Best One-Season TV Shows

Television is great for telling serialized stories over a long period of time, but not every TV series is meant to last. Whether it's because of stiff competition on other channels, upheaval at the network, or they were simply ahead of their time, some shows are simply canceled before they have a chance to reach their full potential. None of the series on this list made it past a single season—and we still aren't over it.

Remember "Very Special Episodes?" They used to be a way for shows to strike up a dialogue about serious social issues like racism or drug-dealing, all of which would inevitably be wrapped up by the closing credits. Television gradually moved away from this graceless storytelling style—and some of the credit for that is absolutely owed to "My So-Called Life."

Following Angela Chase (Claire Danes) and her friends as they dealt with real issues like homophobia and abuse, the show's depiction of teenage life was genuinely groundbreaking, and the dialogue and well-written characters established a unique depiction of a high schooler's search for identity. Danes' performance was (sometimes uncomfortably) familiar to high schoolers and former teenagers alike, and the show's unflinching look at the less-discussed aspects of adolescence was a critical hit.

Unfortunately, while the show was beloved by its fans, Claire Danes was ready to move on to new things by the end of the first season, and low ratings meant the show was unlikely to get a second season with or without its so-called lead. Still, the show's influence would reverberate through nearly every high school-set series that followed.

It's ridiculous that the original live-action "The Tick" lasted only one season. The madcap comedic stylings, along with Patrick Warburton's booming voice, have become almost inseparable from the DNA of modern comedies. While the show's run might've been short, it was definitely sweet, with a whole host of ridiculous allies and enemies menacing our favorite bulging, blue bug.

"The Tick" follows the eponymous addle-brained hero and his frustrated former accountant-turned-super-sidekick Arthur (David Burke), using a mix of "Seinfeld" humor and off-brand Justice League-type antics to introduce a host of ridiculous characters, including Batmanuel (no relation to Batman) and Captain Liberty.

Even just skimming the Wikipedia plot summaries of each episode is proof positive that this insectoid parody show deserved to make it through at least one more winter, and although it's great that Amazon resurrected the property as part of its library of original streaming content, without Warburton and the rest of the original cast on board, the original show's cancellation still feels like a missed opportunity.

Starring Natalie Morales in peak blasé straight-man form as Wendy Watson, the occasionally unwilling sidekick to the titular hero (Matt Keeslar) as they battle a host of ridiculous supervillains, "The Middleman" was a classic adventure show with a postmodern twist. The show jumped from genre to genre, each episode poking loving fun at James Bond spy fiction or zombie apocalypses, while also telling a surprisingly down-to-earth story about the difficulties of working a side job to pay for a creative endeavor whose success is never guaranteed.

While creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach would go on to notable success due to the "Hunger Games"-esque "The 100," there's rarely been a show that was so personable and sweet about its pop culture obsessions. Ultimately, the show was ill served by its place on the ABC Family network—its themes were an odd fit for a network focusing on family-friendly dramas, and the show was axed. There was an eventual live-cast reading of the final script, which was eventually adapted into a graphic novel, but for many fans, the difficult-to-find first season is the only souvenir left of the delightful show.

Karl Urban has had a tough time with science fiction—his performance as Bones in the rebooted "Star Trek" movies was beloved by fans, but felt underserved by the actual content. Even his underrated performance in the excellent "Dredd" movie couldn't seem to help the film become more than an underperforming cult classic. But "Almost Human" might be the the biggest tragedy in the sci-fi corner of his filmography.

A buddy-cop detective show taking place on a realistic science-fiction world in which human cops are partnered with synthetic androids and compelled to stop futuristic crimes, "Almost Human" was nothing new conceptually. The difference lay in the execution: robo-racist Kennex (Karl Urban) and self-conscious synthetic Dorian (Michael Ealy) had an easy chemistry, and with J.J. Abrams as a producer, the show hinted at a much bigger world. Unfortunately, it never had a chance to really explore its limits; as promising as its first season seemed, low ratings doomed the series to cancellation.

