Top 10 Canceled TV Shows That Were Brought Back
#10: “Community” (2009-14; 2015)
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Six seasons and a movie. That was the prophecy made by self-aware character Abed way back in “Community’s” second season. Since then, the ensemble sitcom has battled a controversy surrounding star Chevy Chase, the creator being fired and rehired by the network, and an entire season referred to as “the gas leak year”. NBC finally put the show out of its misery after five seasons, but the prophecy was somehow kept alive by Yahoo! Screen, who came out of nowhere to fund a sixth and final season. Now, with a movie in development at Peacock, this low-budget gem has scrapped its way to an impossible dream.
#9: “Lucifer” (2016-18; 2019-21)
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One of the more “out there” comic book adaptations, “Lucifer” follows DC’s version of the devil as he abandons hell to run an LA nightclub. As you do. FOX took a chance on the fantasy drama, which premiered in 2016. But the network doesn’t exactly have the best track record for letting shows come to their natural ending – as you’ll see in our countdown – and “Lucifer” was cut short after season three. Knowing the cancellation was coming, the showrunners intentionally set up a “huge cliffhanger” – and the hardcore fans did the rest. One online petition and a Twitter hashtag later, Netflix saved the show, airing three more seasons to massive viewing figures.
#8: “Nashville” (2012-18)
Starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere as rival country music stars, “Nashville” opened on ABC to almost nine-million viewers. Though the numbers declined each year, the show’s cancellation at the end of the fourth season still remains a mystery. ABC had only just hired new showrunners, and the production company knew there was more story to tell. Lionsgate was so confident in a revival that it actually changed the season’s ending to make it a cliffhanger instead of giving the fans closure just in case. Sure enough, CMT and Hulu joined forces to bring back the show, and fans enjoyed two more seasons of country bops.
#7: “Veronica Mars” (2004-07; 2019)
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Starring Kristen Bell as a high schooler turned private investigator, “Veronica Mars” was axed by The CW in 2007. The show enjoyed three seasons of steady ratings, and it was this fanbase who was able to band together and take matters into their own hands. Bell and creator Rob Thomas launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, hoping to raise funds for a “Veronica Mars” movie. The two-million-dollar goal was smashed in a mere 10 hours. The movie released the following year, but for patient fans, the good news didn’t stop there. Hulu brought the character back for a one-off season in 2019, and the series got its conclusion on the small screen – 15 years after its debut.
#6: “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (2008-20)
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“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” opened on the big screen in 2008 to mixed reviews at best. Later that same year, the story found its feet as a TV series, premiering on Cartoon Network and becoming the channel’s most-watched premiere of all time. The animated series’s continued success was brought to an end in 2013 with the new owners, Disney, keen to banish Expanded Universe material from the “Star Wars” canon. “The Clone Wars” wouldn’t go down so easy though. Netflix released new episodes in 2014, forcing a U-turn from the studio. A new season streamed on Disney+ in 2020, and the “Star Wars” website includes links to each episode in their official story order. That sounds like canon to us.
#5: “Arrested Development” (2003-06; 2013-19)
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It's often in the conversation for greatest sitcom of all time, but “Arrested Development” didn’t get there the easy way. The show found a cult following from its beginnings on the FOX network – but you know what happens next. Failing to reach a wider audience, FOX cut the series short just three seasons in. The fanbase kept growing in its absence however, and the cast of comedy icons never gave up on a reunion. Some years later, an opportunity formed in the rise of Netflix, and the streaming service offered the sitcom two final seasons. With a total of five now spanning sixteen years, “Arrested Development” finally got the send off it deserved in 2019.
#4: “Futurama” (1999-)
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“Futurama” follows a pizza delivery boy who wakes up 1,000 years in the future – which is almost as long as this show has been on the air. The animated sitcom premiered on FOX way back in 1999, but the network pulled the plug after just four seasons. Not long after, Comedy Central took up the mantle, leading to the highest-rated Thursday in the network’s history. The show was scrapped again after a few more seasons despite its consistent high quality and six Emmy awards to back it up. “Futurama” now airs on Hulu, where two decades and three networks later, it will finally surpass the 150 episode mark.
#3: “The Expanse” (2015-22)
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Fittingly for a show about colonizing the solar system, there is an alternate universe where “The Expanse” only got to tell half its story. The modern science fiction classic had critics on side from the very first season, but it never quite had the ratings to match. The Syfy network canned the show after its third season, and fans went to extreme lengths to find it a new home. An online petition was signed over 100,000 times, and money was raised to fly a plane with a banner reading #SaveTheExpanse around Amazon Studios. Prime Video did pick it up for three more seasons, and the show went out with a budget and fanbase to do its expansive storytelling justice.
#2: “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (2013-21)
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Yet another show canceled by FOX, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” took under 30 hours to rehome. The show got the ax after its fifth season, leading to frantic negotiations that included Hulu and TBS, and a Twitter backlash led by Lin-Manuel Miranda. “The Nine-Nine” came full circle to land at NBC, the network that launched star Andy Samberg, and had originally passed on the cop comedy. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” gave us three more seasons of cold opens and character work to end as one of the most popular sitcoms of the century. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
“Manifest” (2018-21; 2022-23)
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“Star Trek: The Original Series” (1966-69)
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One of the First Fan Campaigns Ensured the “Star Trek” Legacy
“One Day at a Time” (2017-20)
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The First Show Dropped by Netflix to Be Picked Up on a Traditional TV Network
“You” (2018-)
Top 10 Cancelled TV Shows Saved By Fans
Lifetime Passed on a Second Season, Which Is Still Going Strong on Netflix
“Sense8” (2015-18)
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Fan Backlash Convinced Netflix to Conclude the Series With a One-off Finale
#1: “Family Guy” (1999-2002; 2005-)
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First airing in 1999, the early days of “Family Guy” were weighed down by poor viewing figures. The Seth MacFarlane animation, now one of the longest-running comedies of all time, was canceled twice in the early 2000s. First, after the second season then for good after season three – or so we thought. In a surprise redemption arc for FOX, the network revived the series after huge DVD sales. Remember those? “Family Guy” returned with new episodes in 2005 and never looked back. At the time of writing, the show is currently slated for at least a 23rd season, with seemingly no end in sight.
