Back in the day, the cancellation of a television series meant it would have no chance of coming back, no matter how beloved it was.
Today, thanks to the power of social media and streaming, times have changed. For some shows, cancellation is only the beginning. These are the shows that not only survived cancellation, but in some cases,
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
After five seasons, Fox canceled the Andy Samberg comedy in 2018, but that wasn’t the end.
NBC would immediately pick up the series, which would run for three more seasons, giving the show a proper ending in 2021.
Twin Peaks
It took a while, but we finally got to return to the world of Twin Peaks, even if it took 25 years.
Season three of Twin Peaks was dubbed “The Return,” giving us a pure Lynchian take on things, which means yes, it gave us more questions than answers. But hey, we got to see Laura Dern as Diane!
Community
There’s only one reason why #sixseasonsandamovie still has a chance of happening. After NBC cancelled Community after its fifth season, Yahoo! Screen, of all places, gave us the sixth and final season.
Currently, the movie is in production, but there’s no release date as of yet.
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Party Down
The cult classic Starz comedy saw a quiet two-season run from 2009 through 2010. Given low ratings, its cancellation wasn’t much of a surprise.
However, once the show became popular through social media and streaming, thanks to Adam Scott’s increased star power, renewed interest led to a third season in 2023.
Veronica Mars
From 2004 through 2006, Kristen Bell played the titular Veronica Mars, a high school (and eventual college) student who moonlights as a private investigator.
Like Party Down, it was a cult classic, but never broke into the mainstream audience. Continued fan support led to the eventual release of a movie in 2024, with an eight-episode fourth season airing in 2019.
Arrested Development
The original run of Arrested Development ranks as one of the best comedies you can ever find on television. Despite being a critical darling, the show never found a consistent audience on Fox, and was canceled after three seasons, with the show often pointing fun at its impending cancellation.
Thanks to its popularity on Netflix, the show came back as a Netflix Original for a fourth season in 2013, as well as a fifth in 2018.
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Back at the height of Drew Carey’s popularity, the American adaptation of the British improv series Whose Line Is It Anyway? was a staple in the Valentine household.
Eventually, I’d learn during college that it was a staple in many households, particularly during late-night syndication on cable. This led to the eventual revival on CW, though Aisha Tyler would take over as host, as Carey was hosting The Price is Right as of 2007.
The X-Files
Look, if you ask me, The X-Files should have ended after the seventh season, when David Duchovny left the main cast.
Yet the series went on for two more seasons, eventually ending in 2001, until a feature film was released in 2008, leading into a two-season revival in 2016 and 2018.
Family Guy
There was once a time in recent history when Seth MacFarlane ruled Fox Sunday nights with his animated comedies, but believe it or not, there’s an alternate history where that never happened.
After the first three seasons of Family Guy, Fox would cancel the series due to a sustained drop in viewers. However, the show gained widespread popularity thanks to reruns airing on Adult Swim, leading to a revival in 2005. The show has been airing every year since, with its 24th season beginning October 6th, 2025.
Futurama
Family Guy isn’t the only Fox animated series to find new life thanks to Adult Swim.
Only this time, it was Comedy Central who brought the series back, starting with four movies in 2008. Four additional seasons would air on Comedy Central from 2010 through 2013, where it was once again cancelled…before Hulu revived it starting in 2023. The new season of Futurama begins September 15th, 2025.
Doug
The story of Doug‘s cancellation and revival is interesting because it’s the first show I ever recalled changing channels.
One thing that made this possible was the fact that Nickelodeon, which aired the original three seasons, allowed production studio Jumbo Pictures to purchase back the pilot. This meant that when Nickelodeon canceled the show after four seasons in 1993, it was a seamless transition to air on ABC’s Saturday morning cartoon block, starting in 1996.
Baywatch
“Hold on a minute here,” you may be saying. “The original run of Baywatch had 11 seasons!”
That’s true, but the show was canceled after one season due to low ratings. It wasn’t until a successful syndication run, headlined by David Hasselhoff, that helped give the show new life.
Jericho
No streaming success, no social media campaign. Just lots of nuts being sent to CBS.
In May of 2007, it was reported that 18,000 pounds of nuts were sent to CBS in hopes of bringing Jericho back for a second season. Good news: it worked, with the show coming back for a second and final season in 2008.
Designated Survivor
ABC’s political thriller, where Kiefer Sutherland suddenly becomes the President of the United States after being labeled the designated survivor for the State of the Union, aired on ABC for two seasons.
After its cancellation, Netflix picked it up for a third and final season in 2019.
Cougar Town
You’d figure Bill Lawrence, best known for Scrubs and Ted Lasso, would have free rein over any of his shows to finish as he sees fit.
That wasn’t the case with Cougar Town, after ABC cancelled it in 2012. TBS picked the series up two days later to air a fourth season.
All My Children
After a 41-year run, ABC canceled one of the most iconic soap operas of all time: All My Children ended in 2011. They sold the licensing rights to Prospect Park, who would continue to show online, well before the dawn of streaming.
Prospect Park would then bring back All My Children, again as a web series before the age of streaming, in 2013. It would be canceled again later that year, though.
One Day at a Time
Despite massive critical acclaim, Netflix would cancel One Day at a Time in 2019 following its third season.
This is par for the course for most Netflix shows, along with the show’s fans petitioning for a revival. Unlike most canceled Netflix shows, One Day at a Time would indeed come back in 2020, airing on Pop network.
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