Living on Borrowed Time: 16 Shows That Made the Most of Their Second Chances

Every four years, we are asked a simple question: What will you do with a little extra time?

Leap Year poses a literal opportunity to seize the day and make the most of the decidedly rare moments in life when we are given more time. And believe it or not, television can offer a lesson in how to carpe diem.

Over the years, there have been plenty of shows that lived on borrowed time or even stuck around a little longer than they should have without much to show for it. There are also the occasional series that find themselves resurrected to close the book on the unfinished business of their untimely cancellations. But not every show given a second chance knows how to use it. Whether it was to fulfill its story or further its legacy, here are how some shows made the most of their extra time.

Minx (2022-2023)

As the most recent addition to this list, HBO Max’s venture into the world of ’70s porno magazine production found critical and audience acclaim with its story of a feminist writer (Ophelia Lovibond) who teams up with a sleazy-but-sweet-about-it pornographer (a perfectly cast Jake Johnson) to release the first women’s adult entertainment magazine.

Max (the HBO was dropped in 2023) ordered a second season and even shot eight of the 10 episodes before it pulled the plug. The cast and crew vowed to finish out the run, and Starz came through to give it a new home –– which proved to be only temporary. But when it finally saw the light of day, the second season only elevated the show’s wit and edginess, allowing its ragtag group of provocateurs to finish on their terms. Get it?

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (2020-2021)

Musicals are tricky on TV because not everything can be Glee or even the aforementioned Nashville. But for its latest musical effort, NBC got whimsical with this story about Zoey (Jane Levy), a sheepish software developer who undergoes an MRI during an earthquake and comes out being able to hear everyone express their deepest thoughts through song. Understandably, this had a niche audience and NBC opted to cancel it after two well-received seasons. But in a shocking twist, Roku revived the series for a special Christmas-themed wrap up movie. Perhaps even more shocking, that movie was then nominated for Outstanding TV Movie at the Emmys. Talk about making your second chance an extraordinary one.

Manifest (2018-2023)

Another broadcast success story that flourished even more on streaming was this high-concept NBC series about a planeload of people who experience some turbulence only to return to solid ground and learn they’ve been missing for five and a half years. The series walked firmly in the footsteps of hits like Lost, but it came at a time when audiences weren’t turning to broadcast for those kinds of shows. After NBC canceled it following its third season, Netflix, the patron saint of canceled broadcast shows, saw this and redirected Montego Air Flight 828 to its service for a hearty 20-episode fourth and final season. The mystery was given plenty of time to stick the landing and now it lives on in Netflix queues.

One Day at a Time (2017-2020)

Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce’s Cuban-American reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom One Day at a Time was nothing short of a gem. Starring Justina Machado and Rita Moreno, this smart, joyous, and affectingly honest show deserved more than the three seasons Netflix gave it.

Riding high on the success of another acquisition by the name of Schitt’s Creek, Pop TV revived the show and put a fourth season into production for 2020. You can guess what happened next. After filming finished on the sixth of 13 episodes, production halted due to COVID-19. The show, which never skipped a beat in the rare jump from streamer to linear, made the best of a bad situation with its signature fighting spirit. A seventh episode was released as an animated special with the cast recording dialogue from the safety of quarantine. But the show never resumed production. At least we got a few more days with One Day at a Time.

Lucifer (2016-2021)

Intense fandoms can be persuasive in saving shows, not with peanuts, but with viewership. While Fox may have banished its earthbound nightclub owner/detective Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) back to hell after three seasons, Netflix read the writing on the wall about its popularity. The show had a cult following online and at fan conventions like Comic-Con, and they followed it right to the streaming service for three ravenously received seasons that deepened the mythology and cranked up the heat on the romance between Lucifer and his LAPD partner Chloe (Lauren German). By then, the bizarre premise of the devil solving crimes had melted away and the extended run of Lucifer just solidified what a good show can do when given time to grow.

Sense8 (2015-2018)

Netflix’s ambitious linked-consciousness series from The Matrix minds Lana and Lilly Wachowski was an empathetically charged, globetrotting adventure that spoke half a dozen languages, dipped into just as many cultures, and featured a uniquely intimate ensemble. It was a challenging show to digest, but those who did came to form a hive mind not unlike the sensates on screen. When Netflix canceled the show after its second season, the fans rose up and demanded more. What they got was a two-plus-hour series finale that sent the cluster off with a bang, in all senses of the word.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021)

The Fox comedy series about the detectives of New York City Police Department’s fictional 99th precinct has become one of the most meme-d series of the 21st century, thanks in large part to its leads Andy Samburg and the late, great Andre Braugher. But for 24 hours in May 2018, it seemed as though it was being carted off to the land of canceled series after five seasons — the fifth of which was an all-timer. Never count out the 99, though. The day after it was canceled, NBC swooped in and rescued the series (Universal had co-produced the show), eventually airing three more seasons.

The final episodes feature some highs and lows of the series, but most importantly, this second lease on life gave the 99 the chance to go out on its own terms –– with a few more heists. And more Braugher. Boy, we truly didn’t know how good we had it with weekly doses of Capt. Raymond Holt.

The Mindy Project (2012-2107)

Mindy Kaling’s OB/GYN office comedy followed a similar path of many workplace ensembles that took time to find their identities. But when Kaling leaned into the romance of Dr. Mindy Lahiri and Dr. Danny Castellano (Chris Messina), the show took its true form as a modern-day rom-com with a peanut gallery of quirky characters in Mindy’s orbit.

Fox canceled the show after its third season, but Hulu came calling and continued Mindy’s adventures through Season 6. While her relationship with Danny ebbed and flowed, the extended run gave the show a chance to evolve once again, from romantic overtures into a comical and vital advocacy vessel for the increasingly jeopardized rights of women.

