Having your favorite show end is sad, and many cancelled TV shows have a special place in our hearts. If you’re lucky, some of these shows manage to come back from the dead. The following were cancelled for many different reasons, but they all rejoined our TV programming.
Baywatch
David Hasselhoff led the original Baywatch series in 1989. After just one season, fans learned that the answer to the question “Is my show cancelled” was “yes” for Baywatch. In 1991, however, it was restarted with Hasselhoff as an executive producer. It rejoined the land of the cancelled shows in 1999, but that wasn’t the end for Baywatch. Its spinoff, Baywatch Nights, ran for two seasons.
Firefly
Firefly was a space drama that was cancelled partway through its first season in 2002. Due to its positive DVD sales and numerous awards, executives decided to find a way to revive the series. The film Serenity served as a successful continuation of this cancelled show.
Family Guy
While Family Guy has been running strong for decades, it was one of the cancelled TV shows back in 2002. After three struggling seasons, it got the axe. After several years off the air and a highly successful syndication run on Cartoon Network, executives decided to revive the series in a new time slot, and the rest is history. Goes to show that just because the question “Is my show cancelled?” is answered with a “yes,” that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to have a future in the TV world.
Beverly Hills, 90210
This teenage drama ran from 1990 to 2000. Like many TV shows cancelled around this time, the target audience was growing up and changing. The spinoffs, Melrose Place and Models Inc., helped expand on the lives of certain characters after Beverly Hills, 90210. They were cancelled after relatively successful runs, and the reboot, 90210, aired in 2008.
Futurama
Viewers of Futurama saw Fox struggle to keep the show on the air for its fourth season. Sports broadcasts regularly shifted the schedule for Futurama, which caused the ratings to tank. Many people thought it was one of the cancelled TV shows because of FOX’s scheduling problems. In 2010, however, Comedy Central brought Futurama back to the fans.
Arrested Development
This comedy series was cancelled after three award-winning seasons. The executives struggled with finding network support, which made it one of the cancelled shows in 2006. Season four was finally released on Netflix in 2013, and plans for a fifth season have been confirmed by executive producer Brian Grazer.
Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World was a teen favorite throughout the 90s. But once the characters grew up, it was hard to keep to the target audience. Viewers knew it would soon become one of the latest TV shows cancelled, even though it was well loved. The spinoff, Girl Meets World, came out in 2014 and ran for three seasons.
Full House
Another popular show in the ’90s, Full House had a great run before it made the list of cancelled TV shows. The spinoff, Fuller House, premiered in 2016 and has aired for two seasons. The third season is set to be released in two parts in the fall.
