15 TV Shows Canceled in 2023 That Were Destined for Greatness

This feature was originally published on June 21, 2023. Because TV is a harsh mistress, we've updated it with more shows that were cut down in their prime.

TV hit another peak in 2022, as the number of scripted series rose to 599. 2023 was supposed to mark a downward shift in those stats, and after seeing so many shows canceled since the spring, we wouldn't be surprised if the mayor of television's predictions hold true. 

We understand that this is the way the business (regrettably) works. But this year's TV cancellations really sting, as many of these series showed considerable promise or had evolved into gripping stories. Again, we see this happen every year, but 2023 was full of shows that were poised to revive genres, shake up the (very white) status quo, or just give younger viewers a reason to look up from their For You Page. Now that the bloodletting has, hopefully, ended for the year, we've expanded this feature to include 15 canceled shows that had the most potential — shows that could have been contenders, iconoclasts, or "the next great."

Most Potential to Be the Next Great Teen Drama: Vampire Academy (Peacock)

Vampires have always been a staple of the teen drama landscape, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to First Kill. Peacock’s Vampire Academy was the latest entry into the subgenre, helmed by The Vampire Diaries alum Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre. Based on Richelle Mead’s YA novels, the series followed best friends Rose Hathaway (Sisi Stringer), a dhampir (half-vampire, half-human) training to be a guardian, and Lissa Dragomir (Daniela Nieves), a moroi (benevolent vampire) princess next in line for the throne, as they navigate St. Vladimir’s messy politics. Tensions rise when Strigois (feral, murderous vampires) threaten to invade the school, and the teens must find a way to keep each other and their loved ones safe.

Vampire Academy blended thrilling political intrigue with classic teen drama, which made for great popcorn TV. Unfortunately, these vampires don’t get to be immortal, and it’s a shame that a show with such a unique premise and a majority cast of color won’t get a chance to finish their story. — Dianna Shen

Most Potential to Bring Romance Back to Broadcast Dramas: The Company You Keep (ABC)

Though we can still find a great will-they/won’t-they on Abbott Elementary, the cancellation of The Company You Keep has left broadcast TV mostly bereft of head-turning romance. Unlike cable and streaming series like The Idol or Sex/Life, this ABC drama relied on the scintillating connection between its two leads, played by Catherine Haena Kim and a fully de-dead-dad-ified Milo Ventimiglia, who play a game of cat and mouse in and out of the bedroom. Watching the dynamic between con man Charlie (Ventimiglia) and straight arrow Emma (Kim) turn from strangers to lovers to quarry and hunter was more titillating than most of what's happening on shows operating free of standards and practices. Along with filling the Whiskey Cavalier-shaped hole in our hearts, this show also gave us Tony Shalhoub in a turtleneck — what more could ABC have asked for? — Danette Chavez

Most Potential to Be the Next Great Hangout Comedy: Grand Crew (NBC)

All the best hangout comedies have two undeniable qualities: electric chemistry among the ensemble and writing that is at times nonsensical but always hilarious. Grand Crew had both in multitudes. The core group of Noah (Echo Kellum), Nicky (Nicole Byer), Sherm (Carl Tart), Anthony (Aaron Jennings), Wyatt (Justin Cunningham), and Fay (Grasie Mercedes) were intoxicating to watch, especially in the show's silliest moments, like when the crew started speaking to each other telepathically or when an episode would recreate an Usher music video. Part of the show’s magic is that any grouping of the ensemble cast worked — until NBC handed down the cancellation decision, the possibilities for team-ups and shenanigans seemed endless. — Brianna Wellen

Most Potential to Make “Prestige Procedurals” a Thing: Perry Mason (HBO)

Alas, poor Perry Mason — cut down by HBO just as it stopped fighting its procedural nature (and the Max rebrand/platform merger with Discovery+ began in earnest). We’ll admit that the term “procedural” is just as likely to strike fear in the hearts of viewers as it is to assure them of what they’re about to watch, thanks to the trend toward serialization in recent years. But this Matthew Rhys-led drama was made for episodic storytelling, even as it gradually built toward the resolution of a long arc in Season 2. Indeed, Perry Mason had all the trappings of prestige TV, including a soulful lead performance, high production values, resonant themes, and an atmosphere that seeped into your bones.

