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.
One possible Trope Codifier is the 1969 ABC sketch show Turn-On, which was considered awful and controversial — for its time, anywaynote . A number of ABC's 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. It gets worse if the short-lived show never got reruns, sharply decreasing the likelihood that there are tapes to circulate.
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 Mini Series or 12-Episode Anime.
Supertrope of Second Season Downfall and One-Episode Wonder. Compare Short-Lived, Big Impact, which is where a show has a short run, but well-remembered. See Failed Pilot Episode for an index on pilots that never went anywhere.
The podcast Canceled Too Soon specializes in covering these shows as well as other TV curiosities. Compare Too Good to Last.
#
A
- About a Boy
- A to Z
- Abby's
- Accidentally On Purpose: Lasted 1 season of 18 episodes.
- Action
- The Adventures of Superpup
- AfterMASH
- Against the Wall
- The Agency
- Agent X
- AJ and the Queen
- Alcatraz
- Aliens in the Family
- All-Star Blitz
- All That (2019 revival)
- Amazing Stories
- American Gothic (1995)
- American Vandal
- Angie Tribeca
- Animorphs
- APB
- Archive 81
- Are You There, Chelsea?
- Argo's World
- Arthur of the Britons
- Automan
B
- The Baby-Sitters Club (2020)
- Bad Judge
- Barbary Coast
- Bargain Hunters
- The Bastard Executioner
- Battle Creek
- Bearcats!
- Believe
- The Beast
- Beat the Clock (2018 revival)
- Beat the Geeks
- Be the Creature
- The Better Sex
- The Big Leap
- The Big Showdown
- Big Wave Dave's
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures
- Bionic Woman (the 2007 reboot, not the original)
- Birds of Prey (2002)
- Black Box
- The Black Donnellys
- Blackout
- Blade: The Series
- Blank Check
- Bless This Mess
- Blind Justice
- Blood Ties (2007)
- Blue's Room
- Bluff City Law
- B.o.B
- The Bold Ones
- The Protectors
- The Senator
- The Book of Daniel
- B Positive
- The Bradys
- Break the Bank (1985)
- Brimstone
- Bring 'Em Back Alive
- Broke
- Bunheads
- By Any Means
C
- Caesar's Challenge
- Cake
- Camelot
- The Cape (1996)
- The Cape (2011)
- Caprica
- The Carrie Diaries
- Catchphrase (American version)
- Cavemen
- Central Park West
- The Chair (American version)
- The Chamber
- The Challengers
- Charlie's Angels (2011)
- Charlie Horse Music Pizza - Was cancelled due to Sheri Lewis' unfortunate passing.
- The Cheap Show
- The Chicago Code
- Chicago Justice
- Child's Play
- The Chronicle
- The Class (2006)
- Class (2016)
- Cleopatra 2525
- Clone
- Co-Ed Fever
- Code Lyoko: Evolution
- Code Name: Eternity
- Colonel March of Scotland Yard
- Come Back Mrs. Noah
- Commander in Chief
- Conan the Adventurer
- Constantine
- The Cool Kids
- Cops: L.A.C.
- Cop Rock
- Conviction
- Conviction (2016)
- Cory in the House
- Couch Potatoes
- Counterpart
- Cowboy Bebop (2021)
- Cracked (Series)
- Crash & Bernstein
- The Crazy Ones
- Crime Traveller
- Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
- Crisis In Six Scenes
- Crossbones
- The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
- Crowded (2016)
- Crusade
- Cult
- Cursed
D
- dads
- Damnation
- Dan August
- The Dana Carvey Show
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
- Dark Skies
- Darkroom
- Day Break (2006)
- Dead at 21
- Dead Last
- Dead Like Me
- Deadly Class
- Deadly Games
- Dead Man's Gun
- Dead of Summer
- Deadtime Stories
- Debra!
- Debris
- Decoy
- Designated Survivor
- The Deep End
- The Defenders (2010)
- Defying Gravity
- Delvecchio
- Detroiters
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
- Dirty Dancing
- Disconnected
- Divorce
- Dollhouse
- Don't Scare the Hare
- Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
- Double Dare (2018 revival)
- Doubt
- Downfall (2010)
- Dracula (2013)
- The Dresden Files
- Dr. Ken
- Drive (2007)
- Detroit 1-8-7
E
- E-Ring
- Earth 2
- Eastwick
- Eerie, Indiana
- Ellery Queen
- Emerald City
- Emergence
- Emily Owens, M.D.
- The Endgame
- Enemy Within
- Enlightened
- Enlisted
- Everything Sucks!
- The Exorcist
- Extinct
- Eye Candy
- EZ Streets
F
- Fam
- Families at War
- The Fantastic Journey
- Fantasy Island (the 1998 Malcolm McDowell series, not the 1978-1984 Ricardo Montalbán series)
- Fast Lane
- Fat Actress
- Fat Guy Stuck in Internet
- Fauji
- Fear Itself
- Fearless
- Firefly
- The Flash (1990)
- Flash Gordon (2007)
- FlashForward (2009)
- Foreign Exchange
- Forever
- The Forgotten
- For Life
- For the People
- Fortune Hunter
- Freaks and Geeks
- Free Spirit (1989)
- Frequency
- Friends from College
- Friends with Benefits
- Frontier Circus
- Funky Squad
- Future Cop
G
- Gang Related
- Garrison's Gorillas
- GCB
- Gemini Man
- George & Leo
- The Get Down
- Getting Together
- Ghosted
- The Gifted (2017)
- Gigantic
- Girlboss
- Give-n-Take
- Go
- Good Behavior
- The Good Cop
- Good Girls Revolt
- Good Sam
- Golden Boy
- Go On
- Grand Hotel
- Greed
- The Great Indoors
- Gypsy
H
- Hail to the Chief
- Happy!
- The Happy Apple
- Happy Together
- Harsh Realm
- The Haunted Hathaways
- Heat Vision and Jack
- Heil Honey I'm Home!
- Heist
- Hellcats
- Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw
- Helstrom
- He Said, She Said
- The Hexer
- Hidden Palms
- Highlander The Raven
- Hit & Miss
- Holmes & Yoyo
- Homeboys in Outer Space
- Honey West
- Hope & Faith
- Hostages
- Hot Potato
- Hot Streak
- Hounded
- Houston Knights
- How Much Is Enough?
- How to Rock
- How We Roll
- Huge: 10 episodes between June and August 2010, or about as long as summer camp itself.
I
- I Am Frankie
- I Didn't Do It
- I Feel Bad
- I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021): 1 season of 8 episodes.
- Imaginary Mary
- Incorporated
- Inhumans
- Insatiable
- The Inside
- Iron Fist (2017)
- The Irregulars
J
- Jake 2.0
- James Gunn's PG Porn
- Jane by Design
- Jericho (1966)
- Joan of Arcadia
- The Jim Henson Hour
- John Doe
- John from Cincinnati
- Johnny Bago
- Julie and the Phantoms
- Jupiter's Legacy
- Just Cause
K
- Katy Keene — Intended as a companion to Riverdale, it only lasted a season.
