As the current network television season winds down into the summer, multiple shows have announced renewals, including all of NBC's Law & Order franchise series, while others have naturally exited stage left, including ABC's The Conners ending after seven seasons. With every renewal announcement comes a slew of cancellations, some of which are more surprising than others, especially when some are critically acclaimed and ratings drivers.
A host of television shows were canceled in this round of season finales, bringing a nicely tied-up conclusion to some, cliffhangers for others, and some truly head-scratching endings in some cases. As the networks start their summer vacations, we're ranking the network television shows that were canceled in 2025, from the least surprising to the most heartbreaking.
17 S.W.A.T.
CBS – Canceled After 8 Seasons
A stalwart on the CBS schedule since 2017, S.W.A.T. was set in the same universe as FX's critically acclaimed drama The Shield and starred Shemar Moore and Jay Harrington. After surviving its initial cancellation after season 6, it was revived with a first and final run for season 7, only to be renewed again, only to be canceled after season 8.
It's hard to be shocked at the news that S.W.A.T. was canceled for good after its 8th season, specifically as it was saved twice before by CBS for more adventures for Sgt. Hondo and Twenty Squad.
Even as Hondo's adventures will continue in the spin-off S.W.A.T. Exiles, sometimes it's best to let things end naturally, and the ending of S.W.A.T. felt more like a necessity than a surprise.
16 Doctor Odyssey
ABC – Canceled After 1 Season
The reports of Doctor Odyssey’s cancellation may or may not have been greatly exaggerated. The show appears to have been conceived as a limited series with the story of Avery (Phillippa Soo) and her relationship with two coworkers on board a cruise ship as the main throughline of the season.
Though the cancellation of the series has been reported by multiple outlets, ABC is not officially giving word on the end of Doctor Odyssey. Instead, it’s only official that the cast members have been released from their contracts. There has been speculation that the series could still live on at a later date.
That’s why the “cancellation” of Doctor Odyssey is not as heartbreaking as some of the other shows that got the axe this season. ABC could revisit the series as an anthology or renegotiate with cast members at a later date.
Whether the network is able to do so is down to showrunner Ryan Murphy, who is busy with other projects.
15 Lopez vs. Lopez
NBC – Canceled After 3 Seasons
When you think about television sitcoms from the early aughts, George Lopez's self-titled ABC sitcom ranks among the most popular and most successful of these, so it was no surprise to find him back on TV, this time on NBC with a new program, Lopez vs. Lopez.
His third attempt at sitcom magic since Lopez went off the air in 2007, it saw him return to the same familial setting comedy show formula, moving in with his daughter, played by his real-life daughter, Mayan Lopez, after bankruptcy forced him out of his home.
The show sat on the bubble for weeks waiting for a decision on renewal, with NBC ultimately opting not to bring the Lopez family back for season 4.
Although the success of George Lopez made him a household name, he's struggled to recapture the magic of the original series and what made it connect with the fans, and even as the show was celebrated for its depiction of the Latino experience, it wasn't enough to save it from the axe.
14 Alert: Missing Persons Unit
Fox – Canceled After 3 Seasons
Alert: Missing Persons Unit began with a general idea for a procedural: following a law enforcement unit tasked with finding missing people. It was compounded by two of the law enforcement personnel happening to be exes whose child had been kidnapped years earlier.
The show, however, went through a lot of changes in its three seasons and had begun to shift into more of a buddy cop story. It also had been steadily dropping viewers as it went on, so the cancellation is not entirely a surprising one.
It is an unfortunate one, however, since Alert: Missing Persons Unit prepared a big story thread for the fourth season. The season 3 finale revealed that one character was not who they appeared to be, and fans will be forever wondering.
13 Night Court
NBC – Canceled After 3 Seasons
One of the many revival shows hitting the airwaves over the past few years, Night Court was brought back to NBC after its predecessor, a popular program and nominated for multiple Emmy Awards in its day, went off the air for good in 1992.
Night Court's third season ended on a cliffhanger, including a "To Be Continued" graphic at the end of the episode, as Judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) gets a surprise appearance from her past as Jake (Ryan Hansen) plans to propose.
With nostalgia levels at an all-time high, and the return of original cast member John Larroquette as public defender Dan Fielding, the show came out of the gate with high expectations. Unlike some of its contemporaries in the reboot department, like ABC's The Conners and CBS' Hawaii Five-O, Night Court never seemed to capture the attention of viewers the way the original did.
