The Young Astronauts

This is a list of television series cancelled before airing an episode. While many television shows are produced as pilots that never air on television or in any medium, the scope of this article is to list shows that were officially announced to be broadcast, but then canceled prior to the scheduled debut on the original network. Shows are listed in alphabetical order with the slated year of debut (plus timeframe, or specific premiere date, where applicable), known cast and plot information, the reason for cancellation (if known), and what happened to the series after cancellation.

A

; ''The Activist'' (October 22, 2021)
:Created by Global Citizen and Live Nation, this reality competition show, hosted by Usher, Priyanka Chopra and Julianne Hough, was to focus on six activists working to bring meaningful change to one of three urgent causes: health, education and the environment, with the finalists attending the 2021 G20 summit to raise funds for their cause and the one raising the most funds being crowned "The Activist". The way the contestants' success would have been judged, which was by social media engagement and assessments by the hosts, drew immense backlash. Originally slated for an October premiere date on CBS for the 2021-22 season, the show was later reformatted to a documentary special following the controversy which, as of December 31, 2022, hasn't been aired.

; ''All My Babies' Mamas'' (early 2013)
:An American reality show set to air on Oxygen starring rapper Shawty Lo (who died in 2016), and showcasing his life as the father of eleven children by ten different women. The series was canceled after an online petition and public outcry.

; ''All-Star Celebrity Bowling'' (fall 2014)
:Revival of the 1970s bowling game show ''Celebrity Bowling'' that was to air on AMC. The channel had picked up the show in May 2014 before deciding in October to cancel all but one of its unscripted programs, including those that had not yet made it to air. ''All-Star Celebrity Bowling'' was one of at least three shows canceled in this manner.

; ''Amazon High'' (1997)
: Selma Blair starred as a present-day orphaned high school student who accidentally travels back in time to the mythical days of the Amazons. ''Amazon High'', co-starring Karl Urban, was proposed as a third show set in the Hercules and Xena mythological genre, but has never been aired. Later, portions of the pilot were adapted and edited into the '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' episode "Lifeblood" in 2000.

; '' American Princess'' (2003)
:American reality show produced by NBC in 2003. It involved 20 American women who are average, plain, and rather ill-mannered, getting taken to London to master the finer arts of British society and be crowned "American Princess" and earn valuable prizes. The series was set as a midseason replacement sometime in the 2003–04 season, but never made it to air. Two years later, the series was finally run on WE tv, where it was a success and later picked up for another season, before ultimately ending in 2007.

; ''Angels '88/'89'' (1988 & 1989)
:Attempted revival of ''Charlie's Angels'' that was proposed for the then-new Fox network produced by Aaron Spelling in the wake of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, allowing the re-use of scripts from the original series without the need for writers. Four women (including Téa Leoni) were selected to star. It was renamed ''Angels 89'' due to production delays taking it into the following calendar year. It was eventually abandoned the next year after the settlement of the writer's strike.

; ''Aquaman'' (2006)
: A live-action failed pilot for The CW, that never aired on the network. It was later released digitally on iTunes on July 25, 2006. Within a week, it reached the number-one spot on the list of most downloaded TV shows on the digital store's list, and it held that spot for over a week.

; ''El ático'' (2022)
:Spanish talk show meant to be hosted by Ion Aramendi on Telecinco on the weekday 8 p.m. timeslot. Four pilots were taped before Telecinco's parent company Mediaset España decided against moving ahead with the format.

B

; ''Bastards'' (September 2019)
:A dark drama series based on the Israeli series ''Nevelot'' starring Richard Gere that was given a straight-to-series order in late 2018 by Apple TV+. It was said to focus on two Vietnam veterans and best friends, and would have been Gere's highest-profile TV role. Howard Gordon and Warren Leight collaborated on two scripts for ''Bastards'', but Apple was concerned about the "show's tone of vigilante justice" and scrapped the show. A previous attempt at an American adaptation of ''Nevelot'' was in development at HBO in 2015 before it was eventually scrapped.

; ''The Big D'' (July 7, 2022)
:An American reality dating competition show that was scheduled to air on TBS, hosted by JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers. It was set to focus on divorced couples living together and looking for love with other contestants, with one participant not in a relationship being eliminated each episode. On June 16, 2022, the series was cancelled before it could air and was written as a "tax write-off". On November 29, 2022, it was announced the series will now air on USA Network.

; ''Bill and Martha'' (Fall 1964)
:An American situation comedy starring William Bendix and Martha Raye that was scheduled to air on CBS, but due to the purported shaky health of Bendix the network decided not to air the program. This action resulted in a lawsuit from Bendix for $2.658 million in May, with the actor stating that the decision hurt his career and further that he was in excellent health and could perform all of the requirements of the agreement. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and Bendix subsequently died on December 14, 1964 from complications of stomach cancer and pneumonia.

