What are some examples of TV series that were released before their time, and thus weren't appreciated and cancelled (in some cases) due to it?
Firefly. Had to be said, cliche after, but for good reason. Gorram Fox
Don't agree. Would've probably done fine if Fox didn't meddle with it like giving it a bad time slot and messing with the order of episodes.
OG Star Trek fits the description. It's hard to imagine now, but Captain Kirk initially only got three years, and was almost cancelled after the first year.
DS9. Later seasons were bingable before streaming and binge watching were a thing.
Lucille Ball saved Star Trek. She loved it.
Famously, Police Squad with Leslie Nielsen... Cancelled after 6 episodes due to being too funny. Then later the Naked Gun movies became very successful.
Fox in the 90s and 00s had a pattern of giving new and interesting shows a chance, and then fucking up the who thing with executive meddling. Everything from the broadcast schedule, the advertising, and then cancelling the show just as it was finding its audience. Firefly is the best example from that era, but there were dozens.
Firefly is the top example, and rightly so. Few remember Wonderfalls, which I consider nearly as tragic.
The original Mobile Suit Gundam.
The original Utopia.
Not the amazon remake.
Possibly even flash forward?
Wild Palms would have been more at home in the streaming era.
I get the impression that "Kings" (2009) would've been more successful on a streamer 5-10 years later.
Totally agree - was a really nifty concept I would have liked to see expounded upon
Freakazoid, great cartoon but was heavily sabotaged by Warner executives and so it was forced to be cancelled... Of course I say that but looking at what they did to Animaniacs and Tiny Toons, I rather have few but great Freakazoid episodes instead of a complete failure.
I remember The Cape being a very early, probably too early, super hero TV show.
It came out right as Marvel was starting to ramp up into the cinematic universe. When superhero media existed and was occasionally successful, but was far from the juggernaut it later became with Endgame. So The Cape was released to audiences more familiar with Saturday morning cartoons, the early Spiderman films, the Dark Knight trilogy, and the flop that was the Fantastic 4. The Cape was a lighthearted and kind of satirical take on superhero tropes, helped by not being tied to an existing IP. It got cancelled after 1 season and had a pretty unsatisfying ending.
A few years later I watched it on Netflix and it taught me an important lesson about making sure a show had a decent conclusion before watching it.