Community (2009-2015)

Being a fan of NBC’s Community has never been easy. Rarely did a season pass without the threat of cancellation lingering over the Joel McHale-led community college ensemble. But when fans pulled a now-infamous line right from the show and demanded “Six Seasons and a Movie,” it was a chant that proved to be more prescient than perilous. After NBC failed the comedy series after its fifth season, Yahoo! Screen (remember that?) renewed the series for a fated sixth.

The truncated Season 6 isn’t the most beloved in the show’s run, lacking two vital members of the study group, Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown. But fighting to fulfill that six-season mantra reinforced the cast and creator Dan Harmon’s commitment to paying off the fans’ undying affection for the Greendale gang. Now Peacock seems poised to complete the prophecy with a feature film. So, everyone be sure to pay their respects to Yahoo! Screen for making this unlikely Cinderella story possible.

Cougar Town (2009-2015)

While some shows can buckle under the strain of a bad name (looking at you, GCB), Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel’s Cougar Town wore its contrived and increasingly misleading title as a badge of honor. Courteney Cox led the Florida-based Cul De Sac Crew for three seasons on ABC, which looked past the nightmare name but not the sinking ratings.

Back when it still had scripted content, TBS saved the series and doubled its run with three more seasons that are remarkably consistent with its earliest days. It’s the mark of a good show that no matter where it goes, the quality only ages like a fine wine. The extra episodes gave fans a peek into the crowded married life of Jules (Cox) and Grayson (Josh Hopkins), paid off the Laurie (Busy Phillips) and Travis (Dan Byrd) flirtations, gave Ellie (Christa Miller) some of her best zingers and even brought in Matthew Perry to reunite with Cox. It also featured the tours of duty for Jules’ oversized wine glasses –– Big Lou, Big Tippi and Big Chuck. May they all rest in pieces.

Friday Night Lights (2006-2013)

Sometimes it takes more than a network to carry a show across the finish line –– or, in the case of Friday Night Lights, into the end zone. After two seasons as one of NBC’s most lauded series, the small-town football drama led by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton was canceled. But then cable provider DirecTV (that’s right, an entire cable company) decided to come in and co-produce the series for three more seasons under a deal that allowed it to air on the company’s 101 Network channel and then rebroadcast on NBC.

The deal let Friday Night Lights breathe a little easier and, in turn, churn out some of its best and most affecting episodes –– the epitome of a show that knew how to use its extra time. The final season went on to win two Emmys for Chandler and writer-producer Jason Katims, both for one of the most rousing series finales ever. And just think, without DirecTV, the show would have ended with the ill-advised Season 2 murder plot still fresh in our minds.

Jericho (2006-2008)

Fans have long played a role in saving gone-too-soon series with wild campaigns that networks couldn’t ignore if they tried. One of the more headline-making efforts came in 2007 after CBS canceled Jericho, its post-apocalyptic series about a small town weathering the nuclear aftermath of a domestic terrorist coup. Inspired by a battle cry in the Season 1 finale, fans sent CBS nearly 20 tons of peanuts to protest the cancellation.

It was such a huge assault on the mail system that the peanuts had to be redistributed to charities, and CBS reversed its decision by ordering a seven-episode Season 2. The extra episodes answered some lingering doomsday questions and widened the purposefully isolated worldview of Jericho to an enticing degree, but it wasn’t enough for CBS. The network opted not to order Season 3, which the show’s creators eventually played out in the form of a graphic novel. But no more will someone say peanuts can’t buy you something. At CBS, it can get you seven episodes.

Veronica Mars (2004-2007, 2014, 2019)

Few shows have existed over as many networks and streamers as Veronica Mars, the drama created by Rob Thomas and starring Kristen Bell as a teen-turned-adult detective. The series began on UPN, made the jump to The CW in its inaugural year, continued in a Kickstarter-funded movie and then returned for a fourth season on Hulu.

With each move, Bell and Thomas retained the quip and edge of Veronica’s world in and around Neptune, California. But more important than consistency was their willingness to take risks with the beloved story. In the final moments of its Hulu run, which has yet to be renewed, the series literally blew up its central relationship and left fans shocked –– and more than a few fuming. No one can say Veronica Mars ever lost her flair for the dramatic.

Designing Women (1986-1993)

While the women of Sugarbaker & Associates have become one of the beloved and progressive casts of the 1980s and ’90s, their first season was fraught with time slot changes that nearly led CBS to cut the show loose. But the ensemble of Dixie Carter, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, and Annie Potts had already won the hearts of audiences who liked the simultaneous mix of Southern hospitality and bless-your-heart honesty that defined the whip-smart, Atlanta-set series.

Returning from a short-but-crucial hiatus in the spring of 1987, the series would grow into one of the biggest sitcom hits of its era and run for six more seasons, weathering its own internal political divides and external misogyny to become an iconic comedy that almost never saw the second half of its first season.

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

When you think back on the legacy of Star Trek, it sure seems like The Original Series should have run for at least 100 episodes, right? Think again! First developed by Desilu Productions (yes, the one run by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz), Star Trek ran for just three seasons and 79 episodes on NBC –– and it almost didn’t even go that long.

The network was nervous about backing a huge science-fiction epic that didn’t have great initial ratings, and even considered canceling the series in its first season. But a seismic letter-writing campaign proved the show had already found fans that would boldly go wherever it went. Still, NBC pulled the plug after Season 3. Could Star Trek have become what it is today without that early rescue? That sounds like a strange new world we don’t want to explore.

Hunter Ingram is a TV writer living in North Carolina and watching way too much television. His byline has appeared in Variety, Emmy Magazine, USA Today, and across Gannett's USA Today Network newspapers.