- Keen Eddie
- Kenan
- Kevin (Probably) Saves the World
- Key West
- Kidnapped
- The Kids Are Alright (2018)
- Kindred: The Embraced
- Killing Eve (series cut short to its fourth season due to the Covid-19 pandemic)
- Kings
- Knight Squad
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker
- Kratts' Creatures
L
- Lab Rats: Elite Force
- Lady Dynamite
- Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
- Last Resort
- Late Night Liars
- Law & Order: LA
- Law & Order: Trial by Jury
- Legend
- The Lets Go Show
- Life as We Know It
- Life Unexpected
- Lime Street
- Lipstick Jungle
- Little Mermaid's Island
- Living Biblically
- Logan's Run
- Lomax, the Hound of Music
- The Lone Gunmen
- The Loner
- Love Connection
- Lovecraft Country
- Low Winter Sun
- Lucky Louie
- Luke Cage (2016)
- The Lying Game
M
- Made in Jersey
- The Magician
- The Magnificent Marble Machine
- Malibu Country
- Man in a Suitcase
- Manhattan Love Story
- Manimal
- Mann & Machine
- M.A.N.T.I.S.
- Martial Law
- Marvin Marvin
- Masked Rider
- Masters Of Science Fiction
- Matador
- The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
- The Mayor
- Mercy
- Mercy Street
- Mercy Point
- Merv Griffin's Crosswords
- The Messengers
- Messiah
- The Mick
- Midnight, Texas
- Million Dollar Mind Game
- Million Dollar Money Drop (American version)
- Mind Games
- Mindreaders
- Minority Report (2015)
- Miracles
- Misfits of Science
- Missing (2012)
- The Mist
- Mister Sterling
- Mixedish (2020)
- Models Inc.
- Moonbase 3
- Mortal Kombat: Conquest
- The Morton Downey Jr. Show
- Mr. Lucky
- Mr. Mayor
- The Mr. Potato Head Show
- Monopoly
- Moonlight
- Mulaney
- The Muppets
- Musical Chairs (1975)
- Murder In Small Town X
- Murphy Brown (2018 revival)
- My Brother and Me
- My So-Called Life
- The Mysteries of Laura
- The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nóg
- MythQuest
N
- Naomi (2022)
- National Bingo Night
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery
- The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
- New Amsterdam (2008)
- The New Normal
- Next (2020)
- Nichols
- Nightflyers
- The Nightmare Room
- Night Stalker
- Night Visions
- Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
- No Ordinary Family
- No Tomorrow
- Notorious (2016)
- Nowhere Man
- Number Please
- The Nutt House
- NYC 22
O
- The OA
- October Faction
- October Road
- Off Centre
- One Big Happy
- One Day at a Time (2017)
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
- On Becoming a God in Central Florida — Was initially renewed for a second season, but then later reversed and was subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Opposite Sex
- Ordinary Joe
- Osmosis
- The Other Kingdom
- The Others (2000)
- The Othersiders
- Outcast
- Outsourced
- Over My Dead Body (1990) — Ran from November 2 to December 21, 1990 after nine episodes, although two leftover episodes were aired in June 1991.
P
- Pan Am
- Paradox
- Paranoia
- Partners
- The Passage
- Perfect Harmony
- Pearson
- Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
- People of Earth
- Peppermint Park
- The Philanthropist
- Photon
- Pictureka
- The Pinkertons
- Pink Lady and Jeff
- Pitch (2016)
- Pitfall!
- The Pitts
- Pivoting
- Planet Ajay
- Planet of the Apes
- The Playboy Club
- The Player
- Playing House
- Police Squad!
- Powerhouse
- Powerless (2017)
- Prime Suspect (US)
- A Prince Among Men
- Prehistoric Park
- Primeval: New World
- Privileged
- Probe
- Profit
- Promised Land
- Proven Innocent
- Public Morals
- Pushing Daisies — This is probably the biggest blow. The first season was given a back order, but only nine episodes were made due to the writer's strike. And the second season's ratings were tanking (the episode "Dim Sum, Lose Sum" infamously aired against the Presidential Debate) and as a result, the show was cancelled.
Q
R
- Rags to Riches
- Raines
- Raising Dad
- Raising Dion
- Ratched
- Ravenswood
- React to That
- Red Band Society
- The Red Line
- The Republic of Sarah
- The Revolution
- Richie Rich
- Ringer
- Rise (2018)
- Rita Rocks
- Roar
- Roll Out!
- Rome
- The Ropers
- Roseanne - The 2018 revival of the show in its 10th season was promptly cancelled two months later due to Roseanne Barr's controversial racist tweets.
- Rosemarys Baby 2014
- Rosewood
- Rubicon
- Ruby & the Rockits
- Rush 2014
S
- Safe Harbor
- Saul of the Mole Men
- Saved by the Bell (2020)- The series was cancelled in 2022 after two seasons.
- Saved by the Bell: The College Years
- Save to Win
- Salvage 1
- Salvation
- Sam & Cat
- Samantha Who?
- Scattergories
- Scoundrels (2010)
- Scream Queens (2015)
- Second Chance
- The Secret Circle
- The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer
- Selfie
- Serangoon Road
- Set for Life
- Shadow Chasers
- Shafted
- Shasta McNasty
- She's Gotta Have It
- $#*! My Dad Says
- Shoppers Casino
- Showoffs
- Shrill — Lasted 22 episodes over 3 years.
- Skedaddle
- Skin
- The Single Guy
- Sleuth 101
- SMILF
- So Little Time
- So Random!
- Some of My Best Friends
- Something Is Out There
- Something Wilder
- Son of Zorn
- Speechless
- Special Unit 2
- Spinning Out
- Splitting Up Together
- Sponk!
- Spooksville
- Square Pegs
- Stacked
- Stalker
- Star-Crossed
- Stargate Universe
- Star Falls
- The Star Lost
- Station X
- The Steam Video Company
- Strange Luck
- Strange Report
- The Street
- Street Time
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
- Stumptown (2019) — A second season was actually ordered in May 2020, but the show was un-renewed on September due to complications in the second season's production due to the COVID-19 Pandemic; ABC Studios attempted to find a new home for the show, but was unable to.
- Suburban Shootout
- Superior Donuts
- Super Fun Night
- Supertrain
- Surface
- Swamp Thing (2019)
- Sweet and Sour
- Swinging
T
- Taken
- Take Two
- Tales of the Gold Monkey
- Talkabout
- Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
- Tattingers
- Telenovela (2016)
- Temptation (2007)
- Tenacious D
- Terra Nova
- Terriers
- Thanks
- That '80s Show — Was cancelled after a half a season of 13 episodes.
- Threat Matrix
- Thunder in Paradise
- Thea
- The Tick (2001)
- The Tick (2016) — Unlike the 2001 series, at the least got two seasons before being cancelled by Amazon.
- Time After Time
- Timeless
- Time Trumpet
- The Tomorrow People (2013)
- The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien — While it lasted 146 episodes (145 aired), that's a tiny amount for a talk show, especially one that was expected to last years and years (it lasted seven months).
