Reality TV Shows That Got Canceled Before They Even Aired

Reality TV shows have long been the lifeblood of many TV networks and streaming services. It's easy to see why: They're often cheap to produce, and they're not reliant on big-name actor salaries to attract viewers. As such, a studio can see great success with a reality series that takes off, allowing the likes of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Survivor" to become some of the longest-running reality TV shows of all time. 

Naturally, not every reality series can be a hit on the level of "Big Brother," especially considering some of the wilder ideas networks have pursued over the years. Remember the reality show "The Swan," where women deemed "ugly" received cosmetic surgery? The 2000s were a wild time. One has to assume that even bad publicity is good for the bottom line to an extent, but there are clearly some concepts too out there for even reality TV executives. 

Over the years, networks have filmed reality shows too controversial to make it to air. Even after spending all that money, it was deemed a better idea to let these shows languish in entertainment purgatory than let the general public see them. These are the rare reality TV shows canceled incredibly early — and in most cases, that's probably for the best. 

Sometimes, a TV shows tries to be progressive but fails so spectacularly it circles back around to being regressive. That was the case for the 2021 reality series, "The Activist." It was planned to be a competitive series where six individuals would vie for a chance to bring their specific cause to the attention of world leaders. The show would feature celebrity hosts Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Usher, and Julianne Hough, and the winner would be determined via "social metrics," which seems to consider who could make their cause go the most viral online. 

Turning genuinely great missions into social media stunts didn't sit well with many people, including Brittany Packnett Cunningham, an activist for the anti-police-violence organization Campaign Zero, who told MSNBC, "Besides the fact that there will be millions of dollars spent on hair, makeup, travel, celebrity hosts and judges, production, distribution that could have gone to the activists and organizations that will be featured, this is deeply dangerous." It's a salient point, and the backlash got so bad that even Hough, one of the show's host, spoke out against the show on her Instagram, writing, "I do not claim to be an activist and wholeheartedly agree that the judging aspect of the show missed the mark and furthermore, that I am not qualified to act as a judge."

The backlash was ultimately the reason why "The Activist" was restructured into a documentary to highlight the work from the true activists involved with any challenges removed. Activism is important, but performative activism, like the kind the series dabbled in, can set movements back, so the series quietly getting reedited and released was probably for the best. 

Can you imagine an alternate timeline where instead of some obnoxious jerks from the Jersey Shore dominating popular culture, we were instead inundated with folks hailing from Staten Island? That could've been a reality as MTV was developing the Staten Island-centric "Bridge & Tunnel," and it was technically supposed to make it to the airwaves first.

A trailer leak gives the basic rundown of the series, which definitely gives off some major "Jersey Shore" vibes, as it primarily follows the sister-duo of Brianna and Gabriella DeBartoli. There are plenty of scenes of the pair yelling, crying, and getting into fights, all with big hair and spray tans. But despite getting sold to MTV first, "Jersey Shore" wound up getting an earlier release date in December 2009, while "Bridge & Tunnel" was initially supposed to come out in the fall of 2010. 

Then something no one expected occurred — "Jersey Shore" became a phenomenon as one of the best MTV reality shows of the 2000s. It didn't become just a hit show but a way of life, and that spelled trouble for "Bridge & Tunnel," which was incredibly similar. MTV shelved the series in September 2010, and even though filming had wrapped, the series continues to collect dust. So what happened to the sisters? They both moved from Staten Island to Las Vegas, where they work as realtors. They may not be reality TV show icons like Snooki, but maybe that's for the best at the end of the day. 

VH1 had a lot of success with its celebrity-centric reality shows, like "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels" and "Hogan Knows Best." These shows may stretch the definition of "celebrity," but there were plenty of hits. As such, it made sense when the network pursued a reality series chronicling the love life of former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, and his wife, Evelyn Lozada, the latter of which was already on VH1 via "Basketball Wives." But both the marriage and reality show were short-lived after Johnson got arrested on charges of domestic violence.

