Canceled Too Soon

Eric Idle from MONTY PYTHON stars in American sitcom about a pair of upper class ghosts haunting the middle class family that moves into their old house! It sounds like BEETLEJUICE but it's not. It's NEARLY DEPARTED, and it lasted only six short episodes in 1989. Was this supernatural sitcom with a low-key catchy as hell theme song... CANCELED TOO SOON? We'll find out in this week's episode, where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold perform an autopsy on this forgotten sitcom, figure out why it's funny (and why it's not), and decide once and for all if NEARLY DEPARTED is dearly departed. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow

Celebrated sci-fi author Harlan Ellison created a show Amish people who learn they're living in outer space, in a ship containing everyone on Earth as they flee an uninhabitable Earth! It's the very ambitious and extremely cheap TV series THE STARLOST, starring Keir Dullea from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY! Harlan Ellison had his name taken off THE STARLOST and replaced with, for some reason, "Cordwainer Bird." Was he right, or was this TV show... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold dissect this failed sci-fi experiment, debate its complex themes and try to endure its many silly, silly, SILLY episodes. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamB

It's our first cooking show! This week on CANCELED TOO SOON, internet sensation Christine McConnell gets her own Netflix series about how to make delicious, spooky desserts. But it's also a sitcom about living with adorably homicidal monsters, brought to life as charmingly creepy puppets! It's THE CURIOUS CREATIONS OF CHRISTINE MCCONNELL, and it may very well have been... CANCELED TOO SOON! Join film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold as they dive into McConnell's tv series and recipes, and figure out what this show needed to do to get noticed. (Not debuting the same day as THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE probably would have helped...) Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs

The AMERICAN GOTHITHON concludes! The second failed TV series called AMERICAN GOTHIC aired for one season in 2016, and it stars a huge ensemble of great actors in an old-fashioned whodunnit murder mystery about one of the richest families in America. One of them is a serial killer, but who? WHO?! AMERICAN GOTHIC failed to find an audience when it premiered three years ago, but maybe, just maybe, it was CANCELED TOO SOON! Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold delve into this ripping TV thriller and explain what everyone missed, and why they probably should have watched! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to

Gary Cole plays a satanic small town sheriff in AMERICAN GOTHIC, a horror series from the co-star of THE HARDY BOYS and the director of THE EVIL DEAD! Sarah Paulson and Lucas Black co-star in this creepy, kooky, sometimes very spooky series about temptation, murder, mayhem, and the ghost of the Boston Strangler. AMERICAN GOTHIC was one of the most acclaimed cult shows of the 1990s, but was it really CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold watch the entire series and try to put it back into order (after the network aired it practically at random) in an all-new episode of your favorite podcast about TV's biggest failures! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at 

The year is 2005 and severe droughts have left the world in post-apocalyptic disarray, and gangs of ROAD WARRIOR-esque bandits roam the wastelands. It's up to Perfect Tommy from BUCKAROO BANZAI, a robot played by Miguel Ferrer and, naturally, Sharon Stone to protect the world from eccentric bad guys using high-tech cars in BADLANDS 2005, directed by George Miller! How the heck did BADLANDS 2005 not get picked up, and was it really... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold travel to the distant future - 14 years ago - to figure out what worked, what went wrong, and why BADLANDS 2005 deserves to be rediscovered. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamB

"Weird" Al Yankovic is one of the most popular comedy and music superstars in the world, but even he couldn't keep a kids show on the air on CBS! Yankovic starred in THE WEIRD AL SHOW as an insecure goofball living in a cave, and despite cameo appearances by Hanson, Barenaked Ladies, Patton Oswalt, John Tesh, Alex Trebek and Randy Savage, it only lasted one season. Was THE WEIRD ALL SHOW... canceled too soon?! Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold dig into their deep, lifelong love for "Weird" Al Yankovic and the many, many reasons why this show was destined to be short-lived, for better AND worse! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and fo

When there's murder in your suburban neighborhood, you don't call the cops! You call Dee Wallace from CUJO, Heather Langenkamp from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Shelly Fabares from COACH and acclaimed singer Patti Austin! They're housewives who solve violent crimes, get in car chases and take a murderer's dictation in SUBURBAN BEAT! It's funny, it's clever, and it's got a dynamite cast, and yet SUBURBAN BEAT only lasted one episode. Was it CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold figure out where this forgotten gem came from and why, if there could possibly be a reason, it never got taken to series!  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at

Dana Delany and Alison Lohman lead an all-star cast of despicable billionaires in PASADENA, a sadistic and sexy soap opera created by Mike White (SCHOOL OF ROCK). When a teen debutante discovers her family covered up a murder 20 years ago, she risks everything to uncover the truth, and drudges sex scandals, financial corruption and all-new murders in the process! It's smart, it's funny, it's got probably the best performance of Dana Delany's already-impressive career. Why was PASADENA canceled at all, and was it really CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold try to solve those mysteries and more on the latest episode of the podcast! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/Canceled

SIX FEET UNDER and TRUE BLOOD producer Alan Ball has made a several hit shows out of several tricky premises, but he couldn't find a way to make HERE AND NOW last more than one season! It's an ambitious dramatic series starring Oscar-winners Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins as the parents of children from all across the world, who are all grown up and just as screwed up as mom and dad! Oh yeah, and maybe one of them is a prophet or something. HERE AND NOW had plenty of dramatic ambition, but was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold tackle HERE AND NOW in the here and now, and figure out what worked, what flopped, and what's bourgeois to an enormous, distracting fault! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "

The year was 1983, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS was being played across the country, and on Saturday nights there was only one show where you could find magic, sword fighting, invisible dragons and silly jokes: WIZARDS AND WARRIORS! It won an Emmy for Best Costume Design, but was it really... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold dive into this overlooked fantasy series to figure out why it works, why it failed, and whether genre fans had enough of a sense of humor to laugh at themselves, and appreciate this goofy lark of a series. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.

