The Saddest TV Cancellations of 2022

To quote noted educator and former renegade radio DJ Mr. Belding, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?!” Tracey Wigfield’s sophisticated Saved by the Bell revival was one of the straight-up funniest shows on streaming, expertly combining silly humor with some of the smartest joke writing you’ll see on the small screen. The criminally underrated sitcom was a master class on how to successfully revive a beloved show of a bygone era as it delicately threaded the needle between originality and nostalgia. If we lived in a fair and just world, Tracey Wigfield would be putting the finishing touches on her next revival: Saved by the Bell: The College Years. — Josh Sorokach

WHERE TO STREAM SAVED BY THE BELL

What’s my villain origin story, you may ask? It’s Tuca & Bertie getting canceled not once, but twice, this time by Adult Swim. The delightful animated comedy follows two humanlike birds, Tuca and Bertie, respectively voiced by Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, while they navigate the highs and lows of adulthood and everything that comes with it. Their tight knit friendship prevails against all odds, even when the previous season saw Tuca’s new girlfriend Kara (Sasheer Zamata) growing jealous of the two and Bertie preparing to move into a new house with her longtime boyfriend Speckle (Steven Yeun). Season 3 brought plenty of fun along with a rollercoaster of emotions as Tuca begins dating a new person, Figgy (Matthew Rhys), and finds out that he’s an alcoholic, and Bertie further examines the traumatic sexual assault she experienced in her childhood. It is rare for an animated show to be this fearless in navigating murky topics, yet Tuca & Bertie did it with ease and still managed to feel deeply rooted within reality. Here’s hoping another network picks them up because no other show packs this much heart. I hear third time’s the charm! — Raven Brunner

WHERE TO STREAM TUCA AND BERTIE

Rebecca Rittenhouse brought all of her Mindy Project/Four Weddings and a Funeral charm to screen as the titular character in Maggie on Hulu. Written and executive produced by Justin Adler and Maggie Mull, Season 1’s 13 episodes followed Maggie, a psychic, as she navigated work, relationships, and all of life’s challenges. Maggie‘s delightful cast featured David Del Rio, Nichole Sakura, and Chris Elliott. And though the show didn’t make our Best TV Shows of 2022 list, it was a quality comfort watch and a lighthearted escape from reality. Maggie delivered a fair share of laughs, love, and chaos — and for that, it deserved a place in our future.— Nicole Gallucci

WHERE TO STREAM MAGGIE

The world needed a good legal drama/rom-com hybrid, and Netflix’s Partner Track delivered. The series, created by Georgia Lee and based on Helen Wan’s 2013 novel, starred the winsome Arden Cho as Ingrid Yun, one of New York City’s talented young attorneys who’s trying to become partner at her male-dominated law firm, Parsons Valentine and Hunt. Season 1’s first 10-episodes show Ingrid navigating relationships and office politics. And though the series was a refreshingly breezy binge, it never shied away from tackling serious topics like toxic workplaces and racism. With Season 1 ending on a major cliffhanger, it’s a shame we won’t get to see more of Yun’s unique story. — Nicole Gallucci

WHERE TO STREAM PARTNER TRACK

OK, yes, technically Julie and the Phantoms was canceled in December 2021. But because Netflix announced the news so late in the year, this musical teen series never got the eulogy it deserved. Produced by the iconic Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, The Descendants), this heartfelt comedy-drama followed a high school musician named Julie (played by the charming Madison Reyes) who accidentally summons the ghosts of an alt-rock band who died in 1995. Julie, who is also processing the death of her mother, becomes the lead singer of this new ghost band. Teen romance, drama, and shenanigans ensue. Isn’t that premise just dripping with potential? But despite a loyal fanbase and positive critical reception, Netflix canceled the show after just one season. How can you cancel Kenny Ortega?! This is the man who made “Bet On It” a reality! No respect. — Anna Menta

WHERE TO STREAM JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

It was a Spring that will live in infamy. Though the news that The CW network was going through a sale — from previous owners WarnerMedia and Paramount to broadcast titan Nexstar — was bubbling in the background, over the course of a few weeks the axe came down on nearly half the slate of dramas that aired on the teen focused network. One after the other, the channel that often seemed allergic to cancellations killed shows like they were slashers in a horror movie. That included Arrow-verse series like Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, the final (for now) show in The Vampire Diaries franchise Legacies, and many, many more. And it didn’t stop there. The Flash and Riverdale are entering their final seasons next year, multiple other shows have been canceled since that fateful Spring, and ultimately it’s a question mark if any of the currently running series will continue into the 2023-2024 TV season. And that stinks. Though The CW’s slate was anything other than a ratings monster, the network inspired devoted fans who loved to love, and loved to hate the channel’s series in equal measure. There’s a place for that, and despite the proliferation of CW-style clones on nearly every streaming service, there’s no network that has the focus on often goofy, often romantic, always teen focused (despite us finding out via Nexstar that the average broadcast viewing age was 58) programming like The CW did. Though the shows may be gone, there’s a gap there looking to be filled, if some intrepid streaming service wants to jump back into the breach. Or to use the parlance of the nearly gone network: dare to defy. — Alex Zalben

