The age of streaming has spoiled us rotten with so many programs that nobody can watch them all, but it’s also brought with it a new kind of heartbreak: loving a show, only to see it vanish before the plot gets into its stride. Some of the bravest, funniest, wackiest, and most innovative shows of the last ten years have also been brutally cancelled too soon—some after one season, others when they were just getting started. Below is our reverse countdown of the 10 most underappreciated and unfairly cancelled streaming series.
10. The Big Door Prize
Suppose a mysterious machine appeared in your town and informed all the residents of their “true potential”? That was the quirky concept behind Apple TV+’s The Big Door Prize, with Chris O’Dowd in charge of a witty, inquisitive, and full-of-secrets sitcom. Just when the tale began to reveal its layers, the show got axed, leaving audiences stuck at a cliffhanger with no way of picking up where they left off.
9. Platonic
Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen’s midlife friend comedy proved that friendship is as fascinating as romance. Breakneck, raw, and laugh-out-loud funny, Platonic blended outrageous shenanigans (lizard thefts and Dobermann assaults) with surprisingly poignant moments. The chemistry was sublime, the dialogue slashing—yet it went under the radar without the commotion it deserved and fell apart before a second season could further polish its charm.
8. High Desert
Patricia Arquette as a retired ex-dealer reinventing herself as a PI? That’s the sort of performance you recall. High Desert was slack, dreamlike, and purely side-splitting, underpinned by Arquette’s manic energy. Critics were over it as “joyously disheveled,” but although it’s customarily compared to smashes like Poker Face, the show flopped before it could find a committed fanbase.
7. The Changeling
Half horror, half fantasy, half allegory, The Changeling featured LaKeith Stanfield in a chiller fairy tale of grief, fatherhood, and transgenerational trauma. It was off-beat, moody, and divisive—but to its fans, the cliffhanger finale was an outrage. Years on, fans are still waiting for (and arguing) when (and if) additional episodes will appear. In the age of streaming, sometimes “weird and ambitious” is not enough to ensure longevity.
6. Bargain
This South Korean thriller is as close as it gets to a decent follow-up to Squid Game. Half survival drama, half satire, Bargain starts with organ trafficking negotiations and descends into absolute mayhem when an earthquake locks everyone inside. Unapologetic, up-in-your-face, and stylishly shot, it was deemed “disturbingly bananas.” Even with its cliffhanger conclusion, though, its own demise is sealed—evidence that streaming fads can vanish before they even get found.
5. Culprits
There was no shortage of double-crosses and high-shine robberies if this was your domain, and Culprits paid dividends. Years after a gigantic heist, the gang is stalked by a masked killer who begins to take them down one by one. With Gemma Arterton masterminding the slaughter and one of the most terrifying serial killers in recent history, it was a stylish, taut thrill ride. And yet, as with so many of its brothers and sisters, it never quite developed the legs to continue.
4. Reservation Dogs
Perhaps the decade’s best solo comedy, Sterlin Harjo’s Reservation Dogs, hung in the balance between off-the-charts craziness and searing critique of history, community, and intergenerational trauma. Tracking a group of Native teenagers in small-town Oklahoma, the show mixed surrealism, humor, and tragedy in equal proportions. Its account of boarding school atrocities in its last season was particularly compelling—but while critically praised, it never achieved the mainstream visibility it deserved.
3. Swarm
Swarm by Donald Glover was biting, haunting, and unforgettable. Dominique Fishback’s terrifying performance as a fan whose obsession with a pop star turns violent, Billie Eilish’s unsettling cult-leader cameo, and Malia Obama’s cameo all contributed to making the writers’ room. It was heartbreakingly timely, satirical, and incendiary—but too ambitious and dark to penetrate.
2. My Lady Jane & The Acolyte
Both were canceled after a single season, and such programs are the streaming era’s greatest failing: canceling series that are ambitious before they have ever had a chance to get their launches in the air. My Lady Jane reimagined Tudor history as romance and comedy, and The Acolyte aimed to introduce a new Star Wars universe to the fold. People were ready to get behind them, but the brakes were applied too early. Because critics complain, few viewers will even begin a show until they have assurances that it’ll get a resolution, so early cancellation is self-destructive.
1. The One-Season Wonder Problem
This isn’t a matter of mass bad luck for the occasion of one or two bad episodes—it’s systemic. Over and over, streaming platforms cut down valuable shows if they fail to go viral immediately overnight. Season-defining series like Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life showed years ago that fleeting shows could make a huge impact, but in the current environment, innovative and diverse stories are being subjected to unattainable standards. As one fan put it: “Some shows need time to grow. We’re cutting them down before they can even bloom.” The truth is, streaming has given us more stories than ever before—but it’s also made it harder for those stories to last.
Here’s to the shows that burned bright and vanished far too soon. Let them continue to live in our queues, our re-watches, and our recommendations—memories that sometimes, greatness doesn’t require ten seasons to leave an impact.