Many examples of TV greatness came to their planned ends in 2022, from beloved network stalwarts This Is Us and black-ish to the standout cable genre-thwarters Atlanta and Better Call Saul to the talent-packed streaming hits Ozark and Grace and Frankie. Unfortunately, it was also a big year for totally unplanned and often unwarranted cancellations, with a majority of TV-forward platforms tightening their budgetary belts out of necessity (and/or being at the center of mega-mergers).
So while a truly objective classification of TV shows that were axed is an impossibility, here's our noble attempt at pulling together the most disappointing TV cancellations of 2022. Hopefully nobody gets blindsided by any previous unknowns that are listed below, although I guess it wouldn’t be much different from getting gobsmacked by the cancellations when they happened. (Head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule when you're done to see all the shows already set for debuts in the near year.)
The Baby-Sitters Club
As an adaptation of Ann M. Martin’s timeless and beloved line of youth-skewing book series (of which there are many), The Baby-Sitters Club probably had enough source material to span an entire generation of babysitters. Unfortunately, as beloved as the fan-favorite dramedy was, its second season failed to carve out a spot within Netflix’s daily Top 10 TV Shows rankings, and only showed up once in the service’s weekly rankings. However, its March cancellation was buffered by the recent update that creator Rachel Shukert has renewed plans to shop the series around after its Children & Family Emmys wins.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-2: Netflix
Black Monday
2022 didn’t make it through a whole month without delivering terrible news for one of premium cable’s most gleefully energetic romps, as Showtime’s coked-up stock market comedy Black Monday was given the boot back in January, six months after its third season concluded. Starring Don Cheadle, Regina Hall and an endless line of hilarious actors, Black Monday was seemingly never appreciated by the massive crowds it deserved, and one can only hope that viewers discover the show through streaming.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-3: Showtime / other apps with a Showtime add-on
The Arrowverse And Other DC Shows
A cancellation that incorporates far more than just a single series, The CW put the kibosh on nearly all of its DC Comics fare throughout 2022, as influenced by Nexstar Media Group acquiring a majority ownership stake in the network. The new bosses almost immediately made it clear that fantastical, large-budget programming would be no more, and fans were heartbroken to witness the demises of Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, with The Flash’s final season airing in 2023. As well, Stargirl and Naomi were canceled surrounding the airing of their respective third and first seasons. As of now, The CW is welcoming Superman & Lois back for Season 3, with the debut season of Gotham Knights set for 2023.
Where To Stream: Legends of Tomorrow @Netflix, Stargirl, Batwoman, Naomi @ HBO Max
First Kill
Based on the short story by author V.E. Schwab, and created by the very same writer, First Kill immediately won over fans hungry for a YA-friendly vampire tale that embraced LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. And that hunger resulted in First Kill celebrating a pretty massive debut on Netflix, spending a few weeks in the streamer’s Top 10 rankings and securing more than 100 million hours of viewership during its first 28 days of release. Unfortunately, that somehow wasn’t enough to convince the powers that be to sink their fangs into a second season, and it was cancelled less than two months after arriving, sparking a fan backlash and comments from the showrunner about Netflix’s reportedly substandard marketing ploys.
Where To Stream Season 1: Netflix
Saved By the Bell
Television’s most innovating and progressive continuation/reimagining in recent memory, Saved by the Bell aced all the critical tests, but Bayside High’s elite very sadly didn’t get to graduate to Season 3, with Peacock cancelling the GLAAD Award-winning comedy in May 2022, seven months after it Slater-iffic second season dropped. If only we all had Zack and Daisy’s Time Out powers to go and fudge some paperwork at Peacock.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-2: Peacock
Close Enough
Of all the series that fared terribly during the earliest wave of “HBO Max is going bananas with its content library” news, arguably the most fun and unique show to get axed unceremoniously was the trippy-lite thirty-something animated comedy Close Enough, from Regular Show creator J.Q. Quintel. But while you can still find Mordecai and Rigby on the streaming service, Close Enough was one of many to be excised entirely, and is currently without a proper streaming home.
