The year is racing toward a close. We’ve already given you our rundown of best televisions shows from 2018, and our list of best performances, and a list of fun highlights. Now, it’s time for goodbyes. Below, please find our loving tribute to the shows we lost this year, whether they ended on their own or had their runs cut short by outside forces. Good night, sweet princes and princesses. We will never forget you. At least not until the new shows come out in 2019.
GROUP I — Shows that said goodbye on their own terms
We lost a few good ones this year, folks. The biggest one was The Americans. What a good and stressful — so stressful, my god — show that was, one that never quite got the credit or acclaim it deserved. The final season was excellent, too. It’s not easy to stick a landing with that combination of expectations and rigid real-life world events dictating your endpoint (they couldn’t just, like, have had the Russians win the Cold War and let Elizabeth become Czar of Maryland, even though that would have been wild), but they did it, man. They really did it. I’ll never be able to look at a paintbrush or hear U2 the same way.
Other shows reaching a natural endpoint included Scandal and New Girl. Scandal kind of careened off the rails toward the end but, in fairness, the fact that it stayed on the rails as long as it did was a minor miracle. That show was nuts. Fun and fast and addictive as all hell (the first three seasons are basically pharmaceutical-strength amphetamines), but totally nuts. And New Girl, well, I’ll miss that show dearly. What started as a star vehicle for Zooey Deschanel morphed into one of television’s best hangout sitcoms. It was as silly as it was warm and even when its wheels spun a little, it still gave us a handful of genius Nick Miller lines to save the whole thing. We’re running out of fun hangout sitcoms. It’s not okay. — Brian Grubb
GROUP II — Fun comedies that we lost too soon
This year was kind of a bloodbath when it came to comedies with endless potential getting the axe. There were enough comedies getting canceled in their second seasons that it made you wonder why their networks even renewed them past their already low-rated first seasons in the first place. (Especially a show like Trial & Error, which was great… but also extremely under-the-radar.) Of all of these cancellations, American Vandal was possibly the most surprising — as a Peabody Award-winning comedy, one that couldn’t have been too expensive to make, and as proof that Netflix has no problem canceling anything and everything these days. And then the year ended with the cancellation of the joyous and beloved Detroiters right behind it, as Comedy Central’s entire plan for original programming is more of an enigma than anything else. So, um, watch your back, Corporate?
But at the same time, while it hurt to witness these comedies get something of a second chance at life only to just have the plug pulled after the fact, at least these second seasons allowed us to get something more than the one-and-done treatment that breeds even more contempt. (I suppose if you’re going to cancel a sitcom, you might as well cancel it at two seasons. One season allows it to live on in infamy. For example, I’m still not over Ben and Kate’s cancellation, and that was back in 2013. And three seasons is just a jerk move. If a network lets a show make it to three seasons, there should be an unspoken agreement that the show will at least get a full solid four or five seasons before the plug is actually pulled. See: Happy Endings.) The Mick’s second season fully transformed the series into the surreal, live-action cartoon it was always meant to be — one could say it got too weird for FOX, between finger-chopping that only lasted an episode and season-ending electrocution comas — and Great News stealthily pulled off a really solid season of a series that was always doomed to live in the shadows of both 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. (But Briga Heelan and Nicole Richie both deserve their day in the comedy sun once more, hopefully soon.) Rest in power, Diana St. Tropez. — LaToya Ferguson
GROUP III — Netflix’s Marvel apocalypse
Two years ago, I made a lame joke about how it was less news if Netflix renewed one of its Marvel shows (this was back when Luke Cage was renewed for a second season) and more news if it ever actually canceled one. It’s funnier how the television climate can change in such a relatively short time, because now there are three canceled Netflix Marvel shows: Iron Fist, which was expected; Luke Cage, which was less expected but people thought maybe it was all a Heroes For Hire thing; Daredevil, which should’ve been expected because of the first two but kind of wasn’t, because it was Daredevil. And once Jessica Jones and The Punisher drop their next seasons, there will probably be two more. (It’s not official, but it’s totally official, right?) The Netflix Marvel series have never been what you call “perfect” — Netflix really has yet to create a “perfect” drama on any front, Marvel or otherwise — but they were somewhat considered constants. Sometimes that meant being constant when it came to being too many episodes for the story material it actually had, but still, constant. Netflix seemingly went so long without canceling shows until it finally did, but the Netflix Marvel shows had that “too big to fail” mentality surrounding them. Iron Fist’s cancellation really didn’t leave a dent in that mentality, because, well, it was Iron Fist, but the Luke Cage and Daredevil — both coming off of great seasons — certainly did.
Of course, I’m still willing to believe my theory that these Marvel cancellations actually have nothing to do with streaming and property rights wars and instead are the result of Rachael Taylor channeling the energy of her past failed series (Charlie’s Angels, 666 Park Avenue, and Crisis) and directing that energy at opposing Netflix Marvel series in order to keep Jessica Jones alive and well. Of course, that’s a theory I know will immediately come crashing down once Jessica Jones season three finally actually drops and gets the Netflix cancellation treatment… But until then, that’s clearly what’s happening. It softens the blow. — LaToya Ferguson
GROUP IV — Weird goodbyes caused by problematic stars
Roseanne and Kevin Spacey don’t have a ton in common. I mean, I assume. Or at least they didn’t have a lot in common before this year. But then both of them got fired from their popular television shows (Roseanne, Roseanne; Spacey, House of Cards) and their characters were killed off off-screen (Roseanne, overdose; Spacey, murdered) and the show tried to limp along without them. House of Cards ended in proper form, with Robin Wright becoming president for a final season. Roseanne, the show, ended and became something new, The Conners, that lacked the buzz and ratings of the original. Who knows how much longer it will last? Not me. Someone, probably. — Brian Grubb
GROUP V — Miscellaneous
It was a banner year for shows I said I was going to watch but never did. Portlandia, Casual, Love, The Middle. Timeless ended too, after almost ending like three different times, and considering that I spent the show’s entire run about 6-8 episodes behind, I should finish mid-2020. And Nashville ended. Some people loved that show. I think. I could never tell from the tweets if people loved or hated it, to be honest. I’ll never find out for sure at this point. I’m okay with it.
I do have an excuse for missing these shows, though. I was too busy watching shows like Deception (a disgraced magician begins working with the FBI) and Take Two (a disgraced actress played by Rachel Bilson begins working with a private eye). Neither show was very good and both also ended this year. The important thing here is that I don’t have to explain myself to you. — Brian Grubb
Speaking of a comedy gone too soon, LA to Vegas didn’t even get to come close to its true potential, which was much more entertaining — and of course, weirder — than the FOX promos based on “funny Dylan McDermott!” would’ve had you to believe. (To be fair, Dylan McDermott was actually quite funny on this show. As was Dermot Mulroney.) It was still finding itself, as a first season show, but it had enough of the weird energy of early Happy Endings to suggest it could’ve been a contender. Plus, the producers were even willing to bust out an unnecessary but understandable Will Ferrell guest spot to keep it alive; but no one could have imagined that, on top of the ratings of it all — which were truly rough stuff — FOX was planning to go broader with its sitcoms. That fact pretty much killed this, The Mick, and even attempted to kill Brooklyn Nine-Nine. — LaToya Ferguson