While NBC opted to move on from its past successes, Rauch is hopeful to see the show picked up elsewhere, at the very least for a proper send off to its cliffhanger ending in season 3.
12 Frasier
CBS/Paramount+ – Canceled After 2 Seasons
Much like Night Court, Frasier arrived with major fanfare and aired its first two episodes on CBS before moving to its permanent home on Paramount+. Kelsey Grammer returned as Dr. Frasier Crane, reuniting with his son, Frederick (Jack Cutmore-Scott) in Boston after a successful and lucrative Dr. Phil-style television career.
Although the new cast provided a different dynamic for an older and wiser Frasier Crane, fans felt the show was missing its heart and soul without its other principal cast members, including David Hyde Pierce, who declined to join the reboot as Dr. Niles Crane, and the show struggled to find the sweet spot that made 1993's Frasier so beloved.
Grammer remains hopeful that Frasier will continue on another platform or network, but if its season 2 finale becomes its permanent series finale, there's nothing wrong with ending on a holiday high note that captures the essence of the original.
11 Suits LA
NBC – Canceled After 1 Season
Perhaps no show in this round of premieres had as much fanfare and network backing as Suits LA, the spinoff of the sleeper USA Network show Suits, which saw a surge of popularity on Netflix, as well as a renewed interest in seeing Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a starring television role.
With original Suits cast members returning for guest roles and a heavy-hitting cast led by Stephen Amell, the show was teed up to capitalize on the original's popularity, this time on a major network.
The show failed to live up to its hype in terms of creative direction, with most Suits LA reviews resoundingly panning the effort, and it currently sits with a 36% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Along with its critical reception, and despite NBC's best efforts to make the show a success, viewers never materialized for the program, and the network opted to move on from the franchise quickly, unsurprisingly ending it after just one season.
10 The Cleaning Lady
Fox – Canceled After 4 Seasons
With a fascinating and unique premise, Fox's The Cleaning Lady was the story of Thony (Élodie Yung), a mother desperate to save her son's life with a rare treatment available only in Las Vegas, only to witness a murder that changes everything. Through four seasons, Thony sinks farther into the underworld and plays both sides of the law in order to return to her normal life.
The Cleaning Lady's season 4 finale saw multiple story arcs and character angles tied up neatly after a chaotic season, but the show never seemed to regain its footing from a creative perspective after the death of main cast member Adan Canto after season 2.
The void left by Canto's death, along with ratings that were often hit-and-miss, Fox felt it was time to pull the plug on its most unique show, ending Thony's journey just as she became an associate of Sin Cara.
9 Poppa’s House
CBS – Canceled After 1 Season
In what seemed to be another exciting entry into the Wayans' creative world, Poppa's House saw Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans, Jr. starring opposite of each other as father and son navigating life.
Wayans, a veteran player in television and sitcoms after his successful run on ABC's My Wife and Kids, mirrored the approach of George Lopez, working to recapture the magic of their popular franchise from the early aughts.
Although Poppa's House holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the show failed to find its footing among a crowded and bloated CBS television schedule. With the struggles CBS has faced in finding its own place in the network television landscape, Poppa's House found itself the victim of a network restructuring process, one that saw other popular franchise entries cut.
8 The Irrational
NBC – Canceled After 2 Seasons
A promising show, The Irrational starred Jesse L. Martin as Professor Alec Mercer, a behavioral analyst who used his skill set to assist the FBI and other governmental agencies. Loosely based on the life of Professor Dan Ariely, the show debuted to strong ratings and stronger reviews
It certainly seemed like The Irrational was around for the long haul, providing Martin with another successful television venture in his post-Law & Order career.
The season 2 finale of The Irrational saw Mercer coming to terms with a surprising revelation while also leaving the door open for season 3 and continuing its semi-procedural approach into syndication territory. Sharp declines in ratings throughout the season, however, proved to be too much for NBC, and it surprisingly pulled the plug on the show after 2 seasons.
7 Grosse Pointe Garden Society
NBC – Canceled After 1 Season
Grosse Pointe Garden Society might not have had great live ratings during its first and only season, but it had a fresh idea, a unique tone, and a fantastic cast to pull it off.
The idea behind the show is that four members of the local garden club are bonded together when they cover up a murder. Every week, the show’s storylines find ways to link life and gardening together while giving the audience juicy drama and interesting twists.
All of that already makes the cancellation of Grosse Pointe Garden Society upsetting, but what the show’s ending represents makes it even more so. The series was the final cancellation by NBC for the 2024-2025 season, and it signals a bad change for the network.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society foreshadows NBC’s move away from the more original content it has had, as NBC paves the way for televising the NBA for the 2025 TV season.
