TV Shows Cancelled in 2020
Every TV show whose run ended in 2020 and now carries a cancelled verdict — across every network and streamer in the catalogue. The biggest names are explained below, followed by the full list.
43 shows cancelled in 2020
The biggest cancellations of 2020
1. Ray Donovan
Ray Donovan arrived on Showtime in 2013 as a prestige drama about a fixer operating in Los Angeles, and for several years it found a solid audience that appreciated the show's blend of crime narrative and character study. But by the time the network cancelled it after seven seasons in 2020, viewership had eroded enough that continuing felt untenable. The show's ratings had declined steadily through its run, a pattern common to long-running cable dramas that struggle to maintain their initial audience as the novelty wears off and viewers drift to other options.
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2. Altered Carbon
Altered Carbon arrived on Netflix in 2018 as an ambitious cyberpunk adaptation with strong source material and a glossy, expensive look that fit the streamer's appetite for prestige sci-fi. The first season drew solid viewership and critical praise, earning that 7.9 IMDb score largely on the strength of its visual world-building and noir atmosphere. But the show faced an immediate problem: it was constructed as a limited series with a complete story, then retrofitted into an ongoing drama. That structural tension never fully resolved.
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3. The Twilight Zone
CBS All Access's revival of The Twilight Zone arrived with considerable fanfare in 2019, trading the black-and-white austerity of Rod Serling's original for a glossy, high-profile reboot hosted by Jordan Peele. The network positioned it as a flagship series for its streaming ambitions, yet the show struggled to find an audience that matched either the cultural footprint of the classic or the investment level the streamer had placed behind it. After just two seasons and twenty episodes, the plug was pulled in 2020, a quick exit that suggested neither critical nor commercial momentum could sustain the revival.
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4. Marvel's Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man on Disney XD ran for three seasons and 57 episodes before Disney pulled the plug in 2020. The show had a solid foundation—Spider-Man is one of Marvel's most recognizable properties, and the network was betting on animation to reach younger audiences. But the ratings never climbed to the level the network needed. With an IMDb score of 6.2, the show sat in middling territory among viewers, and the audience that did tune in failed to grow as the series progressed.
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5. God Friended Me
God Friended Me arrived on CBS with a high-concept hook—a millennial atheist receives friend requests from a mysterious God account that sends him to help strangers—but the show couldn't sustain the ratings momentum needed to survive on broadcast television. After two seasons and 42 episodes, the network cancelled it in 2020, cutting short what might have been a longer run. The premise had enough novelty to draw viewers initially, but the episodic structure of helping one person per week grew repetitive, and the show never quite figured out whether it wanted to be a serialized mystery about the God account's true identity or a weekly feel-good dramedy about random acts of kindness.
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6. Tell Me a Story
Tell Me a Story arrived on CBS All Access in 2018 as part of the fledgling streamer's push to build original programming, but the show never found the audience it needed to justify its production costs. The drama, which reimagined fairy tales through a modern lens across its two seasons, attracted modest viewership in a crowded streaming marketplace where competition for attention only intensified. By 2020, CBS All Access was in the midst of significant strategic shifts, eventually rebranding to Paramount Plus and consolidating its content strategy around higher-profile projects.
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7. Siren
Siren arrived on Freeform in 2018 with a premise that looked promising on paper: mermaids as a serious threat rather than a romantic fantasy, grounded in a small coastal town where the creatures actually posed a physical danger. The show found an audience interested in that blend of horror and mythology, but it never quite built the kind of loyal viewership that could sustain itself against the economics of production. Over three seasons, the ratings gradually declined as viewers drifted away, and by the time Freeform made the decision to cancel, the network had already shifted toward other priorities in its fantasy and drama slate.
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8. The Order
The Order arrived on Netflix in early 2019 with the kind of premise that should have worked: a secret magical society operating within a university, shadowy conspiracies, and a freshman pulled into a world of high-stakes supernatural conflict. The show had ambition and a decent cast willing to commit to the melodrama, but it never found the audience Netflix was looking for. By the time the second season aired in June 2020, viewership had dropped significantly, and the streaming service made the decision to end the series rather than invest in a third.
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9. L.A.'s Finest
L.A.'s Finest never found the audience it needed. The crime drama, which paired Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba as LAPD detectives, premiered on Spectrum Originals in May 2019 at a moment when the streaming and cable original market was already saturated. The show pulled in modest viewership for a paid service that was still building its base, and ratings dipped further into its second season. With a mid-range IMDb score of 6.2, the show had neither critical momentum nor word-of-mouth buzz to sustain it through declining numbers.
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10. Brave New World
Peacock's first major original series arrived with considerable fanfare in July 2020, but Brave New World could not sustain momentum beyond its nine-episode first season. The adaptation of Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel had the cast, the budget, and the premise to succeed, yet it failed to generate the audience retention and cultural conversation that streaming platforms need to justify continued investment. A single season released all at once meant there was no way to build week-to-week interest or adjust the show's direction based on viewer response. By the time the finale aired, the viewership had likely fractured across the sprawling demands of peak streaming content.
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All shows cancelled in 2020
Frequently asked
- How many TV shows were cancelled in 2020?
- IsItRenewed tracks 43 TV shows with a cancelled verdict whose run ended in 2020.
- What was the biggest show cancelled in 2020?
- By audience popularity, Young Hearts is the most popular 2020 cancelled show on this list.
- How does IsItRenewed decide a show was cancelled in 2020?
- A show is grouped under 2020 when its last episode aired that year and its current verdict is cancelled. The news archive does not reach that far back, so the last-aired year is used.