Where To Stream: No current subscription service, though seasons can be purchased through Prime Video
Other Victims Of Warner Bros. Discovery Merger
Surrounding the aforementioned content culling at HBO Max, much of the summer-to-winter spread was peppered with disappointing news coming out of Warner Bros Discovery, at least with regards to streaming content. Fan-favorite shows such as Legendary, Raised by Wolves, Love Life, Gordita Chronicles, FBOY Island, Minx, The Garcias, Young Justice, and more all getting their runs cut short, regardless of expectations, not to mention unreleased projects such as the animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, starring the late voice-acting icon Kevin Conroy. In Minx’s case, the cancellation came during the final stretch of filming Season 2.
Where To Stream: Those with seasons that haven't been removed can be found at HBO Max
Legacies
With The Vampire Diaries TV franchise co-creator creator Julie Plec having a bazillion shows in development outside of all things WB, perhaps it's fitting that the third entry Legacies was cancelled outright by The CW in final stretch of its fourth (and thus final) season. The show did get to wrap in a way that tied back into its predecessors, but TVD fans will likely never top hoping that Plec & Co. will return to this universe at some point in the future.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-4: Netflix
Westworld
Many Westworld viewers might argue that the dark and labyrinthian drama’s later seasons failed to match the storytelling peaks achieved in Season 1, but Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s twisting and turning tale of humanity’s fight against A.I. sentience remained an intriguing mystery even through lackluster eps and long gaps between seasons. All things considered, light expectations were in place for HBO to allow the show to live out its half-planned five-or-six-season run, but its cancellation may have come to light even without WBD’s merger, considering how far the viewership numbers had fallen from the first to the fourth season.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-4: Currently unavailable through subscription, but will soon be released through Warner Bros. Discovery’s FAST platform.
The Midnight Club
The first episodic take on teen horror icon Christopher Pike's bibliography, The Midnight Club was bolstered by its co-creator team of Midnight Mass and Haunting of Hill House mastermind Mike Flanagan and Bly Manor writer Leah Fong, as well as an emotionally dense story of hospice-bound teenagers coming to grips with their mortalities. Surprisingly, Season 1's viewership success and Top 10 showings were not enough to convince the platform to order up a second season that would have answered the show's many mysteries and plot threads. Thankfully, Flanagan resolved those issues after the cancellation while on his way to a lucrative new deal with Amazon Studios and his dream job of adapting Stephen King's The Dark Tower.
Where To Stream Season 1: Netflix
Paper Girls
Based on the acclaimed comic book series from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, Amazon Studios' Paper Girls was a fun and largely delightful adaptation of the source material, which followed its titular newspaper-delivering teens as their '80s-centered lives became upended after they unwittingly travel through time.
Where To Stream Season 1: Prime Video
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
HBO Max's content library issues in 2022 were certainly rivaled by fellow WBD siblings TBS and TNT, with both networks reversing course on almost all of their original programming plans. And while the go-to option in these situation is usually to adhere to unscripted fare for money-saving reasons, the long-running satirical news and chat show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee was put on the chopping block alongside Chad (which didn't even get to air its produced and delayed second season) and Snowpiercer. As disappointing as it has been to lose Samantha Bee from the small screen, one can only hope she bounces back with something even more full and frontal, as it were.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-3: HBO Max
Where To Stream Seasons 1-7: Available for purchase through Prime Video
Warrior Nun
Despite any story hiccups that critics and viewers might have identified across its two seasons, Netflix’s Warrior Nun was nonetheless celebrated highly for the committed work from stars such as Alba Baptista and Toya Turner, as well as some of the most impressive fight choreography in recent years on any TV format. But its fate turned out as dour as the show’s tone itself, with the streaming service canceling the action-drama a little over a month after its second season debuted.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-2: Netflix
Magnum P.I.
Our final entry here is something of a cheat. Because Magnum P.I.’s unexpected cancellation at CBS back in May was indeed so much of a sun-scorched disappointment that the motivated and dedicated fandom behind the Jay Hernandez-starring crime drama came together in full force and played a big role in convincing NBC execs to swoop in and bring Thomas Magnum & Co. back for Season 5, which is set to debut as part of the 2023 TV lineup.
Where To Stream Seasons 1-4: No subscription services, but available for purchase through Prime Video
Here's hoping we can make it through the first weeks of 2023 without a jumble of cancellation news plaguing all the midseason premieres. But I know that's about as likely as CBS re-rebooting Magnum P.I. while the other version is still airing on NBC. Wait, that actually doesn't sound that impossible...
