Despite the fact that there are more TV channels and streaming services than ever before, it somehow hasn’t tipped the scales in new shows’ favor by way of guaranteeing anything will last longer than a single season. It remains hard out here for new and original content that doesn’t tie into massive franchises like Star Wars and the MCU, but even shows that are based on popular IP have just as much trouble as others in attaining and then maintaining audiences. To the point where there have already been a steady number of cancellations so far in 2022 that qualify for Gone Too Soon status, and each of the shows listed below were only given a single season before their fates were sealed.
Whether we’re talking broadcast, premium cable or streaming, all kinds of shows have had their plugs pulled despite only putting out lone seasons. So let’s dive into all the projects we know about so far that won’t be returning for second seasons.
Cooking With Paris (Netflix)
Formerly one of reality TV's most noteworthy queens, Paris Hilton returned to the spotlight in the 2021 thanks to her engagement-turned-marriage to Carter Reum, as well as her podcast This Is Paris. And for whatever reason, Netflix decided she was the best choice to host a quasi-kitchen series, with Cooking with Paris debuting in August 2021, boasting guests such as Kim Kardashian and Demi Lovato. Viewers apparently didn’t think the show was “so bomb,” though, and it was just five months later when the streaming service officially cancelled Cooking with Paris.
American Rust (Showtime)
Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer, American Rust’s TV journey started in 2017 when it was developed as a USA original series. That didn’t pan out, but Showtime stepped up in 2019 and successfully brought the project to life with stars such as The Comey Rule’s Jeff Daniels and The Affair’s Maura Tierney. Unfortunately, the cast was one of the only things about American Rust that earned praise, and viewers weren’t quick to tune in throughout the first season’s nine episodes. So it wasn’t so surprising when Showtime revealed in January 2022 that the crime drama wouldn’t be returning for Season 2.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (Prime Video)
Considering how popular dark and horror-driven YA content and whodunnits have been in recent years, it perhaps wasn’t a huge surprise that Amazon Studios plunged a fisherman’s hook into a TV iteration of the ‘90s slasher hit I Know What You Did Last Summer. But as fun as it might have been for the young cast to try and solve things, it doesn’t appear as if viewers were on the same page. Having debuted in October 2021 as Halloween-centric fare, I Know What You Did Last Summer earned mixed reviews and didn’t garner much buzz during its eight-episode run, and was quietly killed off by Prime Video in January 2022.
Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Peacock)
Understandably, Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol was initially meant to be adapted into a feature film as a follow-up to the success of Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, which starred Tom Hanks as the mystery-discovering Robert Langdon. That project never came to fruition, though, and around a decade later, the novel was rebirthed as a TV series for NBCU’s streaming service Peacock, with the Fear Street trilogy star Ashley Zukerman as Langdon. With mixed reviews and a fairly lacking response from viewers, Peacock ended The Lost Symbol’s run in January 2022, two months after its final episode.
Ordinary Joe (NBC)
Ordinary Joe’s existence stretches back to its original conception in 2006, though it didn’t actually move forward until 2018, and it still took another three years for it to officially surface as a full-blown series, with James Wolk in the title role. For the most part, reactions to the show skewed positive, with the stars and the premise keeping viewers and critics interested. But it clearly wasn’t enough to keep Ordinary Joe around for very long, and none of its final four episodes post-hiatus hit over 1.5 million viewers during their Monday night airings. As such, NBC cancelled the dramedy in March 2022
Promised Land (ABC)
A series that ABC no doubt hoped would continue its streak of popular diversity-driven dramas, Promised Land was a generation-spanning tale of two blended Latino families working to maintain the success of a family-run vineyard in Southern California. Unfortunately, the series debuted to wildly low numbers for a scripted broadcast drama — 1.89 million viewers, and a 0.2 rating for the 18-49 age demographic — and ABC effectively cancelled it by pulling it from the schedule after just five episodes. The remaining five were shifted over for weekly releases on Hulu, but there’s been no word on the streaming service reviving the drama for a second season.
Archive 81 (Netflix)
The relatively rare TV show to be based on a horror podcast instead of something in the true crime genre, Archive 81 initially seemed like a quick hit for Netflix, as it held high spots in the genre-embracing streaming service’s Top 10 following its debut in January 2022. Despite that, and despite the fact that the showrunner embedded the first season with hints and clues about where the story would go in the future, Netflix dropped the axe on the found-footage series, with relatively small chances of another season happening elsewhere.
Nick Cannon (Syndicated)
As the host of both Fox’s The Masked Singer and VH1’s Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N’ Out, Nick Cannon knows how to front a TV series with the best of them. And by all means, his syndicated talk show seemed like it would be a hit with viewers, even after its long delay due to Cannon’s own controversies. However, the talk show was effectively cancelled by its studio/distributor Debmar-Mercury ahead of a planned hiatus Cannon was taking to attend to other hosting duties. The company reversed its plans to pay the rest of the crew for their time off during that stretch, and Nick Cannon won’t be returning after its banked set of episodes has finished airing.
The Big Leap (Fox)
Following the extended success of Scandal, actor Scott Foley took on the promising high-profile series Whiskey Cavalier opposite The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan, which was cancelled before its 13-episode season had even finished. He followed that up by joining Fox’s The Big Leap in early 2020, though progress was delayed due to COVID-related setbacks. But after everything finally came together and the show debuted its premiere in September 2021, it just didn’t bring in the kind of audience that would have secured its future, as the musical dramedy’s first ep was watched by 1.47 million people on the night it aired, and that was its season-high stat. Three months after The Big Leap’s December 2021 finale, Fox officially cancelled it.
On The Verge (Netflix)
Netflix has seemingly picked up the habit of cancelling shows after a single season, and though it tends to cancel multi-season shows just as often, the label has stuck. And the argument was given more fuel when the streaming service cancelled On the Verge, a dramedy created by Julie Delpy about women in their 40s attempting to regain control on what they envisioned their lives would be by that point. The series didn’t spark many conversations when it arrived in September 2021, and early opinions compared the show to Girls and Sex and the City in not so glorious ways. So perhaps it was no surprise when news of its cancellation was shared by Delpy herself.
Check out our full list of shows that are ending in 2022, and stay tuned for more updates as new rounds of cancellations are announced.
