where it actually performed admirably...then shifted the show's timeslot repeatedly. Reportedly ABC felt ambivalent about ''Twin Peaks'' (at best) and didn't know what to do with it (or actively tried to kill it, depending on who you ask). After season 1 was performing decently in the ratings, ABC inexplicably and tragically moved the show to the morgue of Saturday night for season 2. And then ABC forced David Lynch to reveal who killed Laura Palmer long before he wanted to, at which point viewers (and Lynch himself) lost interest. The season 2 finale aired after a two-month hiatus, back on Saturday night (after having been moved to weekdays). Only the most die-hard fans tuned in, and it was no surprise when it got the axe.
* ''Series/UglyBetty''. Its first three seasons aired consistently on Thursday nights at 8:00 PM, but a slight drop in ratings resulted in the show being shunned to the FridayNightDeathSlot at 9:00 PM in favor of ''Flash Forward'' taking its place (which ended up being canceled). ''Betty''[='s=] ratings were cut in half after the night and time switch, and its fans spoke out...so at midseason, it was moved to Wednesdays at 10:00 PM with other comedy shows. Even though the ratings improved, it was too late. The show officially ended at the end of Season 4, not finishing its original ordered run. The show did get a story sendoff, but many plot points were left never explained.
* ABC doesn't have a FridayNightDeathSlot, it has a ''Thursday'' Night Death Slot. The network has tried and failed to get a successful show going at 8:00 PM (''Ugly Betty'' was the only scripted exception, although ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' and more recently ''Series/{{Wipeout|2008}}'' have both managed to run a few years by being rather low-cost) for over 30 years. In 2012, the geopolitical/military thriller ''Series/LastResort'' was aired Thursdays at eight. The ratings started as bad as you'd expect from a show that had to compete directly against (among other things) ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' and ''Series/TheXFactor'', and got worse to the point where it finished last in its timeslot twice in a row, after which ABC killed it. Downplayed, in that ABC did air the remaining episodes and allowed its studio to give the series an actual ending. Of course, with ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' being such a runaway hit in the hour afterwards, does ABC really need to worry too much about that?
** ABC did try to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] this with ''Series/{{FlashForward|2009}}'', where the show debuted to promising ratings, [[HopeSpot and looked to be successful]]. But ratings declined steadily going into the hiatus, and despite this, it was brought back afterwards at the same time slot. By that point, the show had only ''half'' of the ratings that Part 1 had. ABC gave the show [[AdoredByTheNetwork every chance to succeed]], but it just didn't take with enough people to become the SpiritualSuccessor to ''{{Series/Lost}}'' that the network desperately wanted. If it was screwed in any way, it was by putting it on at 8 rather than 9, where violence that didn't hurt ''Lost'' was perhaps a little off-putting at the earlier hour, and certainly didn't make any of the ''Grey's Anatomy'' fans watch it.
** Obviously, it has not helped that for a very long time, Thursdays at 8 has been home to other networks' ratings juggernauts. First ''Series/MagnumPI'' became a hit for CBS, then NBC's "Must-See TV" dominated the entire night for close to two decades with ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' and ''Series/{{Friends}}'' anchoring the night in the 8 PM hour, then the reality juggernauts ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' and then ''Series/AmericanIdol'' moved in, and just as ''Idol'' moved in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' became a huge hit on the night for CBS, and finally the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball NFL]] started putting Thursday night football games on CBS, then NBC, then Fox. In all but three years from 1982-83 to 2005-06, at least one show in the Thursday 8 PM timeslot placed in the top ten shows of the season (most of them in the top three), and in all but ''one'' year from 1981-82 to the present, at least one show placed in the top 20 - and only in the last year of the top ten streak, when ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' helped knock ''Survivor'' out of the top ten, did ABC have any of them,[[note]]The one year no show placed in the top 20 was 1992-93, the first year NBC went without ''Cosby'' on the night, when ABC plugged in the NBC castoff ''Series/{{Matlock}} at midseason and drew the best ratings of any show to air in the timeslot, edging out ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''Series/{{Wings}}'', all three of which barely cracked the end-of-season top 30.[[/note]] until...
** In the 2014-15 season, ABC finally figured out a solution; an all-Shonda Rhimes night, with ''Grey's'' moving to the 8pm slot, where it does fine for an older show, only trailing ''BBT'', its spinoff ''Series/YoungSheldon'', and ''TNF'' pregame and first-quarter action (with ''Idol'''s last year on Fox being the only other non-CBS non-football show to crack the top 30 in the timeslot).
* ABC started airing season 2 of ''Series/DontTrustTheBInApartment23'' and Season 3 of ''Series/HappyEndings'' on Tuesday, October 23, a '''month''' after the start of the season. More importantly, it was after the start of popular Tuesday comedies ''Series/NewGirl'' and ''Series/RaisingHope'', and new comedies ''Series/GoOn'', ''Series/TheNewNormal'', ''Series/TheMindyProject'' and ''Ben and Kate'', all of which share the same time slot. Then they began seriously messing with ''Apt. 23'', airing unaired episodes from Season 1 and airing episodes from Season 2 [[OutOfOrder at random]], resulting in serious discontinuities between episodes. Then, on January 22, 2013, they cancelled the show and announced they were not going to air the remaining 8 episodes on the network. After the end of the 2013 broadcast season, the missing eight episodes were seen online via {{Creator/Hulu}}, allowing some kind of closure.