In 2012, ahead of the show's premiere, Johnson was arrested after reportedly head-butting Lozada. She swiftly filed for divorce, and VH1 released a statement (via TMZ) on the status of the series, saying, "Due to the unfortunate events over the weekend and the seriousness of the allegations, VH1 is pulling the series 'Ev and Ocho' from its schedule and has no current plans of airing it." Johnson eventually pled guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery, receiving one year of probation in lieu of jail time. 

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

In the 2000s, Fox really pushed the boundaries of good taste when it came to their reality TV fare. There's the aforementioned "The Swan" as well as "Joe Millionaire," where women believe they're vying for the affection of a millionaire when he's really just a regular guy. Fox seemingly wanted to push the envelope further with the series, "When Women Rule the World," initially slated to air during the 2007-2008 season. 

The series would've followed a group of women overseeing the activities of a group of men on a remote island. The rub is that the women are in charge, so men have to create shelter and get food for them, doing what they're told or face elimination. Each week, one man would've been eliminated until only one remained, who would win the prize money. 

Of course, the show never made it to air. One might assume the show received backlash before air, but by the sound of it, Fox just didn't have any room on its schedule. Fox's reality chief Mike Darnell said in a statement (via The Futon Critic), "Nothing's wrong with it, it just sat on the shelf too long. Sometimes things sit on the shelf too long and get old." However, the series did eventually get some semblance of a release when Belgium and Finland aired the episodes in 2010. The United Kingdom also filmed its own version of the show with the same title that came out in 2010 on Channel 4. 

Many reality TV shows offer a glimpse into unique and unusual jobs. No one could've predicted 40 years ago just how many shows about pawn shop owners there would be. And the premise of the proposed Lifetime series "Good Grief" did sound intriguing, following the owners of a mortuary business in Texas. Seeing how the remains of the deceased get handled could've shone a light on a misunderstood industry — the only problem is that Lifetime chose to follow the absolute worst mortuary it could.

The show was filmed and due to come out on July 23, 2014, but before that could happen, the mortuary owners — married couple Dondre Johnson and Rachel Hardy-Johnson — were arrested for handling corpses in "an offensive manner." The couple were actually evicted from their business, and the landlord was the one who discovered eight bodies in extreme stages of decay. Johnson ultimately wound up in jail and did an interview with Dallas' WFAA about how the bodies ended up being poorly taken care of, saying, "The staff I had was incompetent. The one doing the paperwork ... They should've got the work done."

Both Johnson and Hardy-Johnson served time, with Hardy-Johnson also receiving an unrelated food stamp fraud conviction. But the real-life controversy ensured this reality series remains dead and buried. 

"Liza and David" could've existed among the other VH1 celebrity reality shows. It would've followed the relationship between Liza Minnelli, one of the few actors to win both an Oscar and Razzie, and David Gest, a music producer to whom Minnelli was married to for 16 months. Things clearly got rocky in their relationship fairly quickly, which perhaps should've been evident from VH1 pulling the project from the schedule after only filming one episode.

Entertainment Weekly received a statement from a VH1 spokesperson about the development, which cryptically said, "We're not moving forward with the show. Liza's amazing, but we were not given the cooperation needed to make the show happen." According to insiders from the show, Gest allegedly caused a ton of problems with production, including preventing the crew from filming scenes with Minnelli. As far as the only episode they managed to film, it would've followed a dinner party the couple hosted that included the likes of Ray Charles, Luther Vandross, and Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child. 

That pilot episode eventually leaked to YouTube, which features plenty of Minnelli singing and Gest being a control freak. Given how quickly the couple separated, it's safe to say that even if the show made it to air, it wouldn't have gotten a Season 2. 

Gay representation on television has a pretty fraught history, as evidenced by how recently Fox tried to make a two-hour reality TV special in 2004 called "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay." The special event would've seen two heterosexual men compete to see who could pass off as gay the best, which would entail them "coming out" to their friends and families and engaging in a series of challenges, one of which involved convincing a date to spank him. 

Fox didn't do itself any favors in its press release promoting the special, which described the show as "a heterosexual male's worst nightmare: turning gay overnight." Additionally, the winner would've been decided by a "jury of their queers," as specified in the release. Backlash was swift, and Fox put out an apology press release only a few hours after the first one went out. 