- Three Rivers
- Threshold
- Touch
- Tracker
- Training Day — Canceled after half a season of 13 episodes, due in part to the untimely death of its star Bill Paxton.
- The Transporter
- Trashed
- Traveler — Lasted 8 episodes from May to July 2007.
- Treasure Mall
- Trinkets
- Trial & Error
- Trophy Wife
- Tru Calling
- Truth Seekers
- Turner and Hooch (2021)
- TV Funhouse
- The Twilight Zone (2002)
- Twisted
- Two of a Kind
U
- Undercovers
- Underground
- Under One Roof
- The Unicorn
- The Unusuals
- The Upside Down Show
- United States of Al
- United We Fall (2020)
- Up All Night (2011 - 2012)
V
- Vagrant Queen
- Valor
- Vegas (2012)
- The Veil (10 episodes were made before production was cancelled. The show was never broadcast, but eventually got a DVD release in the 1990s.
- Vengeance Unlimited
- The Village
- Vinyl
- V Wars
W
- Wait Til You Have Kids
- The War Next Door
- Watchmen — HBO initially advertised it as an ongoing series, but the showrunner left after its debut season, and HBO chose to cut it short and reclassified it as a limited series.
- The Weird Al Show
- Wendell & Vinnie
- Werewolf
- The Westerner
- Whiskey Cavalier
- The Whispers
- White Rabbit Project — Netflix chose not to renew due to focusing on scripted series that can be binge watched.
- Whiz Kids
- Whodunnit? (2013)
- The Whole Truth
- Whiplash
- Wild Boys
- Will
- Winning Streak
- Wipeout (1988)
- Witches of East End
- Wizards & Warriors
- Wolf Lake
- Wonderfalls
- Wonder Showzen
- Wonder Woman (2011 pilot)
- Wordplay
- Working (1997)
- Work It
- The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
Y
- Yancy Derringer
- A Year at the Top
- You Deserve It
- You Don't Know Jack - Ran for only six weekly episodes.
- Young Americans
- Young Blades
- You're in the Picture
- Y: The Last Man (2021)
Z
- 5 Secondly Object Show: The mother of all short-runners ending less than a minute after it aired since its nine episodes had consecutively released five seconds apart from each other. The total runtime is just under five minutes.
- Albi and Azul
- Awesome Futuristic Objects: An object show that ran for six episodes, with its sixth episode only being half-completed, due to lack of motivation and school. When the creator decided to start over with a Soft Reboot as a second season, that lasted way shorter with three episodes, also with a half-completed last episode, for the same reason.
- Battle For Grandma
- Battle for Object Destination: With three and a half episodes making up the season (BFOD was canned in the midst of the two-parter episode). Its spin-off show Earthquake has it worse with its singular episode before being discontinued in the wake of its creator being forced off the internet after getting caught attempting to groom a minor.
- Becky Bucket: Only had one episode before being dropped from a lack of interest.
- Brawl of the Objects: A classic Object Show consisting of 14 episodes and an upcoming epilogue. Unlike many other object shows listed here, it managed to successfully conclude its run instead of being Cut Short.
- Cartoon Monsoon
- The Elvis and Jack Nicklaus Mysteries
- Every Faggot Ever
- Human Kind Of, which for extra points, aired on a web service few people are even aware of to begin with.
- Fight In Flight: Two episodes before the creator's lack of motivation kicked in.
- Garbage Island
- Judge Granny
- The Junkyard Run
- Lobo (Webseries)
- Meet the Millers
- Melody Star: Lasted a measly episode before getting canned and undergoing a reboot.
- Navy Bear
- Object Explosion: Ran for 3 complete episodes and 1 unfinished episode before undergoing a reboot.
- Object Filler: The second season, Object Filler Again, had to discontinued production after five episodes due to the creator's personal issues and decision to not continue the show anymore.
- Object Havoc: Only two episodes were produced and then cancelled due to lack of interest.
- Object Manor: See above. It went on to be rebooted as The Nightly Manor in 2021.
- Object Overload: Continued the Object Show curse by only having 6 initial episodes, then an attempted Continuity Reboot that didn't even make it to a second episode.
- Object Redundancy: See above (Two episodes and then the lack of interest kicks in).
- Object Show 87 didn't last long since it was what the Object Show Community calls, a joke show. It concluded the series at 6 episodes.
- Object Show: Just a Pilot and nothing more although it did had a Soft Reboot under a different concept and name.
- The Object Show: Had seven episodes before it was cancelled and the creator considered the series an Old Shame.
- Rock 'n' Roll Dad
- Rush Hour Elimination Generation 2: Deliberately ran for one episode.
- Shape Battle: Four episodes in total.
- Shape World: Ended after seven episodes.
- Spookyville USA had two episodes; the second episode is also a parody of Long-Runners, playing out like the final episode to a popular, decades-spanning multi-media franchise.
- Starship Regulars: It only had 10 episodes.
- Super Dumb Joke Show: Because it was a joke show and on April Fools' Day, SDJS purposefully released one episode with no plans of continuing despite it being Left Hanging.
- Superhero Roommate
- Super Models
- Toon Marooned
- Town Attack:
- Weekend Pussy Hunt
- Ultimate Insanity: Ran for three episodes including a two-parter.
- Untitled Object Show: Only had one season of ten episodes because the creator came to dislike the show and wanted to focus on his other projects.
- Your Favorite Martian: Lasted two years, due to being screwed over by Maker Studios.
- Zombie College
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
- 3 Amigonauts
- 3Below
- 101 Dalmatian Street
- The Adventures of Hyperman
- The Adventures of Kid Danger
- The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
- The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin: Ran for one 65-episode season before being ended when Worlds Of Wonder went out of business. Was not helped by the horrible timeslot it kept getting.
- Alias the Jester
- Allen Gregory - It ended after its 7th episode. It's often claimed to be due to massive negative reception from viewers and critics alike, but Fox had little faith in it to begin with (being a mid-season replacement for Family Guy)
- The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
- Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series (lasted 26 episodes from 2001-2002, though it did get a DVD release and had some mild success in reruns)
- The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour
- Archie's Weird Mysteries - One 40-episode season.
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Atomic Puppet
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
- Avenger Penguins
- The Avengers: United They Stand
- Baby Blues
- The Bagel and Becky Show
- Barnyard Commandos
- BB3B
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! - Had 52 episodes across two 26-episode seasons before being replaced by Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World - Only aired 3 episodes before being scrapped and cancelled.
- Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom
- Bertha
- Beware the Batman
- Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot
- The Big Knights
- Billy
- Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer - With only a single 13-episode season that was burned off in 2 weeks during the summer of 2017, it is noted as being one of Disney Television Animation's shortest-lived series
- Birdz - According to creator Larry Jacobs, a timeslot after the news did not help this show at all, which only lasted 13 episodes.
- Blaster's Universe
- Bless the Harts
- The Bluffers
- Bob Morane
- Boo Boom! The Long Way Home - It intentionally ended after just 1 season of 26 episodes.