** This was actually a result of being screwed in Season 1 when, after a positive response at upfronts, ABC had ordered 13 episodes and scheduled it as an actual midseason replacement with a premiere date in February. Perhaps ABC got cold feet [[CensoredTitle about the title]], not least because they were taking similar heat over ''Good Christian Bitches'', which became ''Good Christian Belles'' and finally just ''Series/{{GCB}}''. After putting ''Apt. 23'' through the same rollercoaster, they rescheduled its premiere date to the end of April, allowing just 6 episodes or so and forcing the mixed-up order in Season 2.
** During Season 3 of ''Happy Endings'', the show not only aired against ''Series/NewGirl'' (which was a similar, more popular show), but Canada's Creator/{{Citytv}} aired the show two days early, allowing some fans to watch the show on the internet through piracy, instead of when it premiered in the U.S. They stopped doing this six episodes in, but it was too late, as it and ''Apartment 23'' moved to Sundays at ten (a time-slot usually reserved for dramas), then on the FridayNightDeathSlot.
* ABC was pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. ''Series/PanAm'', ''Series/{{Missing|2012}}'', ''Series/BodyOfProof'', ''Series/ZeroHour2013'', ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily'', ''Series/BetterWithYou'', ''How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)'', ''Red Widow'', and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, with several shows [[NoEnding ending on cliffhangers]].
* ABC's high-profile cancellation spree of 2016, which did in ''Series/{{Castle}}'', ''Series/AgentCarter'', ''Series/{{Galavant}}'', ''Series/{{Nashville}}'' and ''Series/{{The Muppets|2015}}'', can be blamed on a couple of internal network factors. First, Paul Lee, who had headed ABC since 2010, was relieved of his duties and replaced by Channing Dungey, who decided to sweep nearly everything connected to Lee under the rug, leaving only established shows (like ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' and ''Series/{{Scandal}}'') to remain. Additionally, Disney, the parent company of ABC, posted an earnings miss for the second quarter of 2016 due to its under-performing video game (which it later shut down entirely) and television units [[note]]fueled in large part due to declining Creator/{{ESPN}} subscribers, the rapidly expanding popularity of Creator/{{Netflix}}, and then-new hit shows of rival channels such as ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' and ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' causing Disney Channel to lose viewers. [[/note]]. Thus, Disney decided that ABC's shows that were slated for renewal despite average ratings (''The Muppets'' is said to be one of those said shows) were to be canceled at the last minute in order to recoup losses in the television unit.
** ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' had been the victim of network screwing long before the spree happened. The network shoved it into the month-long window that their other show ''Series/OnceUponATime'' was on its Winter hiatus, with very little advertising beyond the series premiere, in a timeslot that competed with award shows like the Oscars.
** ''Series/TheMuppets2015'' got sabotaged in the middle of its run. The show was initially heavily promoted by ABC and did well in the ratings despite a divisive critical and viewer reaction over the change in direction with the ''Muppets'' franchise, being scheduled on Tuesday nights, against ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' and ''Series/TheVoice'', and similar to ''Series/HappyEndings'' above, Creator/{{Citytv}} airing episodes a day early. Because of the mixed reception, ABC gave the series a ReTool, culminating in series co-creator Bob Kushell getting fired and replaced with Kristin Newman, who [[ExecutiveMeddling ordered the revamp]]. The reception of the episodes that followed the winter hiatus (when Newman was in charge) was much more applauded, but ABC was [[InvisibleAdvertising no longer airing promos for the show]], focusing more on ''Series/TheRealONeals'' (which was cancelled a season later). Consequently, the ratings tanked, resulting in the unceremonious axing of the series just before the television season's end.
* ''Series/ForLife'' got solid reviews and started off promisingly, but by virtue of being scheduled up against the higher-rated ''Series/FBIMostWanted'' and ''Series/NewAmsterdam2018'' ratings started falling off a cliff, only getting a major bump in the season finale. The murder of George Floyd, along with the subsequent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, gave ABC a good excuse to give it a second season out of goodwill to the audience. Then they proceeded to shatter that goodwill by moving it to Wednesday nights, on the same timeslot as ''Series/ChicagoPD'' and ''Series/{{SWAT|2017}}''. Worse ratings resulted, and with the Floyd murder and protests out of the news cycle, ABC had no reason to renew it second time around. That didn't discourage the producers, though, as they were given permission to shop the series elsewhere, resulting in [=IMDb=] TV [[ChannelHop picking it up]] [[UnCanceled for another season]].

