TV Shows That Failed to Survive the 2014-15 Season
by Kate Stanhope
5/5/15


The 2014-15 TV season was a brutal one for freshman shows and long-running favorites alike.

THR looks back on the series that didn't make it to the Upfronts.




"A to Z"

While receiving favorable reviews from critics, "A to Z" premiered to mediocre numbers in its 9:30 p.m. Thursday period following fellow freshman comedy "Bad Judge".

NBC announced in October that the romantic comedy, starring Ben Feldman and Cristin Milioti, would not continue beyond its initial 13-episode run.





"Bad Judge"

Headlined by Kate Walsh, "Bad Judge" opened to 5.9 million total viewers and a 1.2 among adults 18-to-49, on par with lead-in "The Biggest Loser's" haul.

However, NBC opted not to order additional episodes beyond the initial order in October along with fellow short-lived Thursday comedy "A to Z".





"Glee"

Several months after the sudden passing of star Cory Monteith, co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed that season six would be the last for the Fox musical.

After the ratings plummeted in season five, Fox cut the show’s final order down to 13 episodes and moved the struggling series to Fridays at 9 p.m.





"Gracepoint"

The adaptation of the British series "Broadchurch" opened to an underwhelming 1.2 rating and failed to get any kind of notable time-shifting boost.

The crime drama went off the air quietly in December, pulling a 0.9 rating.





"Kitchen Nightmares"

Prolific TV chef Gordon Ramsay has five series on Fox including "Hell’s Kitchen", "Hotel Hell", "MasterChef" and "MasterChef Junior".

So his June 2014 announcement that he "decided to stop making Kitchen Nightmares", an international hit that first launched in the U.K. in 2004, didn’t come as too much of a surprise.





"Manhattan Love Story"

Don’t remember this one? That’s because this romcom was the first broadcast series to get the ax from ABC after debuting to a tepid 1.3 rating in the demo.

When the series dropped to a 0.7 in the key demo in week three, it was only a matter of time.





"Mulaney"

Heralded as the new "Seinfeld", hype was high for the former SNL writer’s comedy, which received an order for 10 additional episodes before it premiered.

When the show debuted to a dismal 1.0 rating, its episode order was reduced back to 13 and it was eventually moved from Sundays at 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.





"Parenthood"

It wasn't that NBC was necessarily ready to say goodbye to the Bravermans. They were just ready to say goodbye to the show's skyrocketing costs.

The sprawling ensemble cast of 15 was asked to take a pay cut in order to make the family drama "more economically feasible" for its final, abbreviated run of 13 episodes and several of the show's biggest stars, including Peter Krause, sat out several episodes to help keep the budget tight.





"Parks and Recreation"

Despite constant acclaim from critics, the Amy Poehler single-cam comedy was a perennial bubble show throughout its NBC run.

So the fact that the show received advanced notice that the shortened 7th Season would be the last was a tiny miracle in itself. It went off the air in February.





"Revenge"

Although ABC officially announced the end was nigh only weeks ahead of the May season finale, the decision to end "Revenge" surprised few.

The four-year-old show has been creatively wrapping up its ongoing mythology, and the ratings have dwindled since its breakout launch four years ago.





"Selfie"

The Karen Gillan-John Cho comedy debuted to a soft 1.6 rating and followed its time slot companion "Manhattan Love Story" to the TV graveyard.

The comedy was pulled after 7 episodes, but the remaining 6 aired on Hulu to the delight of the small but loyal fanbase.





"Two and a Half Men"

Once the top-rated comedy on TV, viewership dipped in recent years, mainly due to stars Charlie Sheen and Angus T. Jones leaving.

CBS announced at the 2014 Upfronts that the 12th season would be its last. The Chuck Lorre comedy ended as one of TV's longest-running multi-cam shows in history.





"Utopia"

"Utopia" was anything but an ideal experience. The social experiment debuted to low ratings in September and failed to add viewers with time-shifting.

Fox first dropped weekly Tuesday episodes to draw views to Friday in October, but ultimately pulled the plug after two months.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/canceled-tv-shows-792877

I'm always a firm believer in letting a show try to grow before you might have to cancel it. These shows showed that they were in the right. 1.0? 1.7? I can see why they cancelled it.

The ONLY show I like on this list is "Revenge". I will miss it.

Revenge JTS a long time ago. The only other show that was quality was Parenthood. The rest mehhhh.

I'm always a firm belietver in letting a show try to grow before you might have to cancel it. These shows showed that they were in the right. 1.0? 1.7? I can see why they cancelled it.

I'm always reminded of Cheers which barely survived its first season in last place only to become a major hit show. A show with its original ratings would never survive today.

Glad Parks And Rec is over, but you should have kept Community along the way. Community is doing well in Yahoo! stream and it did went over 100 episodes, congrats to Community!

No, not Kitchen Nightmares! That show was awesome. The people were so stupid and clueless and although many people thinks he's an ass, I like Gordon Ramsey and he was good in this, and if he were an a-hole on here, it's because the people again were clueless morons who sometimes engaged in dangerous practices and/or their kitchen or dining room was filthy.

Oh well. Lots of reruns. I still say that Burger Kitchen beats out Amy's Baking Company for top nutbags.

Lastly, Gordon Ramsey curses more than I do!

I also hate to be negative, but this was the worst new crop of shows ever. Not one new show from 2014-2015 I liked at all. Parks and Recreation is over, and Modern Family and The Middle to me are not funny anymore, especially Modern Family which has gotten so pretentiously pretentious.

Good new shows I liked this year.....Fargo, Transparent, Better Call Saul, Kimmy Schmidt. It's no big deal if a new season is a total flop though, there is Internet and basically 65 years of television for me to browse online.

The ONLY show I like on this list is "Revenge". I will miss it.

me too...really enjoyed the show.

I'm a little surprised that they cancelled Cristela. I didnt watch the show but I thought ABC pushed for it hard.

The only new shows I tuned into were Fargo, BBC America's limited-run series Intruders, and WGN's original horror period drama Salem, which became an instant success and is in its second season. I tried Stalker but quit after three episodes. The cast had no chemistry and the leads were so unlikable, and it looks like everyone else quit on it too.

I'm a little surprised that they cancelled Cristela. I didnt watch the show but I thought ABC pushed for it hard.
Cristela was cancelled?

Cristela was cancelled?Yes.

Cristela was cancelled?
That's actually good news, I didn't like it sort of felt like a female version of George Lopez's show with the cliche nagging mom.

And Mulaney being billed as the next Seinfeld? Yeah it was an already tired "seen that" trend and the dude had no charisma at all.

I'm always a firm believer in letting a show try to grow before you might have to cancel it. These shows showed that they were in the right. 1.0? 1.7? I can see why they cancelled it.

Parks & Recreation ran for 7 seasons and was consistently at the bottom of the heap in the ratings. I mean, literally, no one watched going by the ratings. It seems these days if a show is liked by the network executives, it stays on. Audiences have little input anymore.