- Bordertown
- Boyster
- Bravestarr
- The Bremen Avenue Experience
- The Brothers Flub
- The Brothers Grunt
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars - 13 episodes was all for this show.
- Bunsen is a Beast
- Bureau of Alien Detectors
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
- Butt-Ugly Martians
- The Buzz on Maggie
- Care Bears:
- Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot - Has 24 episodes and two specials across two seasons: 13 episodes for season 1, 11 episodes and two specials for season 2.
- Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot - Has 26 episodes across one season.
- Care Bears & Cousins - A Sequel Series that had two 6-episode seasons.
- Carmen Got Expelled!
- Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys
- Captain Star
- Catscratch - It had only one season stretched across two years.
- Cave Kids - Has only eight episodes.
- C-Bear and Jamal
- Centaurworld - Was designed to only have 2 seasons, making it a roughly 20 episodes series.
- Channel Umptee-3
- Chop Chop Ninja - Although the shorts it was based on were very successful, the series only lasted a single season.
- Chop Socky Chooks
- Chozen
- Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos — Only five episodes were made, but more were planned.
- Chuck's Choice
- City of Ghosts - Lasted a single season with six episodes.
- Clang Invasion
- Class of 3000 - Ended after two seasons due to high production costs not justifying continued production.
- Cleopatra in Space
- Clerks: The Animated Series (only six episodes)
- Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017)
- Clone High - Infamously ended after 13 episodes on one of the biggest ambiguous cliffhangers in cartoon history.
- Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island
- Combo Niños
- Committed
- The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
- Corduroy - It only lasted for 26 episodes in a single season.
- Counterfeit Cat
- The Critic - despite positive reviews and respectable ratings, both ABC and Fox (but especially the latter) wanted it gone, and so it lasted 23 episodes across two seasons (plus 10 short webisodes from a failed internet-based revival in the 2000s)
- Creature Comforts - The American version.
- Creepschool
- Cro
- Cupcake & Dino: General Services - Despite receiving critical acclaim and high viewership on Netflix, it only ran for 26 episodes.
- Cybersix - Only has one season of 13 episodes.
- Da Boom Crew
- Daft Planet - Cancelled when funding ran out thanks to the cuts to the CTW program.
- Damaged - Lasted 12 episodes. They made up season 1.
- Danger & Eggs
- Danger Rangers - Lasted for 1 season with 16 episodes, two of which are Clip Shows.
- Dan Vs. - Lasted 53 episodes; 22 episodes for season 1, 18 for season 2, and 13 for season 3.
- Darkwing Duck
- Dave the Barbarian
- Defenders of the Earth
- Detention
- Dilbert
- D.N. Ace
- Dora and Friends: Into the City!
- Downtown
- Drawn Together
- Droopy, Master Detective
- Earthworm Jim
- Edebits
- Endangered Species (2015) - the shortest-lived series of Nerd Corps Entertainment, with all 26 episodes being burned off by Teletoon in only 1 month
- Evil Con Carne - Creator Maxwell Atoms willingly ended the show after one season; both this and fellow creation The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, both spin-offs of Grim & Evil, were popular, but he didn't want the stress of showrunning two cartoons at once. There was a second season, but it only consisted of four episodes. Con Carne characters were rolled into the Billy and Mandy universe over time.
- Family Dog
- The Family-Ness
- Fanboy and Chum Chum
- Fangbone! - According to creator Michael Rex, the series got good ratings, but executives didn't find them high enough to warrant ordering a second season, ending the show on a cliffhanger
- Fantomcat
- Father of the Pride
- Fievel's American Tails
- Fillmore!
- Fish Police
- Flying Rhino Junior High
- The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang
- The Foxbusters
- Freakazoid!
- Freak Show
- Freaktown - After being aired weekly thouugh the summer of 2016, Teletoon btook the series off the schedule and burned the rest off on a lazy weekend afternoon in October before permanently removing it from their schedule
- Fred's Head
- Fresh Beat Band of Spies
- The Funky Phantom
- Future-Worm!
- Galaxy High
- Galtar and the Golden Lance
- Gary and Mike
- Gary the Rat
- Gasp!
- Generation O!
- Get Ace
- Get Ed
- G.I. Joe Extreme
- G.I. Joe: Renegades
- G.I. Joe: Sigma 6
- Glitch Techs - Only 20 episodes were made before the series was cancelled by Nickelodeon before even premiering. The completed episodes were given to Netflix as part of a deal in 2020.
- Gloria's House
- God, the Devil and Bob
- Gofrette
- Goldie & Bear
- The Goode Family
- Gravedale High
- Green Lantern: The Animated Series - Ended after a single season of 26 episodes due to poor merchandising sales.
- Grojband
- H₂O: Mermaid Adventures
- Hammerman
- Harold and the Purple Crayon - Has only 13 episodes.
- The Harper House
- Henry Hugglemonster
- Hey Joel
- High School U.S.A.
- Hoops
- The Houndcats
- Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
- I Am Not an Animal
- I Am Weasel - Initially started as the "B" segment of Cow and Chicken before it received its own spin-off series. Said spin-off only lasted 9 episodes consisting of 27 segments.
- Infinity Train - Lasted for 40 11-minute episodes, spread out over two years.
- Inhumanoids
- Invader Zim - Cancelled in the middle of producing its second season due to high budgetary costs, leaving several episodes unfinished. Was massively popular during and after its run, and was continued in comic book form over a decade later, in addition to getting a Netflix special in 2019.
- Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
- Jane and the Dragon
- John Callahan's Quads!
- Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures
- Justice League Action
- Kid Cosmic
- Kid Notorious
- King Star King
- A Kitty Bobo Show
- Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny
- Lavender Castle
- The Legend of Calamity Jane - Thirteen episodes were produced, but only three aired in the US presumably due to controversy over the series' Family-Unfriendly Violence.
- Legend of the Three Caballeros
- The Legends of Treasure Island
- The Legend of Zelda - 13 episodes.
- Legends of Chamberlain Heights
- Legion of Super Heroes
- Lil' Bush
- The Lionhearts
- Little Big Awesome
- Little Clowns of Happytown - 18 episodes, only 6 of which were released on DVD.
- The Little Muppet Monsters - Only three episodes aired after Muppet Babies.
- Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own
- Little Shop
- Llan-ar-goll-en - 51 episodes (typically 12-14 minutes in length save for one) and two seasons that ran for two years. Was also not distributed anywhere but Wales. Still lives on in reruns.
- Loonatics Unleashed
- The Looney Tunes Show - 52 episodes across two seasons. This is a rare case where the producers intended this from the start.
- Looped
- Lost in Oz
- Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil
- Mack & Moxy - Despite having been seemingly fairly well-received, the series only aired for twelve episodes in 2016 and doesn't seem likely to be coming back. Its official website had gone dead, though has since been restored.
- Mad Jack the Pirate
- Making Fiends
- Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart - Aired for one season of 40 episodes before being seemingly abandoned by Cartoon Network in mid-2020.