6 Rescue: HI Surf
Fox – Canceled After 1 Season
It has been a long time since network television has set a procedural primarily on the beach. There has, however, been a rise in first responder series. After the success of the 9-1-1 franchise, it’s no wonder that networks are interested in the idea of first responders as main characters.
Rescue: HI Surf focused primarily on lifeguards in Hawaii, creating a beautiful setting and unique storylines for the show. Unfortunately, that was not enough to get enough ratings for Fox to justify the expense of the show.
Filming in Hawaii has proven to be costly for quite a few shows in recent years. The expense is also rumored to be the reason CBS previously canceled NCIS: Hawai’i.
Like so many of the canceled 2025 network shows, Rescue: HI Surf was brought to an end just as the characters experienced quite a bit of upheaval, with one of them even leaving for Australia. It’s another heartbreaker that leaves those who enjoyed the show wishing for a resolution.
5 9-1-1: Lone Star
Fox – Canceled After 5 Seasons
A spinoff of the popular 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Lone Star starred Rob Lowe as Capt. Owen Strand, a New York City firefighter who relocated to Austin, Texas to help rebuild a team in need of his specialized skills. Although its portrayal of firefighting could be overly played up for dramatic purposes, the show was received well by critics and fans of the original 9-1-1 show.
9-1-1: Lone Star reportedly hit snags behind the scenes, as network financial constraints were a consistent fight for showrunners, working hard to justify its hefty price tag, as well as navigating the creative void left by the exit of Sierra McClain after season 4. Ultimately, the showrunners were able to give the show a final fifth season, with a complete, but disappointing series finale.
4 Found
NBC – Canceled After 2 Seasons
One of the most heartbreaking cancelations of the current network television lineup, Found was both a critical success and had a devoted fan base. The show starred Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely, a kidnapping victim who now runs a firm to locate other missing victims while on the search for her own captor, Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar).
Found was firing on all cylinders in terms of both story, pacing, and execution, so the cancelation of the popular show was very surprising, even as NBC is reportedly working to clear its schedule to make room for incoming NBA programming.
After a large groundswell of support by its devoted fan base for Found season 3, fans can find solace in the fact that the show is currently being shopped around for pickup by other networks.
3 The Equalizer
CBS – Canceled After 5 Seasons
The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah in the reboot of the 1985 series, struggled in its 4th season to regain viewer traction even as it remained popular among critics. CBS officially canceled the show after 5 seasons, citing the show's financial struggles along with a viewership drop it never seemed to recover from (via Variety).
The first of three heartbreaking cancellations by CBS, The Equalizer appears to be a part of a restructuring of its prime-time network TV schedule as the network works to find its identity in the Big Three make-up. The Equalizer remained a popular show throughout its run on CBS, and The Equalizer series finale left fans feeling content while providing opportunities for more stories to be told in the future.
2 FBI: International
CBS – Canceled after 4 Seasons
A show in the Dick Wolf Universe that spans across two networks, FBI: International was the second spinoff from the original FBI series and parts of both the Chicago and Law & Order universes. Although the show, starring Luke Kleintank and Heida Reed, satisfied critics, it never seemed to gain traction with viewers in the way its sister shows did, and CBS gave it the axe at the end of season 4.
Alongside The Equalizer, FBI: International appears to be a victim of cost-cutting measures by CBS, resetting the deck for their fall schedule with a potential fresh round of programming. With an unfinished ending as its series finale, it bodes well for some of the cast to see their characters land elsewhere in the Wolf Universe, including the next upcoming spinoff, CIA, starring Tom Ellis.
1 FBI: Most Wanted
NBC – Canceled After 6 Seasons
The most heartbreaking of this season's cancelations, FBI: Most Wanted was also the most shocking. Another part of the Dick Wolf Universe, the show went through a creative revival when Dylan McDermott joined the cast in season 3 after the departure of Julian McMahon and the show remained popular among FBI franchise fans and CBS viewers.
FBI: Most Wanted was the most heartbreaking of the cancelations from the CBS docket, one that CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach attributed to the network working to be more "fiscally responsible" (via Deadline).
FBI: Most Wanted ended with a proper and satisfying series finale that tied up its major arcs, but it's likely the network television show could have continued in perpetuity, as its high ratings and fan response made it a popular arm of the Wolf Universe.
Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Variety, Deadline