Buddy cop shows are a dime a dozen, but it's rare to see one with the charm, wit, and heart that elevated FX's "Terriers." Following the misadventures of alcoholic former police detective Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue) and reformed burglar Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James) as they try to make it as private investigators in San Diego, it was a classic neo-noir in the vein of "The Long Goodbye" and "L.A. Confidential."

Logue's never been as good as he was playing Dolworth, and Raymond-James is perfect as his good-natured partner with a dirty past. The show could go to some very dark places, but the Dolworth and Pollack comedy duo kept it from ever approaching a grim slog. Ultimately, its biggest weakness was an ad campaign that didn't know how to sell the show's subtle charms (the network's head of marketing was forced to argue against the idea that the trailers made it seem like a show about dogfighting).

Viewers who did tune in got a tightly-written group of episodes that manage to balance long-running plots about wealthy sociopaths against shorter stories about criminals struggling to bury the hatchet (occasionally literally). While it's a shame that any great show is canceled before its second season, we're just lucky to have had "Terriers" at all.

With the success of "Star Wars" came imitators hot on its heels, hoping to turn their own space dust into magic. Producer Glen A. Larson hired some people who worked on the George Lucas megahit (including John Dykstra, Ralph McQuarrie, and Joe Johnston) and tried to launch his own space opera with "Battlestar Galactica" on NBC in 1978. Larson told Science and Fantasy Film Classics magazine that the show (which Lucas sued) is "basically the concept of all the human cultures in space having evolved from a mother planet culture." He added: "We've got a truly rare opportunity to really open up that frontier and talk about what could happen out there in space. It doesn't have to be all robots and flying machines."

The series takes place at the tailend of a long conflict between humans and Cylons, robots created by an extinct reptilian race. Humanity rallies behind the Galactica, a battlestar warship led by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene). Things got off to a bumpy start for Adama and company when the premiere was interrupted by President Jimmy Carter's announcement of the Camp David Accords.

The good fight for humanity raged on, but stiff competition from other networks did the show no favors. There were constant comparisons to "Star Wars," and there was only one winner on that front. As Ron Cowan from the Statesman Journal said of "Battlestar Galactica" at the time, the show "became more a soap opera than a space opera." The writing was on the wall for "Battlestar Galactica," which was taken out of orbit the following season. Many people prefer the highly acclaimed '00s reboot, but viewers still have a soft spot for the original series.

MC Serch (aka Michael Berrin) knows a thing or two about what it takes to be respected as a white rapper. In 2007, the former 3rd Bass member hosted "Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show" on VH1. Serch told The Virginian-Pilot that the competitive series was a "social experiment" of sorts, a show that mixed "'Survivor,' hip-hop, 'Jeopardy,' racial tension, political views, and 'Seinfeld'" into one. Hopeful contestants — with stage names such as $hamrock, Jus Rhyme, Persia, G-Child, and 100 Proof — lived in the Bronx and tried to prove their worth to win $100,000. They got to work with hip-hop royalty like Kurtis Blow, Prince Paul, Kool Keith, Grandmaster Flash, and House of Pain members Danny Boy O'Connor and Erik Francis Schrody (aka Everlast).

The show opened eyes and mouths (with laughter, most of the time) as ten rappers battled it out. One contestant, Jon Boy, told The Virginian-Pilot: "I felt like the show was rap boot camp. It was really humbling, trying to educate us on where hip-hop came from." Serch was hopeful that a second season would get greenlit, he told the Detroit Free Press. The Jewish New York native also informed the paper that he would love to do "the white female Jewish rapper show" if he got the chance. A second season of "Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show" never materialized, but Serch worked on a new show called "Miss Rap Supreme" in 2008.

It's hard to fathom that "The Honeymooners," one of the most beloved and revered sitcoms of all time, lasted just a single season. The show that CBS first beamed into black and white TV sets in 1955 would set the standard for laugh riots in the decades to come, influencing everything from "The Flintstones" to "King of Queens." Originally a sketch that debuted on the Jackie Gleason variety show "Cavalcade of Stars" in 1951, the domestic antics of his bus driver character Ralph Kramden followed Gleason to his eponymous CBS show and would eventually become the basis for a half hour comedy.