Everybody knows that Gene Roddenberry created STAR TREK, the utopian sci-fi series about overcoming mankind's frailties and taking our place amongst the stars. But he also created a show about orgies and demons called SPECTRE, starring Robert Culp and Oscar-winner Gig Young as paranormal investigators who get wrapped up in an occult conspiracy involving John Hurt and fetish outfits. It's one of the weirdest things Gene Roddenberry ever did, but was SPECTRE really... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold crack open the crypt and explore the twisted catacombs of Roddenberry's imagination, and discover one of the most lively failed pilots of the 1970s! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebo

Just a few weeks after STAR WARS first came out, a new superhero premiered on television, and his named wasn't IRON MAN, but everyone thought it was! From the director of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN came EXO-MAN, the story of a physics professor who testifies against the mob, gets attacked and paralyzed, and uses his scientific knowhow to build a terrible-looking supersuit and seek vigilante justice. EXO-MAN might not be as good as IRON MAN, but was it really... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold take a look at one of the most misunderstood failed pilots in TV history and see if there's a MALFUNTION involved (a.k.a. the distinct lack of fun). Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/Cancel

William Shakespeare's ROMEO & JULIET was nothing more than a prelude to STILL STAR-CROSSED, an epic drama from SHONDALAND - the producers of GREY'S ANATOMY and SCANDAL - about what happened after those ill-fated lovers took their own lives. If you thought the Capulets and Montagues learned a valuable lesson... you were wrong! The fighting only gets worse in STILL STAR-CROSSED, but was this strange, short-lived show CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold explore the never-ending war in Verona on the latest episode of the podcast! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.critic

It's time to bring CHRIS CARTER MONTH to an appropriately abrupt conclusion with THE LONE GUNMEN, one of the most notorious one-season wonders in TV history. The comic relief sidekicks from THE X-FILES got their own TV series, with decent ratings and critical acclaim, with conspiracy-driven storylines that accurately predicted tech companies spying on consumers and - in the show's shocking pilot - the 9/11 attacks. THE LONE GUNMEN is a show with a huge cult following, and that's why we saved it for a special occasion! Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold dive into the show that only lasted one short season, before getting an unexpected and disappointing conclusion on THE X-FILES. Is THE LONE GUNMEN the classic everyone makes it out to be? Was it really... CANCELED TOO SOON?  Let's find out! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy

A group of mismatched strangers are stuck together in the middle of the apocalypse in THE AFTER, a failed TV pilot written and directed by Chris Carter, the producer of THE X-FILES! It's a series about twisting-turning revelations and mysterious characters, kinda like LOST but... not. Despite a big budget, a big cast and a big push by Amazon, THE AFTER never made it past the pilot episode. Was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold take a trip to "The After" to figure out what this show really was, what it was eerily transforming into, and whether it deserved all 99 episodes that Chris Carter planned for it! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs

CHRIS CARTER MONTH begins! The creator of THE X-FILES and MILLENNIUM also produced a lot of failed TV shows, and we're saluting those disappointments, starting with HARSH REALM, a sci-fi epic about a soldier tossed into a virtual reality simulation to assassinate a rogue player. It came out just a few months after THE MATRIX, so audiences were clearly interested in realms as harsh (or harsher) than HARSH REALM. So why didn't it take off, and was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and William Bibbiani download their consciousnesses into this short-lived series, to figure out what works, what doesn't, and why! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibb

There's no better way to celebrate television's biggest failures than with a MASSIVE AWARDS SHOW!!!  This week on CANCELED TOO SOON, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold pay tribute to all the best, worst and weirdest TV shows they watched in the podcast's epic third year, from the catchiest theme songs to strangest premises, to the shows that definitely were CANCELED TOO SOON... and the shows that definitely weren't. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticacclaim for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more!  Do you have a suggestion for a TV show that was "canceled too soon" (i

The year was 1985, and the balls had just gone mad! MADBALLS were a successful series of toys that gave gruesome faces to spherical objects, but although they practically flew of the shelves, they didn't have their own cartoon series. But it wasn't for lack of trying! MADBALLS had not one but TWO pilot episodes, as wildly different as they could possibly be while still starring gross anthropomorphic balls. Could they both have been... CANCELED TOO SOON? William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold delve into the weird history of the toylike and the bizarre conception of the two MADBALLS pilots in this, the final episode of their third blockbuster podcast season! Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, exclusive videos, Google Hangouts and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @Willia

Back in the 1970s, the world was a heck of a lot more bionic. That's why shows like THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and BIONIC WOMAN ruled the airwaves. In 2007, the producer of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the co-writer of ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL teamed up to reboot BIONIC WOMAN with a new cast and a grim 'n' gritty attitude! The BIONIC WOMAN was derailed by a writer's strike, so maybe, just maybe... it was CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold delve into what this show was, what it could have been, why it plays a lot like the prototype for the hit SUPERGIRL tv series. Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, exclusive videos, Google Hangouts and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy CANCELED TOO SOON shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CanceledCast, "Like" us at Facebook.com/CanceledTooSoon, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on o