7 Fantastic Tv Shows That Only Lasted One Season

There’s a strange belief within the entertainment industry that all the best TV series need multiple seasons in order to be considered a success.

In an industry where viewership ratings are the biggest margin of whether a show is doing well or not, most TV showrunners might wrongfully conclude that the longer a series is, the more audiences will dependably fall in love with it over time. (An idea supported by such long-running series as Friends, Modern Family, The X-Files, and Cheers, among many others.)

Yet even then, not every show needs to be on television for an entire decade to deliver an altogether satisfying narrative. From short-lived network sitcoms to unjustly cancelled space opera dramas, here are some seven amazing TV series that span just one season.

Enlisted

It’s a puzzling phenomenon within the TV medium in that, despite a show receiving significantly positive reviews, viewership numbers alone determine whether or not a series gets renewed by its network. Unfortunately, Enlisted’s glowing public reception failed to save the series from cancellation in the spring of 2014, bringing NBC’s military-themed sitcom to a close after 13 episodes. Though no doubt a frustrating decision on the network’s part, viewers can always appreciate Enlisted’s first and last season for what it is: a well-written mainstream sitcom that felt like a stylistic cross between Community, Stripes, and M*A*S*H rolled into one sleek package.

Terriers

If we had the power to revive any prematurely canceled TV series, we might very well choose FX’s ingenious crime comedy, Terriers. A creative take on the hard-boiled detective stories of the ‘40s and ‘50s, Terriers finds a way to consistently turn the noir genre on its head, infusing it with enough biting humor to keep viewers laughing throughout. A neo-noir mystery in the same vein as The Nice Guys or The Big Lebowski, one can almost describe Terriers as a humorous throwback to overly-stylized crime series like Magnum, P.I. or Hawaii Five-O, complete with the same brand of unorthodox investigators at the heart of its episodic storylines.

Eerie, Indiana

Years before Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps forced kids to check under their bed for potential monsters, viewers fell in love with the light-hearted scares of NBC’s Eerie, Indiana. A trailblazing horror series that felt like a child-friendly version of Twin Peaks or The Twilight Zone, Eerie, Indiana inexplicably failed to avoid cancellation following its critically well-received first season. Yet even then, without Eerie, Indiana paving the way, it’s almost guaranteed we wouldn’t have ever seen darker series like Goosebumps follow in its horror-centric wake.

Watchmen

As one of the most lauded comic books ever written, anyone bold enough to create a full-fledged continuation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen was bound to experience a sense of insurmountable pressure. Fortunately, showrunner Damon Lindelof’s avid love for the comic prevented him from buckling under fans’ expectations, ensuring a series as intelligent, well-written, and thoughtfully topical as its comic book predecessor. Set 40 years after Watchmen’s original narrative, HBO’s series serves as an endearing love letter to Moore and Gibbons’ masterful graphic novel, complete with returning appearances from fan-favorite characters like Jeremy Irons’ Ozymandias and Jean Smart’s Laurie Blake (among quite a few other familiar faces).

My So-Called Life

Whereas most teen dramas of the 1990s focused on lighter subject matter, My So-Called Life made a habit of tackling the more uncomfortable aspects of young adulthood, as seen through the eyes of Claire Danes’s endlessly relatable Angela Chase. Whether exploring alcoholism, child abuse, homophobia, illicit substance abuse, My So-Called Life was brave enough to discuss real-world issues affecting millions of American teenagers in the mid 1990s. Sadly, not even its remarkable cast, exceptional writing, and timeless themes were strong enough to save the show from an early cancellation in the summer of 1995, even if it soon acquired a loyal cult following of fans in the years to come. 

Freaks and Geeks

Nowadays, most people might readily recognize Freaks and Geeks for its younger cast of soon-to-be Hollywood stars (Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Seth Rogen, Busy Philipps, and John Francis Daley). Though there’s no question the series possessed a remarkably talented lineup of actors, Freaks and Geeks also deserves praise for its intelligent handling of the teen comedy genre. Eloquently portraying the growing pains that come with high school social life and early-to-late adolescence, Freaks and Geeks serves an emotional, bittersweet, incredibly engrossing teen dramedy we simply can’t recommend enough.

Firefly

Quite possibly the most frustrating TV show cancellation of all time, we’ll never know the exact reason NBC felt compelled to shut down Firefly’s production following its inaugural season. Set in a sci-fi universe as creatively designed as Star Wars or Star Trek before it, Firefly felt like it could have been the next big entry in the space opera genre, akin to Battlestar Galactica’s momentous run a few short years later. Thankfully, the outpouring of fan support ultimately led to the series receiving a film continuation with 2005’s Serenity – something we can all take collective solace in. As it is, we’ll always be able to look back with fondness at this space opera series’ initial installment, admiring Firefly for what it is rather than lamenting about what it could have been.