- Marsupilami (Disney series)
- Mary Kate and Ashley in Action!
- Maryoku Yummy
- Mega Man - Despite high ratings, it was canceled after the second season largely due to poor toy sales.
- Mega Man: Fully Charged - A poor time slot and being left to die by Cartoon Network meant 52 episodes was all we got.
- Megas XLR - Another high ratings show and managed to gain two seasons, but cancelled due to a CEO change at Cartoon Network who didn't "get it" (though the showrunners at least kept the ending open-ended).
- The Mighty B!
- Mike, Lu & Og
- Mina and The Count - Technically, it was a series of shorts that aired on Cartoon Network's What A Cartoon! Show and Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah! Cartoons rather than its own series proper. Nick however never saw fit to greenlight it despite positive reception.
- Minoriteam
- Mirthworms
- Mission Hill
- M.O.D.O.K. (2021) - One season of 10 episodes.
- Monchhichis
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2013)
- Moonbeam City
- Motorcity - One full season. From the same creators of Megas, but again, history repeated, this time due to Disney finding the series a little too hardcore for their liking.
- Motown Magic
- The Mr. Men Show
- My Dad the Rock Star - Despite having good ratings, creator Gene Simmons ended the series after 26 episodes to focus more on other projects.
- My Goldfish is Evil
- My Life Me - On top of being given no promotion and an abysmal timeslot, Teletoon burned off every episode of the series in a single month before taking it off the air permanently not long afterwards
- My Little Pony Tales
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Neighbors from Hell - Ran adjadecent to Family Guy on TBS for a mere 9 episodes before quietly disappearing.
- The Neverending Story: The Animated Adventures of Bastian Balthazar Bux
- The New Adventures of Ocean Girl
- The New Archies
- Nightmare Ned
- Niko and the Sword of Light
- Oakie Doke
- The Oblongs
- The Oddball Couple
- Ollie's Pack
- Out There
- The Owl House - Despite critical acclaim and immense fan popularity, Disney only gave it three seasons (the last of which only consisting of three 44-minute specials) for "not fitting the Disney brand".
- Packages from Planet X
- Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
- Pelswick
- Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
- Pepper Ann
- Perfect Hair Forever
- Phantom Investigators - Only 13 episodes were made in 2002 due to being screwed over by both Sony and Kids' WB.
- Pickle and Peanut
- Pig Goat Banana Cricket
- Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain - It was unceremoniously ended after 13 episodes due both to fan outcry and the producers themselves utterly hating the concept.
- Pinky Malinky - It only ran for three seasons in 2019.
- Pirate Express - Aired the entirety of its single 26-episode season in the span of a single week before being taken off the air permanently.
- Pirates: Adventures in Art
- Planet Sheen
- Planet Sketch
- Plasmo
- Potsworth & Company
- The Prince (2021)
- Prisoner Zero
- The Problem Solverz
- Project G.e.e.K.e.R.
- Quack Pack
- Random! Cartoons
- Rainbow Brite - Only 13 episodes were produced.
- Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty
- Rated "A" for Awesome
- Raw Toonage
- Rayman: The Animated Series - 26 episodes were planned, but only 4 were completed.
- Ready Jet Go! - At least compared to Craig Bartlett's other shows, both of which had 100 episodes over the course of 8-11 years. Ready Jet Go! lasted 64 episodes (each with Two Shorts that lasted 11 minutes) over the course of 3 years, making it very nearly a 65-Episode Cartoon and the shortest-lived of his works.
- Redakai
- Redwall - stopped after three seasons before the rest of the novels could have been adapted.
- Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" - Aired only three out of six episodes.
- Return to the Planet of the Apes
- Right Now Kapow
- Richie Rich (1996)
- The Ripping Friends
- Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Road Rovers
- Robinson Sucroe - Aired a whopping 26 episodes before it stopped.
- Robotboy
- Robotomy - Has the dubious honour of being Cartoon Network's shortest-living full series at 10 fifteen-minute shorts.
- Robot and Monster
- The Rocketeer
- Rollbots
- Ruby Gloom - Spanned 40 episodes in 2 seasons.
- Rugrats Pre-School Daze - A failed spin-off of Rugrats. All four episodes were released Direct to Video in between 2005 and 2006 in the US after airing in other countries, and had premiered on Nick early in the morning in December 2008 and never aired again.
- Sabrina: The Animated Series - Lasted one season and stopped at 65 episodes.
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat - Fell victim to the 40-episode cutoff mandate for early 2000s kids shows.
- The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police
- Sammy: 13 episodes were produced, but the premiere was constantly delayed until August 2000 when it aired its first two episodes and disappeared without a trace. It was only on May 25, 2021 that episodes started being uploaded to YouTube.
- Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated - Similarly to The Looney Tunes Show above, it was planned to end after 52 episodes from the start.
- The Secret Files of The Spy Dogs
- Secret Mountain Fort Awesome
- The Secret Show- Ran for 52 episodes over two series.
- The Secret World of Santa Claus
- Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!
- Sheep in the Big City - Ended after 26 episodes (two seasons of 13 episodes each) and a year and some change on air. Almost didn't even get a second season.
- Sheriff Callie's Wild West
- Sherm
- SheZow
- The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
- Shorty McShorts' Shorts
- Shuriken School - Despite being praised by viewers, it had a short run.
- The Silver Brumby
- Silver Surfer: The Animated Series
- Silverwing - Aired 13 episodes before ending before it could adapt the other novels.
- Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (2002) - Aired in September 2002 on Teletoon.
- Sit Down, Shut Up
- Skunk Fu!
- Slacker Cats
- Sonic Boom (cancelled after 2 seasons)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)
- Soul Quest Overdrive
- Spaced Out
- The Spaghetti Family
- The Spectacular Spider-Man - Two full seasons, but one of the few cases where it wasn't cancelled because of low ratings or executive decision (heck, if anything fans loved the show and it was critically acclaimed to boot), but rather rights issues. At the time, Disney had bought up Marvel and began the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking up the copyrights of superheroes. Spider-Man was still in Sony's hands, however, and they refused to give up the film rights, but agreed to give away the TV rights instead. This unfortunately meant Spectacular Spider-Man had to be cancelled since, if Disney wanted to continue it, they would have to pay Sony to keep doing so since the cartoon was made in-house at Sony and technically their property. Naturally, Disney refused on that front much to the dismay of fans. If that wasn't bad enough, the series ended on a major Downer Ending which was meant to lead into the third season.
- Spicy City
- Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series
- Spider-Man Unlimited
- Spider-Woman
- Spiral Zone
- Splash and Bubbles - Cancelled after one season due to a lack of funding.
- Spliced - Series co-creator Simon Racioppa stated that the series did well enough that there were considerations for a second season, but circumstances beyond their control led to these plans being axed.
- Spy Groove
- Squirrel Boy
- Star Trek: The Animated Series
- Star Wars Resistance
- Station Zero
- Stōked - While Teletoon aired both seasons in Canada, Cartoon Network cancelled the show after only 22 episodes. This meant that none of the episodes from season 2 aired in the United States, nor the remaining episodes of season 1.
