9 Ridiculous Reasons Awesome TV Shows Were Canceled

4. Batman destroyed their sets

The ’60s Batman series starring Adam West may not be anyone’s idea of hard-hitting superhero entertainment, but it’s a colorfully campy cult classic—and one that might have stayed on the air longer than two seasons if someone at the network hadn’t gotten a destructive itch. Although execs at ABC weren’t willing to continue footing the bill for Batman after its first couple of seasons, they decided to sell the rights to NBC instead of canceling the show outright—and execs at NBC, looking to cut a few costs of their own, made sure Batman’s existing sets and props were part of the deal. Unfortunately, during a brief production hiatus between networks, an ABC exec goofed up and had the sets destroyed, thus forcing the Caped Crusader to hang up his cowl.

5. Young Justice was changed because girls don’t buy toys

It isn’t easy to put together a hit series, so when Warner Bros. hit paydirt with their Cartoon Network show Young Justice—which posted triple-digit ratings increases for its time period on the channel—it would seem safe to assume they’d want much more than two seasons. Alas, the studio pulled the plug after a mere 46 episodes, prompting fan outcry and widespread speculation. Many believed Warner Bros. axed Young Justice because it wasn’t popular enough with young boys, but the real reason is just as frustrating. Funding for the show, which was based on younger versions of DC Comics characters, was largely drawn from a merchandising tie-in deal for Young Justice action figures—and when low sales killed the toy line, the show quickly followed suit.

6. Police Squad! asked its audience to pay attention

Lots of movies are made out of TV shows, but the three Naked Gun! movies probably mark the first time a successful series of films were spawned from an incredibly unpopular TV show. After the silly joke-a-minute disaster movie parody Airplane! became a cultural phenomenon in 1980, writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker developed a similarly-styled cop show parody for ABC called Police Squad! starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. Like Airplane!, the jokes were fired in a nonstop barrage, with sight gags and recurring bits contributing to an incredibly dense level of zaniness. That level of detail—and audience expectation—has never been typical of television, particularly when Police Squad! hit the airwaves in 1982, and the show subsequently flopped. (A similar ambition—and premature cancellation—befell Arrested Development two decades later.)

Police Squad! was pulled from ABC’s schedule after just four episodes, with the last two episodes airing over the summer. Low ratings were the direct culprit for the show’s demise, but ABC president Tony Thomopoulos was surprisingly (and amusingly) frank about why people weren’t tuning in, telling a reporter that “the viewer had to watch it to appreciate it.” Apparently that wasn’t the case with ABC’s other shows at the time, like Happy Days and The Love Boat.