List of television series canceled after one episode
Some television series are canceled after one episode, quickly removed from a broadcast schedule, or had production halted after their premieres. Such immediate cancellations are extremely rare and are usually attributed to a combination of very negative reviews, very poor ratings, radical or controversial content, or circumstances beyond the network's control.
Purposely excluded from this list are pilots, premiere episodes produced primarily to be reviewed by network executives as proposed series, "backdoor pilots", pilot episodes shot in such a way that they can be aired as a regular episode of another series, and feature-length television movies produced to be broadcast as either an extended premiere episode, if picked up as a series, or as a distinct television movie. In any of those cases, the pilot was aired but its proposed series was not subsequently added to the programming, or the pilot was aired as a television movie after a decision not to produce a series. Additional episodes in the former case can often come to constitute lost media if they are not made available through alternative means.
Shows are listed in chronological order with the date the episode aired, any backlash from it, and what happened to the series after cancellation.
Canceled after one episode
;The Dennis James Carnival : A variety show presented by CBS, The Dennis James Carnival showcased various vaudeville-style acts under the premise that host Dennis James was trying to keep afloat a carnival that he had inherited from his uncle. The reaction to the program was mostly negative, and its sponsor, General Electric, was dissatisfied with the carnival setting. A Variety article at the time noted that "this marked the quickest on-and-off commercial fade in young tele's history."; Who's Whose : A panel quiz show hosted by Phil Baker that aired on CBS in which four celebrity panelists tried to determine which of three contestants was married to a fourth contestant. This show replaced The Goldbergs, which was dropped when its creator Gertrude Berg refused to fire the blacklisted actor Philip Loeb. While one source has classified this show as a television pilot, contemporary news accounts confirm that this was a series that was dropped by its sponsor after one airing.
; Turn-On : An ABC variety comedy series; a racier derivative of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the show alarmed broadcast officials and sponsors who immediately perceived it as offensive because of its strong sexual and political humor. At least one station made known their cancellation of Turn-On as the program aired, and others on west coast delay refused to air it at all. ABC canceled the show before airing another episode.
; The Melting Pot : A BBC sitcom written by Spike Milligan, who also starred as Mr. Van Gogh, a Pakistani illegal immigrant in London, whom Milligan portrayed in brownface alongside John Bird. Aired as a one-off pilot on BBC1, a further series of five episodes was commissioned and produced in 1976, but these remaining five episodes have never been seen.
; Co-Ed Fever : A CBS sitcom that attempted to imitate the then-successful National Lampoon's Animal House. The pilot was aired as a "special preview" of the upcoming season, but the series was canceled shortly thereafter. The other five completed episodes remain unaired in the United States, but were shown in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on BCTV in a late-afternoon weekend timeslot.
; Heil Honey I'm Home! : A comedy on British satellite channel Galaxy that spoofed American sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s by featuring caricatures of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun who live in matrimonial bliss until they become neighbours to a Jewish couple. The series was canceled not only due to controversy but also due to British Satellite Broadcasting's merger with Sky; seven other episodes were filmed but not aired.
; Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos : A spin-off of Australia's Funniest Home Videos hosted by Doug Mulray that depicted videos of sexual situations and other sexually explicit content Kerry Packer, the owner of Nine Network at the time, ordered the program to be taken down partway through its first and only episode while watching it, as he was so offended by its content, he phoned the network's master control and angrily demanded "Get this shit off the air!" Most stations pulled the sole episode at varying points, airing an episode of Cheers for the remainder of the timeslot.
; Public Morals : A Steven Bochco-produced CBS sitcom about a vice squad unit of the New York City Police Department. The cast included Bill Brochtrup, reprising the role of John Irvin, a recurring character on another Bochco series, NYPD Blue. Thirteen episodes were produced, and the pilot was originally scheduled to air first, but several affiliates refused to show it. CBS then decided to air a different episode from the thirteen produced, which was the only one aired. Brochtrup and his character returned to NYPD Blue, becoming a regular member of the cast.
; Lawless : A Fox action series starring former American football star Brian Bosworth as a private investigator.
; Dot Comedy : An ABC series featuring an early attempt to translate humorous material from the internet to a mass television audience.
