When you think about great ’90s shows, Friends, Dawson’s Creek, and ER are some of the first that come to mind. But unlike those series, plenty of other shows never got the chance to really shine. TV executives and production companies really missed out when they canceled shows before giving them a fair opportunity to gain a large following.

Sometimes broadcast companies weren’t willing to take the risk on a unique or quirky series. Other times, behind-the-scenes drama led to a show being cancelled before the story received any sort of resolution. No matter the reason, these ’90s series were incredible to watch and were gone much too soon.

1. Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
2. Eerie Indiana (1991-1993)
3. My So-Called Life (1994-1995)
4. The Pretender (1996-2000)
5. EZ Streets (1996-1997)
6. Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

Twin Peaks was not your normal crime drama. In fact, minimizing it to “just a crime drama” would be downright offensive to the show’s creators and its cult following. It was full of weird and uncanny elements reminiscent of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, with bits of horror, mystery, comedy, and even soap-operas mixed together.

Though the series was a huge hit, pressure from ABC on how the story should unfold and changes to the airing schedule reduced ratings. This justified ABC’s cancellation of Twin Peaks after only two seasons.

There was a prequel film made, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and a series revival in 2017, but we’ll always wonder how far the series could have gone if David Lynch and Mark Frost had been given the freedom to tell their original story back in 1990.

Eerie Indiana (1991-1993)

Inspired by Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone, Eerie Indiana followed a teenager whose family is new to a town filled with strange events and paranormal happenings. The series was created to attract a wider audience than the mature-rated Twin Peaks, but it became difficult to promote the show to adults when many thought it was a kids’ show.

Omri Katz played the main character, Marshall Teller, but most people will recognize him as Max Dennison from the hit Disney film Hocus Pocus. This casting may have contributed to people thinking Eerie Indiana was only for kids. NBC cancelled the series after only 19 episodes because they did not know how to market the weirdness for maximum effect.

My So-Called Life (1994-1995)

My So-Called Life could have been a hit teen drama, even surpassing Dawson’s Creek in popularity among critics and fans. Angela Chase’s (Claire Danes) life is considered to be “one of the most humanizing hours of television,” and audiences loved how real issues were handled with authenticity and how it stayed away from teenage stereotypes.

Ratings were never as high as ABC wanted because My So-Called Life fell into the same time slot as Friends and Mad About You. It was also difficult to get the executives to understand the importance of a show that gave teenage girls a voice. So, even with awards and critical acclaim, My So-Called Life was cancelled after one season.

The Pretender (1996-2000)

The Pretender had four seasons and two TV movies, and they still left things so open-ended that fans felt robbed. After rooting for Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) and his search for his family, it really stung when both NBC and TNT chose cliffhangers over a resolution. The creators, Steven Mitchell and Craig van Sickle, eventually wrote two novels to help answer fans’ questions, but the miniseries they planned has yet to see fruition.

The plot tells the story of the genius Jarod, who was kidnapped by The Centre as a young child and used for evil purposes. He escapes and lives on the run, but uses his photographic memory to learn many new trades and assume different occupations.

Mitchell and van Sickle based Jarod on real-life pretender and genius, Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr., who posed as a lawyer, civil engineer, surgeon, and monk, among others.

EZ Streets (1996-1997)

An interesting look at how the lives of cops, criminals, lawyers, and politicians are woven together, EZ Streets wasn’t even given a chance. CBS halted the series after only two episodes in 1996, then relaunched the series in 1997, but without re-airing the pilot. Of course ratings would be low!

EZ Streets was a brilliant, gritty crime drama that won several awards, including an Emmy and a Television Critics Association Award. But CBS’s decision to stop and restart the series all but guaranteed it would be dead on arrival. CBS also never aired the ninth and final episode, leaving fans hanging until 2006, when the reruns were shown on the Sleuth channel.

Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

Freaks and Geeks was one of the best teen shows to ever appear on television. With a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the series perfectly portrayed the struggles of the average teen. The main actors went on to gain fame, like Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segel, and Linda Cardellini. So, why was there never a second season?

NBC aired the first episode of Freaks and Geeks on Saturday, September 25, 1999, at 8:00 p.m. Not the best time slot for a show targeting teens. Then the other episodes aired sporadically, with weeks of breaks in-between. Three of the episodes were never aired by NBC at all, and were only seen when Fox Family picked up the show.

Maybe the executives really wanted to lean into the show’s theme of life being unfair by making it unfair to the fans?

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