* ABC's high-profile cancellation spree of 2016, which did in ''Series/{{Castle}}'', ''Series/AgentCarter'', ''Series/{{Galavant}}'', ''Series/{{Nashville}}'' and ''Series/TheMuppets'', can be blamed on a couple of internal network factors. First, Paul Lee, who had headed ABC since 2010, was relieved of his duties and replaced by Channing Dungey, who decided to sweep nearly everything connected to Lee under the rug, leaving only established shows (like ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' and ''Series/{{Scandal}}'') to remain. Additionally, Disney, the parent company of ABC, posted an earnings miss for the second quarter of 2016 due to its under-performing video game (which it later shut down entirely) and television units [[note]]fueled in large part due to declining Creator/{{ESPN}} subscribers, the rapidly expanding popularity of Creator/{{Netflix}}, and then-new hit shows of rival channels such as ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' and ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' causing Disney Channel to lose viewers. [[/note]]. Thus, Disney decided that ABC's shows that were slated for renewal despite average ratings (''The Muppets'' is said to be one of those said shows) were to be canceled at the last minute in order to recoup losses in the television unit.

** ''Series/TheMuppets'' got sabotaged in the middle of its run. The show was initially heavily promoted by ABC and did well in the ratings despite a divisive critical and viewer reaction over the change in direction with the ''Muppets'' franchise, being scheduled on Tuesday nights, against ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' and ''Series/TheVoice'', and similar to ''Series/HappyEndings'' above, Creator/{{Citytv}} airing episodes a day early. Because of the mixed reception, ABC gave the series a ReTool, culminating in series co-creator Bob Kushell getting fired and replaced with Kristin Newman, who [[ExecutiveMeddling ordered the revamp]]. The reception of the episodes that followed the winter hiatus (when Newman was in charge) was much more applauded, but ABC was [[InvisibleAdvertising no longer airing promos for the show]], focusing more on ''Series/TheRealONeals'' (which was cancelled a season later). Consequently, the ratings tanked, resulting in the unceremonious axing of the series just before the television season's end.

* ''Series/{{Forever}}'' got the ax after the end of the 2014-15 season despite modestly good ratings and an intensely loyal fanbase. It was hurt by ABC's sparse promotion of the show, the fact that the more action and sci-fi oriented ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' was its lead-in[[note]]aside from Henry's immortality, ''Forever'' was a straight police procedural, and was geared toward a different demographic than ''SHIELD''[[/note]], and that it was produced by rival company Creator/WarnerBros. By contrast, ABC renewed ''American Crime'', which had similar ratings but was produced in-house; and ''Series/{{Galavant}}'', which had ''lower'' ratings (and was cancelled a season later anyway) but was also produced in-house.

* Despite being mentioned in promos aired on ABC that week, the final episode of ''Series/FreeSpirit'', "Love and Death", was pre-empted at the last minute for a rerun of ''Series/FullHouse''. The episode never wound up airing at all in the United States, though [[ShortRunInPeru it did air overseas.]]

** Near-universal negative reception of said pilot might be a reason, with Buzzfeed quoting an unknown critic, "over a million 'reasons why not' for this sorry show."