It not only could have been a contender, it could have been a prestige procedural — which seems oxymoronic at first glance, but is potentially one of the most powerful TV hybrids. A show that’s eminently watchable and exceptionally well made, deploying satisfying conclusions at regular intervals? The Good Fight might have gotten there first, but Perry Mason was set to walk in that Paramount+ series’s footsteps. — DC

Most Potential to Reinvigorate Late Night: Ziwe (Showtime)

The template for late-night talk shows is so tired: monologue, desk bit, interview, musician or comedian, repeat. Networks are satisfied to slide any white guy named David or Stephen or Jimmy in, it doesn’t really matter who, and call it a day. With her self-titled show, Ziwe Fumudoh was a shining light in the late-night wars. She turned the format on its head, balancing being entertainingly antagonistic and effortlessly charming with ease. Unlike in the traditional setting, which is designed to gas up any celebrity with something to promote, Ziwe would set her guests up to fail. The premise led to some of the most mortifying moments committed to cable television, but that was always part of the fun. — BW

Most Potential to Be the Next Big Teen Adventure Show: National Treasure: Edge of History (Disney+)

Considering the years of hype leading up to National Treasure: Edge of History, it's surprising how quickly Disney+ pulled the plug on the sequel series. The charming spinoff introduced a new crew of adventurers led by resourceful DREAMer Jess Valenzuela (Lisette Olivera), who, like Nicolas Cage before her, discovers she has a personal connection to a trove of lost Pan-American artifacts. Jess' search sends her on a journey through parts of history that have traditionally been ignored or left on the margins (like Elvis' Cherokee ancestry), storylines that complicate the films' emphasis on white male figures. Of course, the teens also encounter their fair share of romance along the way, and while it's not quite Outer Banks levels of sexy, it's cute in its own Disney+ way. It's disappointing that these treasure-mances will end here, but with a third National Treasure film still in development, perhaps this won't be the last we see of Jess and her friends. — Claire Spellberg Lustig

Most Potential to Join The Other Two in Sending Up Hollywood: Reboot (Hulu)

If The Other Two is TV's best funhouse-mirror depiction of the lunatic requirements of fame in the entertainment industry, then Reboot had the potential to hit those kind of heights from inside the belly of the beast. The best joke in Reboot's premiere episode was simply an exhaustive list of TV's recent history of rebooting once-beloved shows, and from there, the show went on to skewer the process of making TV in 2023 from pretty much every angle. The writers’ room scenes, in which Rachel Bloom and Paul Reiser oversaw a generational clash in styles, were fertile ground for the show's biggest laughs. And given how comfortable creator Steve Levitan was with the show going meta (there were plenty of jokes at Hulu's expense), this was exactly the kind of show that would have incorporated the current WGA strike into its storylines, and after that first season, it's exactly the kind of show that could have done such a storyline justice. — Joe Reid

Most Potential to Be the Next Great Workplace Sitcom: American Auto (NBC)

Ana Gasteyer finally got the starring vehicle she always deserved with American Auto. The Justin Spitzer-created sitcom channeled all the best parts of Superstore into a workplace comedy that mercilessly poked fun at the incompetent members of the C-suite at Payne Motors, an auto company in Detroit. The NBC series hit its stride in its second season, allowing its lesser-known ensemble cast — Harriet Dyer, Humphrey Ker, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tye White, and series MVP X Mayo — to shine brightly. In the wake of the series’s cancellation, Spritzer revealed where things would have gone from here: CEO Katherine Hastings (Gasteyer) and Payne Motors “finally finding success and taking the world by storm.” Based on the trajectory of the narrative so far, the higher they rose, the harder they would have hilariously fallen. Knowing what was in store makes the loss hurt that much more. — BW

Most Potential to Be Kim Catrall's Sweet Revenge: Glamorous (Netflix)

With all the (understandable) brouhaha over Kim Cattrall "returning" to the Sex and the City universe with her And Just Like That phoner in the season finale, you'd think that was the only place this year where one could enjoy Cattrall in a queer-friendly dramedy. If only more people had invested in the show Cattrall was actually on, Netflix's Glamorous. There, she played a beauty mogul who was a cross between Miranda Priestly, Wilhelmina Slater, and a fairy godmother. Besides the pleasure of Cattrall getting to luxuriate in her line readings, Glamorous was also a fun depiction of young queer ambition and romance. It was The Bold Type meets a less desperate Gossip Girl reboot, and it was only just hitting its stride. — JR

Most Potential to Be a 30 Rock-Style Joke Machine : I Love That For You (Showtime)

Few TV shows were as consistently and frequently hilarious as I Love That For You, which aired its first season in the spring of 2022 but was not officially canceled until June of 2023. Vanessa Bayer played a woman working at a home-shopping channel whose fabricated cancer diagnosis helped her get a leg up on success. Bayer's talent for cringe comedy is top notch, but what made I Love That For You feel like a show that could grow into something huge was its supporting cast.

