Here are seven great one-season TV shows
The lifespan of a TV show depends on so many factors: the writing, cast, timing, the Zeitgest. Even the very best shows don’t always last past one season because of something unrelated to the show’s quality: behind-the-scenes creative differences, time slots, or executives’ impatience
So with that said, here are seven great shows that we wished made it to Season 2
Pitch
Showrunner Dan Fogelman hit it big with This is Us, among other huge projects, but his baseball-themed TV show Pitch didn’t make it past first
The Fox series focuses on a young screwball pitcher who becomes the first woman to play in the Major Leagues when she is called up by the San Diego Padres. It starred Kylie Bunbury as the rookie pitcher, and TV veteran Mark-Paul Gosselaar
The show received positive reviews, but in a twist of fate, it aired against a slightly bigger sports foe in : Thursday Night Football, and couldn’t score big enough ratings
Finder of Lost Loves
This one is a deeper cut, but you can’t beat the premise of this 1984 ABC drama: After losing his wife, a widower decides to set up a private detective agency that reunites clients with former loved ones.
The show starred Anthony Franciosa, Deborah Adair, Anne Jeffreys, Richard Kantor, and Larry “Flash” Jenkins
If still you’re not sure about the show, try the theme song. It was performed by Dionne Warwick and Luther Vandross and
Freaks & Geeks
It’s hard to believe Freaks & Geekswas only on the air for one season, because it left such a lasting impact. Not only did it help launch the careers of stars including Seth Rogen, Linda Cardellini, James Franco, and Jason Segel, but the ’80s-set high school comedy also became a cult classic
Created by Paul Feig, and executive produced by Judd Apatow, the show received near-universal acclaim, but poor time slots ensured it never found its audience. Still, it remains one of the most memorable one-season TV shows
One of the show’s writers, Mike White, ended up creating the juggernaut White Lotus, which is now filming its fourth season
Models Inc
A show set in an L.A. modeling agency and starring Linda Gray and Carrie-Anne Moss seems like a safe bet to make it more than one season, but alas, Models Inc. ,from Spelling Entertainment, didn’t make it for another trip down the runway
The prime time soap opera premiered on Fox on June 29, 1994. It had a strong pedigree: it was a spin-off of Melrose Place, and the third series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise.
Alas, high cheek bones and Aaron Spelling can only take a show so far
Gabriel’s Fire
How could a show starring James Earl Jones in an Emmy Award-winning performance not make it to Season 2?
Gabriel’s Fire was an American crime drama that premiered on ABC on September 12, 1990. Jones starred as the eponymous Gabriel, a former Chicago police officer wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a fellow police officer
It seems like this show was wrongfully sentenced too
Swamp Thing (2019)
Even iconic comic book characters sometimes aren’t popular enough to ensure a second season. Such was the case for Swamp Thing,a superhero horror series created by Gary Dauberman and Mark Verheiden for erstwhile streamer DC Universe
The show follows medical doctor Abby Arcane and the eponymous Swamp Thing, a murky creature who defends his Louisiana swamp, and the natural world beyond. The cast included Crystal Reed, Virginia Madsen and Derek Mears
Despite critical acclaim, the series was canceled due to swampy circumstances. And joined the ranks of one-season TV shows
The Grinder
In an unfair twist of fate, the Rob Lowe-starring show The Grinderis about a former actor who starred in a highly successful, long-running legal TV show, and then decides to become a lawyer in real life
Despite Lowe and co-star Fred Savage’s wonderful chemistry, the show couldn’t generate high enough ratings for a second season
One silver lining: Timothy Olyphant won a Critics’ Choice Award for his guest performance on the series
If you like this list of one-season TV shows, you might also like this list of 12 1980s TV Shows That Are Still a Pleasure to Watch
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Main image: The cast of Models Inc, courtesy of Fox