* The original ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 Battlestar Galactica]]'' ran on Sunday nights; it got very positive reviews and grew a fan following comparable to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', leading some to pin it as the next big science fiction universe in a field that was already crowded with the likes of ''Star Trek'' and the newly-released ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]''...and yet ABC chose to cancel the series after its one and only season. Not only did the series, which [[ExecutiveMeddling ABC forced to be a weekly series]] instead of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen TV movies where the budgetary demands could have been manageable]], get hammered by ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' on rival Creator/{{CBS}}, who moved that series on ''Galactica'''s slot with the intention to turn up the heat on ABC, but the network was beginning to lose money because of the show's high budget. However, creator-producer Glen A. Larson claimed ABC deliberately screwed over the series in an attempt to give their then-number-one program, ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', a more favorable time-slot. Regardless, fans were not too pleased with ABC's behavior, and a year later the network tried to redeem itself by green lighting ''Series/Galactica1980'', but that series ended up being poorly received and canned after just ten episodes, putting the [[FranchiseKiller kibosh on the original franchise]].

* ABC was pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. ''Series/PanAm'', ''[[Series/{{Missing2012}} Missing]]'', ''Series/BodyOfProof'', ''Series/ZeroHour2013'', ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily'', ''Series/BetterWithYou'', ''How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)'', ''Red Widow'', and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, with several shows [[NoEnding ending on cliffhangers]].

** ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' had been the victim of network screwing long before the spree happened. The network shoved it into the month-long window that their other show ''Series/{{Once Upon A Time}}'' was on its Winter hiatus, with very little advertising beyond the series premiere, in a timeslot that competed with award shows like the Oscars.

* ''Series/ForLife'' got solid reviews and started off promisingly, but by virtue of being scheduled up against the higher-rated ''Series/FBIMostWanted'' and ''Series/NewAmsterdam'' ratings started falling off a cliff, only getting a major bump in the season finale. The murder of George Floyd, along with the subsequent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, gave ABC a good excuse to give it a second season out of goodwill to the audience. Then they proceeded to shatter that goodwill by moving it to Wednesday nights, on the same timeslot as ''Series/ChicagoPD'' and ''Series/{{SWAT|2017}}''. Worse ratings resulted, and with the Floyd murder and protests out of the news cycle, ABC had no reason to renew it second time around. That didn't discourage the producers, though, as they were given permission to shop the series elsewhere, resulting in [=IMDb=] TV [[ChannelHop picking it up]] [[UnCanceled for another season]].

* ''Fridays'' was a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' [[FollowTheLeader knock-off]] that aired on ABC from 1980 to 1982 (though it was first pitched and developed in 1979). Despite clashes with the censors and initial unfavorable comparisons to ''Saturday Night Live'', it did win over fans who were disillusioned over ''SNL''[='s=] decline in quality at the time (when Creator/LorneMichaels and the remnants of his original cast left and Jean Doumanian was named the new showrunner) and cited by most critics (past and present, as seen in this article, "[[http://splitsider.com/2012/01/fridays-the-snl-ripoff-that-nearly-surpassed-the-original/ "Fridays: The SNL Ripoff That Nearly Surpassed the Original"]]") as the only sketch show that was worthy of replacing ''SNL''. However, ABC was wary about the show's content, which, despite banning the infamous "Diner of the Living Dead" sketch, the writers continued with such subversive and creative sketches. Such as a Hope/Crosby comedy in El Salvador, a live-action ''Popeye'' cartoon with Bluto as a fascist dictator, a dramatic sketch about a punk rocker who tries to make amends with his elderly father[[note]]only to find out that the old man's claims of "IHaveNoSon" and "Who are you?" aren't cold-hearted ways of disowning him[[/note]], an Italian sex comedy about a nurse who seduces an old man, and, what's now considered the show's best, a parody of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' that lasted 17 minutes and made fun of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and the new wave of Republicanism. During the second season, ABC moved the show from its cushy 11:30 PM timeslot to midnight and extended it from 70 to 90 minutes to make room for ''Nightline''. When the ratings suffered because of this, ABC had the brilliant idea to air the show in primetime on April 23, 1982, — where it got its ass kicked by ''Dallas'' (like so many other shows from the early- to mid-1980s). Also not helping was the fact that NBC had gotten rid of Jean Doumanian and most of her ''SNL'' cast (Creator/EddieMurphy and Joe Piscopo were the only survivors of Season 6), with the show more-or-less recovering from its SeasonalRot with Dick Ebersol at the helm.

