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.
42 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. 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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4. 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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5. 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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6. 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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7. 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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8. Helstrom
Helstrom arrived on Hulu in October 2020 as part of Marvel Television's attempt to build out a slate of darker, more adult-oriented supernatural shows on the streaming platform. The series followed the siblings Daimon and Ana Helstrom as they hunted demons and uncovered their own twisted family history. Despite landing a full ten-episode first season, the show never got the chance to return. The cancellation came just weeks after the finale aired, a swift rejection that reflected Hulu's lack of confidence in the property.
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9. Kidding
Kidding had all the hallmarks of a prestige cable drama: critical acclaim, a charismatic lead in Jim Carrey delivering some of his finest work in years, and that rare blend of comedy and emotional depth that gets noticed at awards season. Yet after just two seasons and twenty episodes, Showtime pulled the plug in 2020, leaving the show's story unresolved. The cancellation came at a moment when the network was recalibrating its priorities, moving away from some of its mid-tier scripted dramas even as streaming platforms began aggressively competing for talent and audience attention.
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10. 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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All shows cancelled in 2020
Frequently asked
- How many TV shows were cancelled in 2020?
- IsItRenewed tracks 42 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.