- Stoppit and Tidyup
- Strange Hill High
- Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters
- Stripperella
- Stroker and Hoop
- Sumo Mouse
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
- Super Mario World
- Swamp Thing - The show had 5 episodes which aired sporadically on Fox Kids in the early 90's.
- SWAT Kats - Despite high ratings, the show was canceled with 3 episodes left incomplete, so Hanna-Barbera could focus on What A Cartoon. A revival titled SWAT Kats Revolution is planned, but was in Development Hell until 2022 when Indian company Toonz Media Group picked it up.
- Sylvanian Families
- Sym-Bionic Titan
- Tak and the Power of Juju (2007)
- Tarantula!
- Teacher's Pet - The show had 39 episodes for seasons 1 and 2.
- The Land Before Time - 2007 animated cartoon series based on the movies of the same name. Ran for 2 seasons within a year.
- This Just In!
- ThunderCats (2011) - Ended after a single season of 26 episodes due to poor merchandising sales.
- ThunderCats Roar - The show ended after 1 season of 52 episodes.
- El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - Full season, 26 episodes. Was popular but cancelled as it wasn't gaining the ratings of fellow Nicktoon, SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Time Squad
- Time Warp Trio - Was cancelled after 26 episodes and ended with an improper finale.
- Timothy Goes to School - Only 26 episodes were made between 2000 and 2001.
- Titan Maximum
- Toad Patrol - Ended after 26 episodes over two seasons, a third season was planned but was cancelled.
- The Tofus
- Tom and Jerry Tales
- ToonMarty
- Toonsylvania
- Toot & Puddle
- Top Cat
- Toxic Crusaders
- Trollz
- TRON: Uprising
- Tupu
- Turtle Island - 26 episodes produced and originally aired in 1995.
- Twelve Forever
- Ugly Americans
- Ultimate Book of Spells
- Undergrads
- Urban Vermin
- Victor & Hugo
- Visionaries
- Voltron Force
- Voltron: The Third Dimension
- Vytor The Starfire Champion
- Wacky Races (2017)
- Watch My Chops
- Waynehead
- Wayside
- Weird Years
- Welcome to the Wayne
- Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
- What It's Like Being Alone
- Where's Huddles?
- Where's Waldo? (2019) was planned to have only 40 stories produced.
- Wild C.A.T.s (1994)
- Will And De Witt
- Wishfart
- Wish Kid - 13 episodes. The series ended on the same year as its premiere, making it one of the quickest cartoons of the 1990s.
- The Wizard of Oz
- World of Winx
- The Wuzzles
- The X's
- Xiaolin Chronicles
- Xyber 9: New Dawn
- Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
- Yakkity Yak
- Yin Yang Yo!
- YooHoo & Friends lasted only under a year for 26 episodes (52 segments), and was intended by the studio to get a second season but couldn't. The show it was dubbed after, however, was not a short runner.
- Zeke's Pad
- Zeroman had plans for a second season, but they were cancelled after Zeroman's voice actor, Leslie Nielsen, passed away.
- Zevo-3
- The ZhuZhus
- 090 ~ Eko to Issho
- Act-age: Despite becoming a surprise success to the point of having a stage play adaptation planned, the manga only ran for two years before being cancelled almost immediately after its writer was arrested for sexual misconduct. Print and digital volumes of the manga were pulled from distribution, the stage play was canned, and the artist later removed all mentions of the series from her social media.
- Ane Doki
- Ann Cassandra
- Ashigei Shoujo Komura-san
- Banana no Nana
- Baoh
- Barrage
- B.Ichi
- Bone Collection
- Butsu Zone
- Candy Flurry
- Cheat Slayer is infamous for being cancelled after a single chapter for not only having several characters who are blatant copies of characters from other isekai works, but also portraying them as much more villainous than the characters they're obviously based on as a Take That! to the genre. This resulted in so much backlash (from both readers and creators of other isekai works) that the manga was cancelled immediately.
- Classi9
- Cross Manage
- Cyborg Grandpa G
- Dangaioh was cut short after three OVA episodes, even though it was intended to run for longer. Its TV anime sequel, Great Dangaioh, was meant to run for 26 episodes, but was cut down to only 13 due to low ratings and poor reviews.
- Dear Brother: The manga ran for only six months, from March to September 1975; the anime is longer, airing from 1991 to 1992 for 39 episodes.
- Dear NOMAN
- Don Dracula: The manga ran for only six months, from May to December 1979. The 1982 anime adaptation only had eight episodes produced, and only four of those episodes made it to air, thanks to the anime's sponsoring company going bankrupt.
- Double Arts
- Enigme
- Game×Rush
- Gamma
- Gun Blaze West
- Harisugawa in Mirror World
- Hello Kitty's Paradise: Had 32 8-minute shorts. It had an even shorter run on Fox Family (now Freeform), running from March to September 2000.
- Hell Warden Higuma
- Heroine Voice
- Hokenshitsu no Shinigami
- How to Make an Invisible Man
- Hungry Marie
- The Hunters Guild: Red Hood
- Ice Revolution
- I don't know if it's LOVE or MAGIC!
- I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up
- Iron Knight
- i tell c
- Jumbor Barutronica
- Kagamigami
- Kurogane (2011)
- The Last Saiyuki
- Lock On!
- Mx0
- Magic Boy B.T.
- magico
- Magu-chan: God of Destruction
- Marry Grave
- Misappropriation Investigator Nakabo Rintaro
- Mitama Security: Spirit Busters
- Moriking
- Nine Dragons' Ball Parade
- Noah's Notes
- Oumagadoki Doubutsuen
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ran for 13 episodes and ended on a Cliffhanger, but there has yet to be any proper second season.
- Phantom Seer
- Pokémon RéBURST
- Pretty Face
- Princess Rouge was intended to run for six OVA episodes, but it was cut short after only two due to running out of funding.
- Prism was cancelled after only six chapters due to allegations of its art being traced.
- Red Sprite
- Robot × Laserbeam
- Rookie Policewoman Kiruko-san
- Sakura Discord
- Samon the Summoner
- Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru
- Samurai Usagi
- Shindere Shoujo to Kodoku na Shinigami was serialized for only a year and a half before being put on indefinite hiatus due to the writer's illness. She passed away two years later, leaving the manga unfinished.
- Shinigami-sama to 4-nin no Kanojo
- Shuukan Shounen Hachi
- Soul Rescue
- Stars Align was intended to run for 24 episodes, but it was cut down to only 12 episodes late in production; since the staff had no time to adjust the story to that length, the anime ends on a Cliffhanger and has yet to be properly continued.
- Stealth Symphony
- SWOT
- Takama-ga-hara
- Time Paradox Ghostwriter
- Time Stranger Kyoko
- Tokyo Shinobi Squad
- Tricks Dedicated to Witches
- Tsujiura-san to Chupacabra
- Underdog
- Yakuza Girl
- Yui Kamio Lets Loose
- Yumemigaoka Wonderland
- Zipman!!
- Zombiepowder.