In a twist of irony, Disney bought out 20th Century Fox less than a year later, making ABC's cancellation of the series completely pointless since ''Fox'' now only gets ad revenue as opposed to syndication fees. Sure enough, Fox responded by canceling the show after its ninth season, making the entire debacle a HumiliationConga for all parties involved.

* ''Series/{{Nashville}}'', despite having never been a ratings hit, was AdoredByTheNetwork for several years, getting renewed for four seasons, a devout fan base and stable ratings each season. However, the fourth season ended up proving to be the series' last, due to a combination of Creator/HaydenPanettiere[='=]s postpartum depression struggles and a [[Administrivia.RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment rather controversial]] anti-LGBT law in Tennessee made at the time of the show's fourth season that would've made continuing to air a show about the title city [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents very awkward]]. The cancellation came as a shock to both fans and media insiders as well, as it looked to them like ABC was going to renew the series even if the ratings weren't as high as they hoped. The show has since been UnCanceled, with its final seasons airing on cable channel CMT. However, with the move comes a reduced episode budget, so as a result some supporting [[http://www.eonline.com/news/775091/nashville-is-losing-2-regular-characters-when-it-moves-to-cmt cast members]] will not be returning.

* ''Series/ItsAllRelative''(not to be confused with the Leah Remini sitcom of the same name) had a pretty impressive debut with the pilot drawing in 10.2 million viewers and resulting in a full season order, but ABC scheduled the show against ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and the (brief) Wednesday edition of ''Series/60Minutes'', which eventually caused ratings to start slipping, ABC then put the show on hiatus in March 2004 and abruptly moved it to a new timeslot on Thursdays, which only made the already declining ratings even worse as the show had to compete against several popular and established shows such as ''Series/OneTreeHill'', ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'', ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', ''Series/TheGuardian'' and ''Series/TwentyFour''. After only two episodes in the new timeslot, ABC announced the show's cancellation at their annual upfronts, leaving two episodes unaired in the U.S.

* ''Series/LastManStanding'' started off with a large viewership in its Tuesday night slot but the ratings declined by the end of the first season (the average was about 6 million, which was considered okay but not great). As a result, the show was moved to the FridayNightDeathSlot for a 13-episode second season. However, the ratings actually ''improved'', so more episodes were ordered for the season and it was renewed for a third. The ratings steadily grew with each successive season and by Season 6 it had an average of 8.1 million viewers per episode (the only scripted series on the network with more was ''Series/ModernFamily'') despite getting almost no promotion from the network. Yet ABC pulled the plug after Season 6 finished with no warning or a GrandFinale. ABC President Channing Dungey [[http://ew.com/tv/2017/05/16/abc-defends-canceling-last-man-standing/ claimed the reason]] was that the network decided to revamp the Friday night block and there was no room for it on any other night. The most likely speculated reason is that the show is owned by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, so it received all of the syndication money while ABC only got advertising revenue. Creator/TimAllen and a lot of fans, in comparison, suspected that ABC cancelled it because the show was a conservative-leaning sitcom that did not fit with liberal-leaning ones like ''Modern Family'' and ''Series/BlackIsh''. But that theory runs contrary to Dungey stating that ABC was now trying to attract Middle American audiences, ''Blackish'' showrunner Kenya Barris quitting his show because he felt that the network was censoring the show's anti-[[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]] stance to appease said demographic, ''and'' the subsequent revival of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' that portrayed the title character as a straight-up Trump supporter. In any case, due to popular demand Fox successfully revived ''Last Man Standing'' in 2018.
** And in a twist of irony, 20th Century Fox got bought out by Disney, making ABC's cancellation of the series completely pointless since ''Fox'' now only gets ad revenue as opposed to syndication fees. Sure enough, Fox responded by canceling the show after its ninth season, making the entire debacle a HumiliationConga for all parties involved.

* ABC was pretty much the Fox of the 2010s. ''Series/PanAm'', ''[[Series/{{Missing2012}} Missing]]'', ''Series/BodyOfProof'', ''Series/ZeroHour'', ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily'', ''Series/BetterWithYou'', ''How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)'', ''Red Widow'', and countless other series have gotten yanked off the air pretty quickly, with several shows [[NoEnding ending on cliffhangers]].

