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  1. Entertainment
  2. TV

21 cancelled TV shows Netflix should bring back... please?

Features
By Leon Hurley
Published 3 September 2018

These cancelled TV shows deserve to live again and the streaming service could be the one to do it

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10. Forever

The TV show: All but forgotten already, this 2014-15 ABC show followed Ioan Gruffudd's character Dr. Henry Morgan, a New York City medical examiner who just happens to be a 200-year-old immortal. It was an interesting supernatural take on the procedural crime drama as Morgan solved murders, tried to understand why he can't die and clashed with a 2000-year-old called Adam. 

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: While ABC talked about low viewing figures at the time as the reason for the show's cancellation it looks like a lot of people were watching it uncounted on catch up. The fanbase certainly made itself known with a big push to save the show at the time. Aside from that there's just so much potential for a show that plays with the concept of mortality and dips in and out of multiple times periods (without involving vampires). 

Forever
$15.34at Amazon

9. Deadwood

The TV show: As the drunken, bristling Al Swearengen, Ian McShane delivers his finest role to date in HBO's uber-violent western. Being set shortly after the Civil War in a period of lawlessness allows for the series to fly off the rails. Interestingly enough, the crazy activities taking place in the small town of Deadwood, South Dakota are based on actual people who lived there.

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Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Oh man, have you not seen the fan petitions for this one? Word is that HBO caved and agreed to wrap up the dangling plots with a movie - but this was arguably the cable network's best genre show. Why not keep it serialised? Oh well, there's always Westworld season 2...

8. Pushing Daisies

The TV show: It won Emmys. It received rave reviews. Nothing could save Pushing Daisies from cancellation. Not even the charming Lee Pace, who stars as Ned, a man able to bring anything back to life simply by touching it. It's a terrific pitch that expands into tons of genres as Ned discovers that those same things will die if he touches them again. 

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Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Another great Bryan Fuller show that was cancelled. Seriously - this man's a genius and his work keeps getting axed. There'll come a time when he just won't bother, and we might miss out on the best show ever.

7. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The TV show: Outside of the original cinematic Terminator stories by James Cameron, Josh Friedman's small-screen serial is the best addition to the canon. Like all the crappy sequels, TSCC splinters into a new timeline and follows Sarah and John after the events of Terminator 2. Unlike all those crappy sequels, it feels like an organic part of the chronology created by Cameron; it's action-packed, includes time travel and has amazing characterisation.

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Why Netflix needs to bring it back: So many reasons. Apart from the 'this is the only Terminator sequel that's worthy' factor, season two ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. John meets his dad, his uncle and Alison, the human who inspired the Cameron terminator. Why this wasn't given a third season yet Genisys was greenlit remains a mystery.

6. Penny Dreadful

The TV show: With its cherry picking of Gothic horror mainstays - vamps, werewolves, Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and so on - Penny Dreadful had plenty to play with. It did a fantastic job of creating a violent, gory sexy horror adventure ably handled by a great cast, lead by Eva Green and Timothy Dalton. Freed from the literally constraints of the character's original stories this wove its way through a captivating Victorian London filled with monsters and confrontation. 

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: While the show's creator John Logan seemed adamant that three seasons was enough, it feels like there's still plenty to do. And the fact that the series has been immediately continued in comic book form by co-executive producer Chris King suggests there was plenty more the show could have done. 

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5. Dollhouse

The TV show: One of Joss Whedon's best shows that was cancelled way too soon that isn't Firefly. Dollhouse often gets the short shrift in relation to other Whedonverse shows - but why? It’s concept borders on sci-fi and adventure (similar to Fringe) and stars Eliza Dushku as Echo, an Active 'doll' who works for an organisation that offers its clientele any type of individual they desire. Depending on customer requests, the dolls are given new personalities and skills and wiped clean after each assignment. 

 Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Apparently, the reason Fox didn't cancel it after the first season wasn't due to good ratings. It was fear of Whedon fans ransacking the network, so it was given a second season that hurriedly pulled together the story, and was then dropped. Essentially, though, Dollhouse was remade... it shares so many similarities with Altered Carbon, which appeared this year on Netflix (of all places).

4. Constantine

The TV show: Constantine struggled from the start to land an audience on NBC. It's not hard to see why, when the network tried to sell an irreverent, chain-smoking occult detective to a widespread audience. It wobbled a little to start with and found its footing right when the cancellation order came in. A damn shame, as John Constantine's mystery-solving was a lot of fun.

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Producer David Goyer - who's dabbled in Marvel and DC adaptations - says that the problem wasn't the content, but the network choice. Had Constantine been aired on a cable network its ratings wouldn't have been an issue. Netflix could win big with this, especially in light of Daredevil's success; viewers are lapping up the troubled superhero thing.

3. Marvel's Agent Carter

The TV show: Oh, Peggy. Hayley Atwell reprises her role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the take-no-shit SSR agent, Peggy Carter, kicking ass and taking names. Not wanting to have Atwell saddled in elderly prosthetics - as she was last seen in the movies - the show takes place in the 1940s where Peggy tussles with threats that emerge in post-World War II America. 

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Atwell is simply brilliant. This show is the second Marvel-inspired series with a female lead - and it's equally as powerful as Netflix's own Jessica Jones. 

2. Firefly

The TV show: You knew this was going to be at number one. Joss Whedon's cowboys in space serial only squeezed out one season. And boy, is it a corker. Taking the typical Whedon tropes (ragtag bunch of misfits, genre setting, punchy dialogue) he spins a great blend of sci-fi and action following the crew of the Serenity across the universe. The cast's at the top of their game and the storylines feel fresh. 

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: Let's pretend the wrap-up movie Serenity doesn't exist. Netflix would score MAJOR points for reviving this series. Even if the amount of fans who've petitioned for its return aren't in the millions, the word-of-mouth and social media activity would generate tons of free press for them. But really, they need to bring it back for this one reason:  *spoiler alert*... to correct Wash's fate. 

1. Hannibal

The TV show: Okay, okay, I swear, this is the last entry that's from Bryan Fuller. Creepy, lurid and beautifully-shot, Hannibal is unlike any other TV series in recent memory. It's based on Thomas Harris' original novels, and most people are familiar with the characters from the movies. And yet, it's entirely its own beast. A fucked-up psychological thriller with Hugh Dancy's criminal profiler Will Graham caught in the crosshairs of Mads Mikkelsen's chilling villain, Hannibal Lecter, you won't want to even think about food after watching this. 

Why Netflix needs to bring it back: We only got three seasons but boy, they were something else. If these episodes are indicative of how much Fuller transformed Harris' source material, imagine what he would have done by the time he reached Silence of the Lambs. Yeah, that's where he was planning to go for season 4.

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Leon Hurley
Leon Hurley
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Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.

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