Asian Animation
- Akis
- M.K. 22
- Nana Moon
- Noonbory and the Super 7 (one season with 26 episodes; follow-up series was never released outside South Korea)
- Planet of 7 Colors
- Stitch & Ai: Only one thirteen-episode season, making it the shortest-lived TV show in its franchise. When it finally reached the United States over a year later, the ninth episode was excluded.
Manhua
Comic Books
- Ace McCoy
- Ace of Space
- Ace Powers
- The Atomic Thunderbolt
- The Blue Streak
- Buckskin: America's Defender of Liberty
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars: lasted 5 issues and a graphic novel, and got an Animated Adaptation, but was canceled when creator Continuity Comics went out of business.
- Burlap
- Captain Flash
- Captain Victory
- The Crusader
- Double Jumpers
- D.R. & Quinch
- El Kuraan
- Funnyman
- Giant Robot Warrior Maintenance Crew
- The Green Giant
- The Green Knight
- Hyper the Phenomenal
- The Invisible Terror
- K-Bar Kate
- Kismet: Man of Fate
- The Lone Warrior
- The Mad Hatter
- The Marksman
- Master Mystic
- Mega Man (Dreamwave)
- Mother Hubbard
- The Others (1995)
- Phantom Flyer
- Samurai Squirrel
- Sonic Adventures
- Sonic Boom
- Sonic: Mega Drive
- The Steel Fist
- Steel Grip Starkey And The All Purpose Power Tool
- Street Fighter (Malibu Comics) (got cancelled after merely three issues, with the second ending on a cliffhanger heavily suggesting that Ken was dead, which writer's letters included alongside the third and final one disproved)
- Super-American
- Tech Jacket (the creators have expressed in continuing the series if there's enough demand)
- Tomboy (Sterling)
- Typhon
- Warrior
- The Wasp (Lev Gleason)
- Wendigo Wood
- Wonder Man (Fox)
- The Wraith
- WWE Superstars
- Zion (the creator intends for it to be a 5-part miniseries.)
Game Shows
- You Don't Know Jack while a long runner when counting the games, the gameshow version only got six episodes.
Newspaper Comics
Pinballs
- Capcom's arcade pinball division, which developed only six tables (four of which were released) before closing.
Radio
Theme Parks
Toys
- Flick-to-Stick Bungees - The European version lasted for two series between 2012 to 2013. The American version fared even worse at only one series.
Video Games
- The Virtual Boy; which lasted less than a year and received only about a dozen games in the US (if you include Japanese games, it almost reaches two dozen).
- The Learning Voyage series of PC/Mac edutainment games by Davidson & Associates/Learningways, Inc. There were only two games in the series, released in 1998. Trademarks were filed in 1997 and abandoned in 1999. While it is still used in Classworks
, it's not known by that name to those who play it; it's just "That game where you play as a shark and eat fish with words on them" or "That game where you dunk a clown by choosing fact or opinion".
- BEMANI games each usually get sequels that include interface, songlist, and gameplay updates, with pop'n music having the most arcade versions of any game at 27, but two infamously only lasted one version each before being retired: Mambo A Go Go and pop'n stage; both games were released before the advent of the eAMUSEMENT network and online updates that keep versions fresh even as they age.note To be fair, pop'n stage is a spinoff of pop'n music, but that it got a unique cabinet yet only used that cabinet for a single release cements it firmly into this trope.
Webcomic
- Wishful Thinking: The Object Show curse prevails when the creator completely ghosted the comic after two chapters and an interlude.
Web Videos
- Against the Grain: A show about a high school football coach that only lasted eight episodes.
- Americas Worst Tattoos: It lasted only two episodes.
- Anchorwoman
- American Woman
- Apocalypse Now
- Apple Pie
- Australias Naughtiest Home Videos: It lasted only half an episode, as the owner of the network, Kerry Packer, happened to be watching at home and he called the studio to take it off the air immediately. As Australia is a large country with multiple time zones, in Western Australia it meant the show was cancelled without actually airing at all! It was eventually found in the archives after Packer's death and aired several years later with various cuts & edits made to the content.
- Bare Brita Show: A Norwegian talk show that was cancelled after two episodes.
- Bent
- Beware Of Dog
- The Big House: A comedy about a rich kid from Malibu who moves to Philadelphia to live with his working-class relatives. It only lasted six episodes.
- Bobbe Says
- Bone Chillers adaptation.
- The Briefcase
- Broadside: A one-season Spin-Off of McHale's Navy focusing on women serving in the Navy)
- The Bubble - Panel Show hosted by David Mitchell, where three celebrities (primarily comedians with the occasional journalist) spent four days isolated in a house in the country without access to television, newspapers, the Internet or any other form of news, then had to sort real news stories from fake ones. Ran for a single 6-episode series; a second series was actually planned, but indefinitely delayed when another topical show hosted by Mitchell, 10 O'Clock Live, went to a series.
- Buffalo Bill, starring Dabney Coleman.
- The Building: A comedy about the inhabitants of an apartment building that only lasted five episodes.
- The Bussey Bunch
- Catwalk
- Canadian musical series about a Fake Band named "Catwalk" which lasted for two seasons, 49 episodes total. According to The Other Wiki,"The majority of the second season episodes were never aired due to a licensing conflict between MTV Networks and the original creator of the show, Adam Kidron, and remain unseen."
- Chambers
- Champaign Il
- Champions
- Chaotic Ambition: Had to be cancelled and rebooted after just three episodes due to the creator not liking the direction his Object Show was going and the drama between him and his friends working on the show.
- The Chicago Teddy Bears
- The Code
- Comedians Unleashed
- The Colour Of Money: UK Game Show on ITV1, hosted by Chris Tarrant.
- The Culling: The Culling 2, a Battle Royale Game, released on July 10, 2018 and was pulled from stores, servers shutdown and customers refunded on July 18, 2018.
- The Debbie King Show
- Delta House: ABC, in the height of its first run at the top in The '70s, followed up the smash hit Animal House with this sitcom adaptation. First aired a scant six months after the film's debut, the network and Universal (the TV unit produced the show as the studio had the movie) hoped it would be equally successful. They had every reason for confidence: it was created by Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, the writers of the original film; it starred several of the actors from the film, including John Vernon; and it featured the first regular role for Michelle Pfeiffer. It was not equally successful, lasting a mere 12 episodes.
- Dogs Head Bay
- Do No Harm
- Dot Comedy
- Doubt
- Do You Want To See A Dead Body
- Dr Vegas- only aired seven episodes (3 unaired)
- Emilys Reasons Why Not - It was canceled after one episode in January 2006 despite heavy promotion by ABC during the fall of 2005 as part of the lineup following the end of Monday Night Football for the 2005 NFL season.
- Encore! Encore!: A comedy starring Nathan Lane as a former opera singer who works at his family's vineyard. Only 11 episodes were aired.
- Fantasy
- The First
- First Monday
- The Fix
- Freshman Dorm: A drama that only lasted five episodes.