* ''Series/ForLife'' got solid reviews and started off promisingly, but by virtue of being scheduled up against the higher-rated ''Series/FBIMostWanted'' and ''Series/NewAmsterdam'' ratings started falling off a cliff, only getting a major bump in the season finale. The murder of George Floyd, along with the subsequent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, gave ABC a good excuse to give it a second season out of goodwill to the audience. Then they proceeded to shatter that goodwill by moving it to Wednesday nights, on the same timeslot as ''Series/ChicagoPD'' and ''Series/{{SWAT|2017}}''. Worse ratings resulted, and with the Floyd murder and protests out of the news cycle, ABC had no reason to renew it second time around.

* ''Series/ForLife'' got solid reviews and started off promisingly, but by virtue of being scheduled up against the higher-rated ''Series/FBIMostWanted'' and ''Series/NewAmsterdam'' ratings started falling off a cliff, only getting a major bump in the season finale. The murder of George Floyd, along with the subsequent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, gave ABC a good excuse to give it a second season out of goodwill to the audience. Then they proceeded to shatter that goodwill by moving it to Wednesday nights, on the same timeslot as ''Series/ChicagoPD'' and ''Series/{{SWAT}}''. Worse ratings resulted, and with the Floyd murder and protests out of the news cycle, ABC had no reason to renew it second time around.

* ''Series/ItsALiving'' during its two-season stint on ABC, changed timeslots five times.[[note]]In its first season, it was up against the premiere season of the hit series, ''Series/MagnumPI''. In the second season, it had more heavy competition from ''[[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney]]''.[[/note]] To make matters worse, the show also lost a major sponsor (Proctor and Gamble) due to what they felt were outfits that were too [[{{Stripperiffic}} revealing]] and a controversial segment in the pilot episode where one of the waitresses (who was a [[NatureAdoresAVirgin virgin]]) was agonizing whether she should go on a vacation with a new boyfriend because it could lead to [[CoitusEnsues sex]]. The other waitresses heartily encouraged her to go and not worry about it. ''It's a Living'' was also a victim of the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 1980 Screen Actors' Guild strike]], which caused the show to have an abbreviated first season. The show was [[{{Retool}} retooled]] extensively for its second season[[note]]Susan Sullivan and Wendy Schaal, who played waitresses Lois Adams and Vicki Allen, respectively, were [[PutOnABus replaced]] by Louise Lasser, who portrayed waitress Maggie [=McBurney=].[[/note]] with the name changed to ''Making a Living''. Although ''It's a Living'' was [[SecondSeasonDownfall cancelled]] by ABC in 1982, the syndicated reruns garnered surprisingly [[VindicatedByReruns good ratings]]. Another key factor in the rediscovery of ''It's a Living'' was cast member Ann Jillian's public disclosure of her breast cancer diagnosis. With those factors in mind, the show was [[UnCancelled revived]] for the FirstRunSyndication market in 1985, where it would air for four more seasons.

* After ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' posted a strong sixth season, ABC gave it three more seasons, but then had second thoughts after season 8 experienced a drop in ratings. The network ultimately burned off the contractually-obligated ninth season in the summer of 2004. ABC also forbade Christa Miller, who by that point had moved on to ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', from returning for the series finale, as the executives felt that doing so would just provide free advertising for rival NBC.

* The original ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 Battlestar Galactica]]'' ran on Sunday nights; it got very positive reviews and grew a fan following comparable to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', leading some to pin it as the next big science fiction universe in a field that was already crowded with the likes of ''Star Trek'' and the newly-released ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]''...and yet ABC chose to cancel the series after its one and only season. Not only did the series get hammered by ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' on rival Creator/{{CBS}}, who moved that series on ''Galactica'''s slot with the intention to turn up the heat on ABC, but the network was beginning to lose money because of the show's high budget. However, creator-producer Glen A. Larson claimed ABC deliberately screwed over the series in an attempt to give their then-number-one program, ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', a more favorable time-slot. Regardless, fans were not too pleased with ABC's behavior, and a year later the network tried to redeem itself by green lighting ''Series/Galactica1980'', but that series ended up being poorly received and canned after just ten episodes, putting the [[FranchiseKiller kibosh on the original franchise]].

* ''Series/EmilysReasonsWhyNot'' got royally screwed over as despite the pilot getting decent ratings it got axed leaving the remaining episodes unaired. Thankfully the show did later get a DVD release containing all the episodes which sold better than expected.