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation released its own statement regarding the series, referring to it as "an exercise in systematic humiliation." 11 days before the special was set to air, Fox shelved it permanently. When discussing the decision not to air the show, a Fox spokesman said (via Variety), "We looked at it, and creatively it was not where we felt like it should be." 

If there was anything good to take away from the brief existence of "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay," it's that it made other executives aware of potential pitfalls of portraying the LGBTQ+ community insensitively. TBS executive Douglas Campbell spoke with The Advocate about that network's show, "He's a Lady," about cisgender men getting feminine makeovers, and collaborating with GLAAD to ensure it didn't offend the transgender community, explaining, "We went to GLAAD to get their support and to show that this was a kind show."

Courtroom dramas are immensely popular. We've seen so many exceptional lawyer films come out over the years, so it only makes sense that Fox tried its hand at making a lawyer-centric reality show come to life in the form of "The Partner." It would've been a competitive series consisting of two legal teams. The first would consist of lawyers who graduated from Ivy League universities while the other would've been lawyers from less prestigious colleges. The teams would engage in a series of mock trials, with a celebrity judge (whoever that might've been), deciding which contestants go home after each respective challenge. 

The reality show was originally set to air in November 2004 before getting pushed back into 2005. It was eventually canceled entirely, with Fox releasing the statement (via Variety), "With the numerous boardroom-type unscripted programs on the various network's schedules, we have decided to focus our mutual efforts on other unscripted material."

One of those other boardroom-type unscripted programs mentioned in the press release might've been the 2005 reality series "The Law Firm" from David E. Kelley, who created various scripted law shows like "Boston Legal" and "The Practice." NBC dumped "The Law Firm" before its first season ended. Additionally, "The Partner" became the second Fox reality project in 2004 (after "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay") to get filmed but not released. 

There are some truly terrible reality shows you may have forgotten existed, and a good number of them glamorize cosmetic surgery. While there's nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting such procedures, shows like "The Swan" and "Bridalplasty" try to convince people that such surgeries are needed for them to look "pretty." "The Surjury" was going to be a Channel 4 reality series in this same vein where 12 contestants would need to convince a panel of judges (the "jury" that makes up the show's punny name) whether they're worthy of receiving cosmetic procedures free of charge. 

One might assume the series was filmed but pulled due to public outcry of having yet another show glamorizing such surgeries, but something far darker transpired. By all accounts, the series was set to come out in 2020, but in December 2019, the show's presenter, Caroline Flack, who was also the host of "Love Island," was arrested and charged with assaulting her partner. Following the intense media scrutiny following the alleged incident, Flack stepped down from working on "Love Island," and according to reports, Channel 4 was mulling over whether to air "The Surjury" given the negative attention given to Flack around that time. 

On February 15, 2020, with the trial looming, Flack died by suicide. Following Flack's death, Channel 4 officially pulled "The Surjury" from its schedule and released the following statement (via Radio Times): "We are shocked and saddened to hear the tragic news about Caroline Flack. Our deepest sympathies go out to Caroline's family and friends. Under the circumstances, we have decided not to broadcast 'The Surjury.'"

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It seems as though many reality TV shows canceled before they aired had good intentions that nonetheless drew ire from various groups. That was the case with ABC's attempt to put out "Welcome to the Neighborhood" in 2005. The show would've seen seven families competing to win a house in an exclusive Texas neighborhood where they're judged by their white prospective neighbors. The seven competing families were all diverse in various ways, including a Black family, Latino family, Asian family, a gay couple, and even a Wiccan family. 

From the start, there were concerns, including from the National Fair Housing Alliance, which released a statement (via E! News) saying, "This show violates the spirit and intent of the federal Fair Housing Act. In America, residents of neighborhoods or homeowners associations do not get to choose their new neighbors based on their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or the fact that they have children." 

Entertainment Weekly got to watch some of the episodes and didn't have any particularly nice things to say about it, writing, "There is something inherently creepy when images of shiny, happy white people are shown while a narrator promotes the virtues of 'a picturesque community — a place where children are safe, values are strong, and neighbors are best friends.'" ABC ended up pulling the show from its schedule 10 days before it was set to air.