- Flying Blind
- Full English
- Gabriel's Fire, starring James Earl Jones as a former cop who went to prison, and became a private detective after his release, won four Emmys in its first season. After an ill-advised Retool, it ran for only 12 more episodes under the title Pros and Cons.
- The Goodwin Games
- Grandfathered
- Gruffs Groove Box: Talk show on Nickelodeon hosted by a puppet and guest stars boy bands and hip hop artistes, intertwined with music videos. It hardly lasted a month.
- Get To The Point
- Going To Extremes
- Halfway Home: A comedy about the residents of a halfway house that lasted 10 episodes.
- The Henry And June Show (a failed spin-off of KaBlam!)
- The Heights: A TV show about a Fake Band of the same name. The theme song, "How Do You Talk to an Angel", was a #1 hit, but the show itself flopped and was canceled after twelve episodes.
- Here And Now
- Herfra til Haglemoen: A Norwegian military comedy. Four episodes were filmed, but the show was cancelled after three.
- He's the Mayor: A comedy about a young man who becomes a mayor. It only lasted 13 episodes.
- Hieroglyph: a Fox drama of intrigue among ancient Egyptian royalty (think Game of Thrones with pyramids) that was ordered straight to series, then canceled after only one episode was shot. You can see the trailer here
.
- Hoop Dogz: Two episodes were released from 2004-2005. Two more episodes were completed (bringing the series to four episodes total), but were not released until 2011.
- Hot Streets
- I Feel Bad
- I Love You America
- Joe Bash: A dramedy about a New York City cop that lasted six episodes.
- Kelly Kelly: A sitcom starring Shelly Long and Robert Hays that only lasted seven episodes.
- Kenan
- Lazor Wulf
- A League of Their Own: A television adaptation of the movie. It got cancelled after six episodes.
- Life Sentence
- Life With Lucy, Lucille Ball's last sitcom.
- Little Monsters - A somewhat obscure cartoon that aired on the BBC and several other networks worldwide. Only got one season of 52 episodes. The fact that it shares its name with the Fred Savage film but has nothing to do with it didn't help, either. Ironically though, The Kiddie Ride has been exported worldwide. The show has an entry
on Wikipedia.
- Lobo
; first African-American character to headline a comic book)
- Living In Captivity
- The Lodge 2016
- Lone Star
- The Lost Ones
- Lottery
- Love Monkey
- Ma Boy - Korean drama. Only three episodes aired on Tooniverse.
- The Mad Bad Ad Show - Panel Game that got pulled from its slot halfway through the run
- Making' It: A show about disco dancing that got canceled after 9 episodes.
- Mancuso FBI
- Marianne
- Marlon
- Masquerade (the blue link is misleading) Co-starred Kirstie Alley. Think a bit of True Lies.
- The Melting Pot
- Miami Medical
- The Michael Richards Show: A comedy about a private investigator. It lasted 8 episodes.
- The Misadventures Of Sheriff Lobo (Aka Lobo in its revamped second season.)
- Mixed Nutz
- Mortel
- Mr. Mender and the Chummyjiggers - An Irish preschool show that aired for one season in 2017. Might get some unintentional laughs for its title and costume designs.
- Mr. Smith
- Mr Terrific
- My Big Fat Greek Life: A television version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding that lasted seven episodes.
- Nearly Departed: An updated remake of Topper starring Eric Idle, it lasted 4 episodes, with 2 episodes that never aired.
- Next Caller: 4 episodes produced, none of which aired.
- Of Gods And Kings - It was canceled after two episodes in the United States; aired nine episodes in New Zealand.
- One Dollar
- Osbournes Reloaded
- Paradise Hotel
- Pauly: A comedy starring Pauly Shore that got cancelled after five episodes.
- Peter Puck
- The Phoenix - 1982 ABC series. No relation to The Phoenix.
- Pretty Smart
- Promised Land: Aired in 2022 before being cancelled after two months and ten episodes.
- The Protector
- The Quad
- Quarry
- Quarterlife
- The Quest - 1982 Stephen J. Cannell show paired up with the final season of The Greatest American Hero when both were sacrificed to the Friday Night Death Slot. Not to be confused with the 2014 reality show The Quest or the 1976 Western series which starred Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson.
- Reasonable Doubts: NBC Police Procedural starring Marlee Matlin and Mark Harmon, it aired for two seasons from 1991 to 1993.
- Red Handed
- hidden-camera show on UPN
- Rel
- Relativity
- The Rerun Show: A comedy show that parodied classic sitcoms. It lasted seven episodes.
- The Rich List
- Ring Raiders - Aired 5 episodes total.
- Rob: A comedy starring Rob Schneider that only lasted eight episodes.
- Rocka-Bye Island
- The Romanoffs
- Royal Roy
- Running The Halls
- Ryan Caulfield Year One
- Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes On Television
- Sable: a 1987 live-action television series adaptation of Jon Sable, Freelance.
- Scorch: A comedy about a dragon who lives with a weatherman and his daughter. It got cancelled after three episodes.
- Secret Talents Of The Stars: A single evening! And worse, the cancellation was made official during the broadcast!
- Sideswiped
- Skins 2011
- The Son
- Soundtrack
- South Of Sunset
- The Starland Vocal Band Show: Variety show hosted by the well-known One-Hit Wonder group, noted for featuring one of David Letterman's first TV roles.
- Still The King
- Strike Witches: Maidens of the Blue Sky
(The first entry into the Strike Witches canon. It was cancelled after only one volume, in part due to objectionable content. The two main characters are given cameos in later material, however.)
- Sunday Pants
- Super Adventure Team: A supermarionation comedy that only lasted six episodes.
- Survive This
- Surviving Jack
- Ten Days In The Valley
- Thats My Mama: Lasted for 39 episodes between September 1974 and 1975 before being cancelled in the middle of its second season.
- Thomas & Friends had a spinoff mini-series called, "Jack and the Pack". 26 episodes were planned, but the series was split in halve as 13 episodes exist thanks the takeover of Hit Entertainment.
- Top of the Heap: A Married... with Children spinoff that only lasted 7 episodes.
- Traffic Light
- Turn-On
(1969 ABC sketch show that was so controversial, it got canned halfway through its debut on most affiliates (one replacing it with a PSA on gun safety). Others either didn't air it at all, or aired the entire thing before deciding to pull the plug on it.)
- Uncle Buck has two short-lived television adaptations. The first show aired in 1990 and got cancelled after 16 episodes. The second show aired in 2016 and got cancelled after 8 episodes.
- Under Cover, a 1991 series about husband-and-wife spies that featured realistic settings and tradecraft, it was cancelled after six episodes aired. Not to be confused with the later (but also short-lived) spy series Undercovers.
- Void Indigo
- We're Lalaloopsy (a Netflix-distributed reboot of the Lalaloopsy franchise that was never renewed)
- The Wacky World Of Bruce Barry (reality show on FamilyNet)
- When The Whistle Blows
- White Famous
- Whoopis Littleburg
- The Wild, a comic book that lasted all of one issue in 1995.
- Woops
- Whos Whose
- The Will