Fun and Fortune (1949)
ABC game show hosted by Jack Lescoulie. The game consisted of contestants trying to identify an item hidden behind a curtain based on four clues.
◄ IMDb Polls
Poll: Which TV series cancelled after only one episode looks most interesting?
Some television series are canceled after one episode, quickly removed from a broadcast schedule and/or had production halted after their premieres. Such immediate cancellations are extremely rare cases and are usually attributed to a combination of extremely negative reviews, very poor ratings, radical or controversial content, or circumstances beyond the network's control.
Make Your Choice
-
-
Who's Whose (1951)
A panel quiz show hosted by Phil Baker that aired on CBS in which four celebrity panelists (Robin Chandler, Basil Davenport, Art Ford, and Emily Kimbrough) tried to determine which of three male contestants was married to which of three female contestants. This show replaced The Goldbergs, which was dropped when its creator Gertrude Berg refused to fire the blacklisted actor Philip Loeb. While some sources have classified this show as a television pilot, contemporary news accounts confirm that this was a series which was dropped by its sponsor (General Foods) after one airing. -
The Melting Pot (1975)
BBC sitcom written by Spike Milligan, who also starred as "Mr. Van Gogh", a Pakistani illegal immigrant in London. The debut was shown on BBC1, but the remaining five episodes have never been seen. -
Co-ed Fever (1979)
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, Canada on BCTV in a late-afternoon weekend timeslot. -
Heil Honey I'm Home! (1990)
British TV's Galaxy comedy 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. -
South of Sunset (1993)
CBS private-detective show starring Glenn Frey of rock band the Eagles. Despite being heavily promoted during the World Series, the show was canned not only because of bad ratings but because news coverage of wildfires in Malibu had pre-empted the show on much of the West Coast (although KCBS showed the pilot on October 30 at 11:30 PM). The remaining five episodes aired on VH1 a year later. -
Public Morals (1996)
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, but even that was too much to ask, as it turned out to be the only one aired. Brochtrup and his character returned to NYPD Blue, becoming a regular. -
Lawless (1997)
Fox action series starring former American football star Brian Bosworth as a private investigator. -
Dot Comedy (2000)
ABC series featuring humorous material from the Internet. -
Comedians Unleashed (2002)
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 (2005)
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 (2006)
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's 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 committed to the show without seeing its pilot. -
The Rich List (2006)
Game show by the British producers of The Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog, adapted for the U.S. 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. -
The Debbie King Show (2007)
Aired in the UK on the controversial channel ITV Play with no publicity, the show (like all the others on the channel) was a live premium rate phone-in quiz presented by Debbie King who has 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 programmes 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 (because of issues over participation television that had recently emerged). Although ITV Play did continue as a limited service on ITV1 The Debbie King Show was unceremoniously canceled, having only aired for two-and-a-half hours. -
Quarterlife (2007)
NBC broadcast version of the popular MySpace series, with an intent to air on Sunday nights following its debut. 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 (2008)
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 (which would have taken the show through May 13 with a May 22 "grand finale"), the series was pulled after its debut because of extremely low ratings. -
Osbournes Reloaded (2009)
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 (including the entire Raycom and Local TV LLC station chains) either airing the program in an early-morning timeslot or not at all because of content concerns. -
Ford Nation (2013)
A talk show hosted by Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto and his brother, city councillor 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 allegedly showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine. Despite garnering record ratings for the fledgling news/opinion channel, the show was nonetheless cancelled after a single episode, reportedly because of unexpectedly high production costs (the one-hour program was reported to have taken five hours to record and an additional eight hours to edit) 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 (2014)
A reality show produced by Mark Wahlberg for A&E about four young women working to change their lives in the titular city. -
The Awful Truth (1937)
The awful truth is... none of them look interesting at all. It's actually a good thing that all of them were cancelled.
)
