The best shows of the ’00s were mostly successful, well-loved and enduring, but there were plenty of other great shows during the decade that could have been just as iconic if given the chance. Here’s a look at the best short-lived TV comedies of the decade, the ones whose ends stung the most. It’s the worst TV comedy cancellations of the ’00s (presented in chronological order).
Sports Night (ABC, 1998-2000)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Aaron Sorkin’s comedy-drama about the backstage goings-on at a nightly sports program just skated into the 2000s in its second and final season, by which point it was pretty clear how doomed the show was. Sorkin was already moving on to his much more successful political drama The West Wing, and ABC had already meddled with the show via imposed laugh tracks and lackluster promotion. It’s too bad, because Sorkin can be quite funny when he reigns in his self-importance, and when Sports Night ended, so did Sorkin’s dalliance with sitcoms.
Norm (ABC, 1999-2001)
Image courtesy of PriceGrabber
Norm MacDonald never really fit into the sitcom-star mold, and he’s long since given up trying, instead making a career out of stand-up comedy and talk-show appearances. But for a little while ABC actually gave his extreme deadpan style a TV outlet on Norm (also known as The Norm Show), and no doubt MacDonald’s peculiar brand of anti-comedy turned off a lot of viewers. But it’s shows like this one that most need time to grow, to play with the basic sitcom format, and ABC never gave MacDonald that. Of course, it’s not like he ever seemed to care.
Grosse Pointe (The WB, 2000-2001)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Darren Star is best known for creating Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place (as well as Sex and the City), but he took his glossy nighttime-soap experience and tweaked it with this send-up of the then-prevalent WB teen-drama formula. Grosse Pointe took place behind the scenes of a fictional series, populated by some very recognizable TV-star archetypes. They might have been a little too recognizable for WB fans and executives, who pulled the plug on the show after only 17 episodes, preferring perhaps to let their melodramas about tortured pretty people go unsatirized.
The Job (ABC, 2001-2002)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Before going on to much critical acclaim and awards nominations with the FX series Rescue Me, about dysfunctional New York City firefighters, Denis Leary starred in and co-created (along with Rescue Me co-creator Peter Tolan) The Job, about dysfunctional New York City cops. The Job was like Rescue Me without the tortured melodrama, instead focusing on the black humor and easy camaraderie that Leary and Tolan write so well. It lasted only two seasons and 19 episodes before getting the ax from ABC, and while the template proved successful in Rescue Me, this more lighthearted version had the potential to be even better.
Undeclared (Fox, 2001-2002)
Photo courtesy of IFC
The early cancellations of Judd Apatow’s shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared are part of the now-mega-successful filmmaker’s legend, but that doesn’t change the fact that both shows were cut off just as they demonstrated great potential. Undeclared tackled college to Freaks and Geeks’ high school, and was goofier and more lighthearted, and clearly a template for Apatow’s later films. But imagine if we could have continued to get the equivalent of a half-hour Apatow film every week?
The Tick (Fox, 2001-2002)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
By the time it premiered as a live-action series on Fox, The Tick has already been a comic book and a Saturday-morning cartoon, and had a built-in following that should have been a starting point for success. But the superhero parody, with Patrick Warburton as the title character, a dimwitted do-gooder in a giant blue suit, never widened its appeal, and the network seemed to have no idea how to promote a series that was more about character quirks than action. The Tick managed eight episodes before being pulled, but it still inspires fond memories—and occasional feature-film rumors—from star Warburton and producer Barry Sonnenfeld.
Andy Richter Controls the Universe (Fox, 2002-03)/Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC, 2007)
Courtesy of Shout! Factory
After leaving his role as Conan O’Brien’s sidekick on NBC’s Late Night, Andy Richter made several efforts to start a career as a sitcom star, and he could have been a great one if networks hadn’t kept canceling his shows before they got a chance to build an audience. Fox gave Andy Richter Controls the Universe 19 episodes over two seasons, but never seemed to know what to do with its whimsical take on corporate life (creator Victor Fresco later went on to use much the same approach to his ABC show Better Off Ted). Andy Barker, P.I., with Richter as a bumbling private eye, got even less of a chance, lasting only six episodes on NBC a few years later. Both deserved better.
Stella (Comedy Central, 2005)
Scott Gries/Getty Images
Members of the influential sketch-comedy group The State have gone on to projects ranging from extremely mainstream and successful (Role Models, Reno 911!) to exceedingly obscure and little-seen. Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain’s 10-episode Comedy Central series Stella falls into the latter category. Based on a series of live performances and short films by the trio, Stella was a strange hybrid of sitcom and sketch comedy, often dipping into surrealism and featuring as much meta-humor as actual jokes. It certainly wasn’t for everyone, but its post-cancellation cult following means it could have turned into a real niche success if given the chance.
Kitchen Confidential (Fox, 2005)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Based on Anthony Bourdain’s memoir of the same name, Kitchen Confidential took a lot of liberties in turning a true-life story into a narrative TV series. But while it may have sanded off some of the book’s edges, in place it created a funny and well-realized workplace comedy about the sometimes unsavory goings-on at an upscale restaurant. There’s no reason this fairly traditional, well-cast show (featuring star Bradley Cooper as the Bourdain stand-in) shouldn’t have succeeded, but Fox only gave it four episodes before taking it off the air, never allowing it to breathe, as a fine wine might in a fancy eatery.
Lucky Louie (HBO, 2006)
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
HBO is known for giving shows time to develop their unique voices and devoted followings, but the cable network didn’t have patience when it came to Lucky Louie, the sitcom from comedian Louis C.K. Unlike most HBO shows, Lucky Louie was poorly reviewed by critics and subject to negative buzz, and its aggressive, often abrasive approach to the sitcom form certainly wasn’t for everyone. But the deconstruction of classic family sitcoms, presented on blatantly artificial sets in front of a live studio audience, yet with plenty of swearing and nudity, was inventive and daring, and could have developed into another signature series for HBO.