; Comedians Unleashed : An attempt by Animal Planet to mimic Comedy Central's stand-up comedy shows, but with animal-themed jokes. The episode was rerun a few times before being removed from the programming lineup. This is not to be confused with the 2006 syndicated series Comics Unleashed, hosted by Byron Allen.
; The Will : A CBS reality show in which family members and friends competed to be named the beneficiary of a will. The series eventually aired in its entirety on Fox Reality Channel, and aired in New Zealand as well.
; Emily's Reasons Why Not : An ABC sitcom starring Heather Graham as a single career woman, unlucky in love, who employs a list-making system to help her determine when it is time to give up and move on. The series was canceled on January 10 by ABC programming chief Steve McPherson when he decided that it was "not going to get better and we needed a quick change". It was reported that ABC executives had committed to the show without seeing its pilot.
; El invento del siglo : A talent show produced for Antena 3, which sought to reward a great invention that "changed and improved people's living quality". Initially planned to run for three episodes, only the first was aired due to poor ratings.
; The Rich List : A game show by the British producers of The Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog, adapted for the US from an ITV pilot that was not picked up. Despite being heavily promoted on Fox during the World Series, the show was axed on November 3 following low ratings. GSN revived the show in 2009 as The Money List, hosted by Fred Roggin; this iteration, the first GSN original to employ a returning-champion aspect, lasted nine episodes. The remaining episodes from the original series remain unaired. After the US version's failure, the format was produced for broadcast in the UK, where it aired as Who Dares Wins for 12 years, from 2007 to 2019.
; The Debbie King Show : Aired in the UK on the controversial channel ITV Play with no publicity, the show was a live premium rate phone-in quiz presented by Debbie King who had previously hosted the popular Quizmania. As well as being a quiz, viewers were invited to phone/text in views towards current events. However, earlier the same day ITV announced that transmission of the ITV Play channel was being suspended after that evening's programs as a result of an investigation into its premium-rate phone services. Despite this, ITV still decided to push ahead with the launch of the series. The following week, it was decided that the ITV Play channel would permanently cease transmission due to the numerous irregularities involving call-in/SMS quiz shows in the UK. Although ITV Play did continue as a limited service on ITV1 The Debbie King Show ended after only 2hours on the air.
; Quarterlife : An NBC broadcast version of the popular MySpace series, with an intent to air on Sunday nights following its debut as a stopgap solution to present some 'new' form of programming during that season's writers' strike. Following the dismal reception of the premiere episode, the other five episodes were aired in a marathon on NBC Universal sibling channel Bravo on March 9.
; Secret Talents of the Stars : A CBS reality talent show where celebrities competed by participating in talents that differed from their profession. Although the show was to follow a seven-week tournament-style structure with home-viewer voting, the series was pulled after its debut because of extremely low ratings.
; Osbournes Reloaded : A Fox variety show hosted by The Osbournes – Ozzy, Sharon, Jack, and Kelly. The remaining five episodes were immediately shelved because of a combination of bad reviews and several Fox affiliates either airing the program in an early-morning timeslot or not at all because of content concerns.
; 1000 Ways to Lie : Spike's spin-off to the show 1000 Ways to Die was immediately canceled after its first episode due to very negative reviews and poor ratings. The original show ran for 74 episodes between May 2008 and July 2012, though the final four episodes were burned off by the network, with the show being canceled not long afterwards.
; GosDep with Ksenia Sobchak : A political talk show aired on MTV Russia; only one episode titled "Where is Putin leading us?" aired, the show having been cancelled thereafter.
; Kookyville : An unscripted comedy sketch show that aired on Channel 4 in the UK. The tag line for the show was "These people are not actors or comedians, and there's no script... they're just real funny people." The show was met with negative reviews and was canceled after a single episode had aired.
; Ford Nation : A talk show hosted by Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto and his brother, city councillor and future Premier of Ontario Doug Ford, on Sun News Network in Canada, initially indicated as being a weekly program airing Monday nights. The Ford brothers had been in the news because of an ongoing scandal involving a video showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine. Despite garnering record ratings for the fledgling news/opinion channel, the show was nonetheless canceled after a single episode, reportedly because of unexpectedly high production costs and advertiser concerns about being associated with the controversial politicians. Network executives, as well as Doug Ford, would later claim that the program only had a one-episode commitment and was not necessarily intended as a long-term series.