While "The Honeymooners" lagged behind "The Perry Como Show" in the ratings, CBS was hungry for more. Alas, Gleason turned them down. "They wouldn't believe me when I said we couldn't come up with the same high quality of scripts for a second year," the star is quoted as saying in the book "Jackie Gleason: An Intimate Portrait of the Great One." He explained that he "wanted to go out on top" and he was aware that they would "run dry eventually." "The Honeymooners" would live on in specials and other variety shows Gleason would later star in, but nothing would compare to those 39 episodes. He was nominated for an Emmy for his turn in show. Did he ever regret not making more? "I think Gleason wishes he made 139 of them," co-star Art Carney told the Corsicana Daily Sun in 1959.

Importing a beloved British show is always a risky proposition, as for every "The Office" there are dozens of failures. "Arrested Development" writer/producer Brad Copeland saw potential in the raunchy U.K. comedy "The Inbetweeners," a show about four teens who aren't as hip as they would like to be. MTV let Copeland give it a try and rolled out 12 episodes starting in 2012, some of which were directed by Taika Waititi. Brett Gelman (best known for his turn as Murray Bauman in "Stranger Things" today) was on the cast, and there was even a cameo by Hulk Hogan.

Fans of the original (including critics) didn't seem willing to give it a chance to stand on its own, and fresh eyes to the franchise perhaps didn't know what to make of it, but the U.S. version produced its own brand of laughter, especially when Zack Pearlman was involved. Like the imported "Skins" before it, the "Inbetweeners" remake just never caught on in America, and it got the axe following an executive shakeup at MTV. Pearlman penned a goodbye on Tumblr, saying "I will always be able to look back at and smile knowing that we did a fantastic job." According to Joe Thomas of the U.K. version, the American remake was doomed from the start. "They couldn't really swear very much because it was on network TV," he told Sunday Brunch (via NME). "And then you couldn't show them drinking and stuff and that's kind of the whole show."

When HBO's acclaimed series "Rome" fell after two seasons, Scottish star Kevin McKidd felt "heat" on him to make the rounds on TV pilots. He told the VC Star that many were generic cop dramas, but he was taken by the script for one called "Journeyman," saying: "I thought it was different and interesting and really imaginative and cleverly written. That's all you can go by." This 2007 NBC series, created by Kevin Falls, centers around McKidd's Dan Vasser, a San Francisco journalist who travels back in time to right wrongs for others. He does this while balancing the affections of his current flame (Gretchen Egolf) and his former partner, who was presumed dead (Moon Bloodgood).

"Journeyman" was compared to both "The Time Traveller's Wife" and "Quantum Leap" in the reviews. Entertainment Weekly called it an "awesome show the whole world is ignoring, even though it's on right after 'Heroes.'" The lukewarm ratings and that year's writers strike became a deadly duo that kept the series from further journeys. However, Falls told Entertainment Weekly that he was able to round it out in the end to "answer quite a few questions so fans will get a feeling of closure."

Falls admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he felt bad about upending McKidd's life, uprooting his family and moving them to the United States. However, he was "relieved to say it turned into a pot of gold. The next year he started his first of 10 seasons on 'Grey's Anatomy.' He also learned to surf."

The late writing duo Stan Burns and Mike Marmer wrote for comedy greats like Milton Berle, Steve Allen, The Smothers Brothers, and Carol Burnett, but perhaps their greatest unsung contribution to the medium of television was a show that saw them go completely ape. Marmer told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that they had "the mad idea of making a comedy spy movie with no people, just chimps. We knew nothing about chimps or even whether such a project was possible." With help from animal trainer Frank Inn, a ten-minute demo film was made, and audiences went bananas over it. ABC opened their Saturday morning cages to the concept that eventually became 1970's "The Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp Hour."