WHERE TO STREAM LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

Tony award winner and national treasure Annaleigh Ashford found a true star vehicle in the canceled-too-soon CBS sitcom B Positive. Season 1 focused on the connection between Drew Dunbar (Thomas Middleditch) and his former high school pal Gina Dabrowski (Ashford)  after she agreed to give him a kidney. Season 2 changed the concept of the show completely… and for the better. At the beginning of Season 2, Gina won the lottery (!) and bought the retirement home she used to work for. She enlists a rag-tag team of employees to help wrangle the unruly crew of demanding, but endearing senior citizens, played by Hector Elizondo, Ben Vereen, Jane Seymour and Linda Lavin. Zany, smart and incredibly heartfelt, B Positive deserved a Season 3.  At least we’ll always have the show’s incredible theme song and musical number. — Karen Kemmerle

WHERE TO STREAM B POSITIVE

How dare you cast Ginnifer Goodwin, Eliza Coupe, and Maggie Q in a sitcom and then cancel it after one season? These TV vets effortlessly won over their viewers with their sweet faces, multifaceted characters, and sassy storylines. Pivoting follows three best friends as they decide to “pivot” their lives after losing their friend Coleen to cancer. But unfortunately, some of these changes weren’t all for the best, or maybe they were, who knows? We’ll never see how it pans out in the long run. One quits her job as a surgeon to instead, become a cashier, while the other two embark on an affair and decide to spend more time with her children. The beauty of a show like this is that it welcomes its viewer to yell “What are you doing?” at the screen while falling deeper and deeper for these amusing antics. Pivoting, you will be missed. — Raven Brunner

I’ll say it loud, and I’ll say it proud: Andrew Dabb’s Resident Evil was fun. Did it follow the confusing lore of Capcom? Absolutely not. But what it did was capture the distinct blend of body horror, mind-blowing twists, and unexpected whimsy that have made these games iconic for decades. It’s sad that this series was so short for this world because Tamara Smart and Sienna Agudong’s performances paired with the inspired creature design kept me pressing play. In another universe where this series was divorced from the expectations of the Resident Evil fandom, it’s not hard to imagine this one becoming a cult hit. But alas, that is not the universe we occupy. At least we’ll always have that deeply upsetting Dua Lipa dance. — Kayla Cobb

WHERE TO STREAM RESIDENT EVIL

One title axed amid the HBO Max massacre of 2022 that definitely deserved more time is Raised By Wolves. Aaron Guzikowski’s wild sci-fi spectacle constantly surprised even the most hardened genre fans with wild twists, outrageous imagery, and spellbinding performances from the likes of Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Travis Fimmel, and Niamh Algar. The fact that Raised By Wolves was cancelled is even more tragic considering how Season 2 ended: with Mother trapped in a AI prison and Marcus’s corpse floating upside down like an inverted crucifix. What happens next? What does it all mean? Are we really going to have to wait for Aaron Guzikowski to make a graphic novel version of the ending? — Meghan O’Keefe

HOW TO WATCH RAISED BY WOLVES

Honestly, this cancellation was rude and dare I say antifeminist? Alissa Nutting’s black comedy about love and technology was an inspired look at the myriad of ways modern life keeps us connected, especially when we want to be apart. There simply isn’t a creator who revels in the disturbing goods and evils of technology like Nutting, and no one is better at playing enlightened, angry women than Cristin Milioti. It was a match made in hell, and we were robbed of it in the wake of the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger. The only silver lining here is that since Made for Love is based on the book of the same name, there is more to discover about this bizarre world. But still, shame. — Kayla Cobb

WHERE TO STREAM MADE FOR LOVE

Remember the Full House episode where Stephanie drove Joey’s car through the kitchen? That essentially sums up HBO Max’s year after Discovery purchased Warner Bros. Let’s talk about the unceremonious and downright offensive axing of Legendary, the groundbreaking vogueing competition series that brought ballroom culture to the masses — including areas of this very country that are outwardly hostile toward the LGBTQ+ community. The pure power Legendary wielded, being the only show on television with — no exaggeration — close to 50 queer people very visibly onscreen slaying. The stunts the houses pulled on stage were regularly iconic, and you could not find more passionate (and sassy) judges on television. And seriously, HBO Max, you possess the one TV show featuring Keke Palmer and you choose now to cancel it? Are you foolish?? Now Legendary’s gotten the chop and HBO Max is making room for entire collections from Chip and Joanna “We Don’t Do Politics” Gaines. The world is not right. — Brett White

WHERE TO STREAM LEGENDARY

How you gonna do Jakey J like that, David Zaslav? Minx‘s first season was a frothy, fun, and feminist look at the formation of a men’s magazine in the 1970s. No, not a everyday men’s magazine like Esquire or GQ, but rather a men’s magazine where THE MEN WERE THE ONES GETTING NAKED. This show was sexy, sure, but it was also smart, critically acclaimed, and drew a big enough audience to earn a second season order from HBO Max. That is, until Warner Bros. Discovery CGO (Chief Grinch Officer) David Zaslav pulled the plug on the show in a desperate effort to cut costs. (Yes, apparently it’s LESS EXPENSIVE to shelve a completed movie or completed season of television than it is to, you know, actually air it.) BOO ON YOU, ZAS! —Mark Graham

In addition to fan-favorite series like Raised By Wolves, Made For Love, and Legendary, HBO Max announced it was canceling other prestige picks including Westworld and The Nevers, along with Minx (see above), Love Life, Gordita Chronicles, and a slew of nearly 40 animated titles. Not only is the streaming service ceasing production on the series, but HBO Max will eventually remove them from the platform all together. So now fans are left to wonder and hope that the shows will find new homes where they can live on through reruns. — Nicole Gallucci