; Breaking Boston : A reality show produced by Mark Wahlberg for A&E about four young women working to change their lives in the eponymous city. Seven episodes were subsequently made available on the Hulu website; by June1, 2015, the seven episodes were switched to the A&E website, and later on became available for purchase on other commercial websites.
; Mesmerised : An Australian hypnosis show helmed by British hypnotist Peter Powers broadcast on the Seven Network. It was dropped after one episode, which featured a man marrying an alpaca as its centerpiece, following dismal ratings. Five produced episodes remain unaired.
; Host the Week : Channel 4 in the UK commissioned a topical unscripted comedy series in which a different guest host each week, joined by a troupe of improvisational comedy performers, would introduce comedy and entertainment features, without having had access to a script or rehearsals. Episodes were produced during the week of transmission to remain topical. Scarlett Moffatt was the host of the first edition of three billed; the underperformance of this program, down more than 60% on the average audience of the slot, saw production of the billed second edition – to be hosted by Jack Whitehall – scrapped, and a third show – the host of which was not confirmed ahead of time – also did not air.
; Barstool Van Talk : ESPN2 canceled the sports humor and commentary show, a collaboration with the sports website Barstool Sports and hosted by Pardon My Take podcasters, Dan Katz and PFT Commenter, after one episode had aired, following internal and social media protests from ESPN employees over the perceived misogynistic nature of Barstool's content.
; Back with the Ex : An Australian reality series in which four sets of ex-partners attempted to give their broken relationships a second chance. The underperformance of this episode resulted in the remaining episodes being moved to Channel Seven's streaming service.
; Ahora, la Mundial : A football talk show that Telecinco planned to air after Spain's matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It was heavily criticized for relying on panelists not linked to sports journalism but to the network's gossip shows such as Kiko Matamoros or Alessandro Lecquio. Telecinco commentator and former Spain coach José Antonio Camacho refused to appear on the show via satellite from Russia after hearing about the program's format. After the criticism and the poor ratings of its premiere, Telecinco scrapped the show altogether.
; Herman Cain's America : A conservative talk show hosted by businessman, media personality and presidential candidate Herman Cain on Newsmax TV. One episode was produced before Cain fell ill with COVID-19; he died on July 30, 2020.
; The Chop: Britain's Top Woodworker : A Sky History reality series in which woodworkers were to participate in competitions to determine the best woodworker in the United Kingdom. The series was suspended on October 20, 2020, as one of the contestants had an "88" face tattoo that was questioned by viewers for having neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbolism, though the contestant claimed it was an innocent tribute to his father's 1988 death. The entire series was canceled 10 days later on October 30, 2020, after it was found out the contestant's father was alive and well, and his other head tattoos suggested further white supremacist symbols and numbers.
; La Campos móvil : A Telecinco talk show hosted by María Teresa Campos, which was filmed inside a transparent box in the back of a moving truck, where Campos would interview her guests. The pilot episode was aired as part of Telecinco's daily afternoon show Sálvame, featuring President of the Community of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso as guest, and had a poor ratings performance in its allocated timeslot. Days after the premiere, it was reported that Telecinco had put the show on hiatus while they considered possible tweaks to the format or outright cancellation. The show never returned to air and Campos died in 2023.
; Let's Make a Love Scene : A reality dating show for Channel 4, hosted by Ellie Taylor, in which single contestants are paired up and tasked with recreating sensual scenes from popular films, with the assistance of intimacy coordinator Rufai Ajala and acting coach Emma Crompton. Two episodes were ordered, and billed for broadcast on May 13 and 20 in a 10p.m. slot; after the first edition was negatively received, the second episode was pulled from the May 20 schedule, replaced with an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Unlike some shows pulled from the schedule, the second episode was never put out via its streaming service, with the format shelved in 2023. In 2024 it emerged that the episode screened was in fact the intended second episode, with the first having been dropped from the schedules after a former partner of one of the participants raised concerns around his past behaviour with producers.
; Storms from Space : 5 had scheduled the second episode for 9 May 2025 at 8p.m., but pulled the program in favor of a repeat of Electric Cars: Which One Should You Buy?, a consumer advice show with Alexis Conran.