The show centered on the titular chimpanzee and his colleagues at A.P.E., Mata Hairi and Commander Darwin. They attempted to thwart the monkey business of C.H.U.M.P., with such rascally characters as Baron von Butcher. The madness of watching these dressed-to-the-nines chimps (who, according to the Desert News, were actual Screen Actors Guild members and paid at least $56) drive motorcycles, ski, and play tennis was interspersed with small side gags called "Chimpees," groovy musical interludes by a band The Evolution Revolution, and even some "Looney Tunes" shorts.

While "Lancelot Link" technically ran for two seasons, the second was basically a condensed version of the first. It would also find a new generation of fans when it naturally followed reruns of "The Monkees" on Nick at Nite in the 1990s.

In the 1980s, NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff was willing to take a chance on shows that were a bit off-kilter. While one of his pet projects about a man who turns into animals ("Manimal") didn't hit the mark, it didn't deter him from trying similar things, like a 1985 show he really believed in: "Misfits of Science." It followed a crew of extraordinary people who drove around in an ice cream truck. There was a scientist, a shrinking man, an electrically charged Fonz-like guy, and a telekinetic teen. Dean Martin's son Dean Paul Martin was among the cast, as was a young Courteney Cox.

"[It's] hard to compare it with anything on the air right now," Martin told The Salt Lake Tribune at the time. "You could say it is really off-the-wall." The gang not only had to battle dastardly bad guys weekly but also the ratings-superpower that was "Dallas." The lackluster special effects made the show cheesy yet endearing to young audiences, who embraced it during its original run, including Will Harris, who interviewed the cast and put together an extensive oral history.

Sadly, Cox didn't take part in the oral history, although she once told The Daily Herald that the cult favorite "was a great show and it had some great ideas." The plot seemed crazy at the time, but that was before Marvel took over Hollywood. "It was about a bunch of people with superpowers, so maybe it was just ahead of its time," Cox told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2022.

Leslie Nielsen's "The Naked Gun" films are considered to be some of the greatest slapstick comedies of all time, but many people don't realize that his detective character Frank Drebin was in a TV show called "Police Squad!" first. While promoting the hit movie "Airplane!," comedic masterminds Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers, David and Jerry, watched a police procedural show and "quickly decided that the genre was ripe for a parody," Abrahams told The Gazette. ABC gave the concept a six-episode trial, seeing it as a possible replacement for "Mork & Mindy." Nielsen needed little convincing to sign on. "I would have paid to be in this," he said (per Tulsa World). "I'm on the same wavelength with these guys."

Hilarious puns and double entendres were aplenty. The weekly guest star was usually killed off in the opening credits, and those who did survive (including Dick Clark, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and Tommy Lasorda) sought professional advice from an omniscient shoe shiner named Johnny (William Duell). "If ever there was a show that I thought was going to be a hit, this was it," Nielsen told the Star Tribune. Unfortaintely, it was ahead of its time for television. Audiences just "didn't know how to look at it," Nielsen said. One person who did get it was The Washington Post critic Tom Shales, who called it "arguably the best comedy show of the 1980s."

The 2010 thriller series "Rubicon" is an overlooked gem. Speaking to The Baltimore Sun, writer Henry Bromell said that the show "was born out of the belief that we in the United States could wake up one day soon and find our democracy gone, not vanquished by an army, but by an almost invisible collusion between business and government. I know I'm not the only one who feels helpless and powerless in the face of this collusion." The show debuted to two million viewers (which at the time was a record for AMC), but it was soon eclipsed by a little show called "The Walking Dead." The numbers didn't hold up, and on a channel where "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" made good, "Rubicon" became the walking dead itself.

Bromell promised (to the AV Club) that star James Badge Dale wouldn't "be doing as much staring and thinking next season," and actor Michael Cristofer told TV Overmind that he "would like to spend another year with" the enigmatic character he played, but it wasn't meant to be. Season 2 never happened, and a great show was lost. "Rubicon" was "ahead of its time" and it "still holds up" said The New York Times when it revisited the show, while Vulture said "the time is right to rediscover" the series in 2019.