The polar opposite to
Long Runners are, as you may expect, shows that were canned so quickly that few people remember them. They may have lasted one season, two at most, but no matter how much they were advertised are eventually forgotten. Some of the more unfortunate ones don't even last one episode. The
Ur Example is the 1969 sketch show
Turn On, which was so bad (and controversial —
for its time, anyway. There were a lot of jokes about CampyGay men, birth control pills, and indecency that these days would be seen as outdated or not as controversial) a number of affiliates dropped it
at the first commercial break, and it was effectively canned before the premiere finished airing. Other affiliates either aired the entire show and then pulled it or didn't air it at all and replaced it with better programming, like a
documentary on gun safety.
They may have not even gotten a
TV Tropes page until someone suddenly remembered it existed. Some of them may have been mediocre or downright terrible. Or they could have suffered
Seasonal Rot during the second season after having a great first season. Whatever the case, very little
Wiki Magic gets to these pages.
The Other Wiki has
an article
on single-episode runs.
When the show has this many episodes but is successful, that's
British Brevity. When the show ends naturally with this many episodes, that's a
Twelve Episode Anime.
Supertrope of
Second Season Downfall,
One Episode Wonder,
Short-Lived, Big Impact, and
Twelve Episode Anime.
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Western Animation Short Runners
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