Jenifer Lewis showed she could handle domineering comedy and undertones of pathos, a quality that was matched shot-for-shot by Molly Shannon. The cast of young breakthrough talent was humming, with Matt Rogers, Ayden Mayeri, Punam Patel, and Johnno Wilson. And the home-shopping setting felt satisfyingly idiosyncratic, a fun spin on the workplace drama. Also? This show had jokes. Good jokes! Lots of them! Comedies that make you laugh consistently are oddly rare on television these days; to see one just get casually thrown away was a bummer. — JR

Most Potential to Be the Next Gilmore Girls: Single Drunk Female

How different things could have been if Single Drunk Female aired anywhere other than Freeform. (Even another Disney-owned brand like Hulu would've been a great fit.) The comedy, starring Sofia Black-D'Elia as a twentysomething alcoholic working toward sobriety, had all the makings of a coming-of-age hit: It boasted a charming-yet-flawed lead in Black-D'Elia's Sam, an ensemble of supporting characters with rich inner lives, and veteran comedic voices behind the camera in creator Simone Finch and executive producers Jenni Konner and Leslye Headland. But the heart of the show rested in the fraught dynamic between Sam and her overbearing mother Carol (Ally Sheedy), who, over the course of two seasons, overcame their hurt and slowly began to repair their relationship. Even if Sam and Carol were never going to be the mother-daughter duo of Gilmore Girls, Black-D'Elia and Sheedy carried on that show's legacy with their snappy banter and ability to find deep emotion amid the familial chaos. — CSL

Most Potential to Rectify Its Parent Show's Sins: How I Met Your Father

It's bad enough that Hulu axed sequel series How I Met Your Father before revealing the identity of the titular father, denying viewers a satisfying ending to a perfectly enjoyable sitcom — one that had finally gotten into a groove as it approached the end of Season 2. But what really makes this cancellation sting (beyond the lack of Hilary Duff on our TV screens) is the fact that showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger revealed they had "discussed plot lines for all of the original characters" to return, opening the door for the Hulu sequel to address the original series's myriad issues. HIMYF proved itself capable of doing so with Cobie Smulders' and Neil Patrick Harris' cameos, but there are plenty more opportunities for closure (and course-correction) that viewers have now been denied. That's anything but legen—wait for it—dary. — CSL

Most Potential to Revive Starz's Women-Focused Brand: Blindspotting

For a while there, it looked like Starz was really invested in developing a women-focused brand. The success of Outlander was born of women viewers, and in 2020, Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch said courting those viewers was in “the DNA of the company and what we put on our screen and behind the screen.” The recent decisions to end shows like Vida, Hightown, and now Shining Vale certainly seem to shoot that theory down, but nothing stings like the departure of the late great Blindspotting.

A continuation series of the incisive 2018 film, Blindspotting was everything a programmer like Starz — which had, until recently, shown a keen interest in women-led stories — could want. Jasmine Cephas Jones was a force of nature as Ashley, a mom struggling to keep things together while everything from the carceral state to familial tensions tried to tear her world apart. Directors Seith Mann and Aurora Guerrero worked with Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs (the stars and writers of the film who resumed writing duties, as well as making the occasional appearance) to develop the show’s distinctive look and tone, grounding its many flights of fancy with real longing and grief. Pathos, comedy, and visual panache — few shows can manage one of those, let alone all three, but Blindspotting offered them in half-hour(!) doses for two wildly stylish seasons. — DC

Most Potential to Be Apple TV+’s True Sports Dynasty: Swagger

We’ve already waxed on about Reggie Rock Bythewood’s meditative yet vibrant series a couple of times this year… and we’re about to do it again. It’s just such a missed opportunity for Apple TV+, which has begun to really carve out its niche in the TV landscape (it may seem odd to describe anything that a tech giant like Apple does as “niche,” but that’s just how vast TV is these days).

Swagger wasn’t merely a great sports show, though it boasted some of the most dynamic direction and editing on TV; for comparison, just look at the lackluster gameplay in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty and yes, Ted Lasso. It told a vital story, one still too rarely seen on TV, centering Black adolescence and the ways in which white supremacy threatens it, and how Black communities will always protect it. Bythewood and his team could have kept leaping forward two to four years at a time, chronicling the fortunes of these talented kids in college and professional basketball. Now that would have been a sports dynasty. — DC

Most Potential to Be TV's Big, Swoony Sapphic Love Story: A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own pulsed with potential from its opening moments, when Carson (Abbi Jacobson) had her fateful first meeting with Greta (D'Arcy Carden). The two women were out to find their fortunes as part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League when they found something more rare than a career in sports: a lover who fulfilled and challenged them.

Amazon initially recognized the show's promise by ordering a truncated second season, only to reverse course and cancel ALOTO outright in August. The back and forth that preceded the cancellation made the news even more frustrating, especially since the show had unlimited storytelling possibilities. More broadly, it explored the balance between personal and professional aspirations, and what it meant for women to even entertain the notion in the '40s. But by foregrounding characters who represented the real-life queer women who helped launch women's baseball, Jacobson and her co-creator Will Graham also made a crucial update to the original film. There was so much left to learn about Max Chapman (Chanté Adams) and Clance Morgan, who encountered sexism and racism in pursuing their dreams, clinging to their friendship even as their lives took them in different directions. And 'round every corner, a different sapphic story was developing, though Carson and Greta's future may have been the one that made us most anxious. — DC