52 Cancelled TV Shows That Came Back

By Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine
Published April 28, 2017, 11:07 a.m. ET

At this difficult time of year, as underperforming TV show after underperforming TV show gets dragged to the woodshed, one could find solace in the fact that the dead sometimes do rise again.

But should you find comfort in that?

As part of what we’ll call our Cancellation Season Survival Guide, TVLine rounded up 52 comeback stories — as old as Leave It to Beaver and as recent as the imminent Twin Peaks revival — that had been declared dead (or were damn close to flatlining), only to live another day (literally, if you’re 24‘s Jack Bauer).

Launch Gallery: Cancelled TV Shows That Came Back

The reasons for resuscitation are wide-ranging, from the network that decided it was worth it to produce My Three Sons in color, to the fans of Jericho who truly drove CBS nuts. There are many instances of, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” — something NBC perhaps should have considered before gift-wrapping for CBS what would turn out to be 34 seasons of JAG/NCIS goods! And, yes, there have been the few occasions a scrapped show made the leap to the big screen (for better or for worse).

But again, this trip down memory lane is not meant to get your hopes up for when your fave show falls. Nowhere here will you see a caption that says, “The Change.org petition got the job done!” Jericho‘s is a great story, but one that has only been somewhat replicated once, by the Chuck fans and their six-inchers. And it should be noted that everyone’s go-to “savior,” Netflix, hasn’t rescued a freshly cancelled series in two-and-a-half years, since Longmire.

Flip through the attached gallery (click here for direct access) and tell us which resurrection most pleased you.

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