; '' Blonde Charity Mafia'' (July 7, 2009, early 2010)
:An American reality series developed by Lifetime, it followed three Washington, D.C. socialites whose lives revolved around charity events. After production was completed on one six-episode season, Lifetime decided to sell the show to The CW network rather than air it itself. The CW scheduled the July premiere date for the series, but later decided to forgo all original programming for that Summer, and program the show as a midseason replacement for the 2009–10 season. Sometime after that decision, the network apparently lost interest in the series; references to it were removed from CW websites, and on December 29 the network officially confirmed that it would not air the show at all. It was apparently dropped in favor of two other reality series developed by The CW, '' Fly Girls'' and ''High Society''. The series did air on MTV Australia and MTV New Zealand in August and September 2009.

; ''Bloomers'' (1979)
:British sitcom starring Richard Beckinsale. It was in production in 1979 but only five out of six episodes were made before Beckinsale died suddenly. ''Bloomers'' was immediately shelved, though the completed episodes were broadcast later in the same year.

; ''Bridge & Tunnel'' (2010)
: MTV documentary reality show following the lives of young residents on Staten Island. The show was in production and had a scheduled air date for October 2010 but was ultimately pulled for being too similar to the network's hit '' Jersey Shore'' despite being slice of life documentary-style in comparison to ''Jersey Shores show-set residence. The concept of a Staten Island-based reality program was revisited by MTV at the start of 2019 with '' Made in Staten Island''. However, that project would air only three episodes on the network in January 2019 before being pulled due to low ratings and general criticism of a focus on younger people in the show with possible organized crime/mob ties, which MTV exploited with a '' Sopranos''-inspired launch campaign; some of that cast would be involved in another series, ''Families of the Mafia'', meant to take a less confrontational view of Mob families in general; that series would air all six of its episode in the spring of 2020.

C

; '' Captain America'' (1998)
: The animated series, based on the comic book character of the same name, was meant to premiere in February on Fox Kids. However, the show was pulled due to conflicts about whether mentions of Nazis as the hero's rivals were appropriate, and Marvel's bankruptcy.

; '' The Cheetah Girls'' (2003)
:Based on the novel series of the same name, ABC canceled this television series before producing any episodes. However, three TV movies were made.

; ''Coach'' (2015)
: A revival of the 1990s sitcom of the same name, ''Coach'' was picked up by NBC straight-to-series without a pilot. Shortly after the series began production, unspecified problems with NBC staff prompted the network to cancel the series before any of its 13-episode order made it to air.

; ''Coastocoast'' (September 14, 1978)
:This hour-long sitcom about two airline stewardesses, from Bud Yorkin's production company, was originally announced for NBC's Thursday night schedule. However, even Yorkin said he preferred a delayed debut. When Fred Silverman took over the network in June, the show was pulled for "further development" and eventually scrapped.

; ''Commando Nanny'' (September 17, 2004)
:A sitcom series for The WB, created by '' Survivor'' producer Mark Burnett, was based on his life as an au pair (he is also a former squaddie, serving in No3 Para). Scheduled for the WB's Friday comedy block, the show's September 17 debut (which was promoted in fall previews such as ''TV Guide'') was delayed due to Phillip Winchester breaking his foot and being replaced by Owain Yeoman, followed by Gerald McRaney undergoing lung surgery. After the pilot was reshot, Rachel Sweet departed as showrunner, forcing The WB to shelve the sitcom permanently.

; ''Confederate'' (2020)
:''Confederate'' was a planned, but never made, American alternate history drama television series developed for the network HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, who had previously developed the HBO series '' Game of Thrones''. The series was to be set in a timeline where the American Civil War ended in a stalemate. The announcement was followed by anger and criticism on social media with some describing it as slavery fan fiction, leading to the hashtag #NoConfederate, which trended number one in the United States and number two worldwide on Twitter in mid 2017. In April 2018, ''Variety'' reported the future of ''Confederate'' is uncertain. In July 2018, HBO president Casey Bloys confirmed the series was still in development, and hoped it would resume once Benioff and Weiss finished their ongoing commitments. In February 2019, Bloys said the series was still in development and not affected by the controversy, but stated in May 2019 that it was "not on the front burner". In August 2019, it was announced that Benioff and Weiss had closed a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix and it was reported that the deal "wipes ''Confederate'' off HBO's books." In January 2020, Bloys confirmed that the project had been officially canceled without an episode even being made.

; ''The Cops'' (between December 2017–Spring 2018)
:An adult animated series created by Louis C.K. and Albert Brooks for TBS for its at the time up-and-coming animation block. Other than a few clips shown at the San Diego Comic Con promotion for TBS Animation, nothing else was known about the series. In the wake of the Weinstein effect, sexual misconduct claims emerged against C.K. in November 2017 and were confirmed by him shortly thereafter; subsequently, the series was canceled, leaving ''Tarantula'', ''Close Enough'', ''Final Space'', and a new season of '' American Dad!'' the remaining shows off its block (''Close Enough'' was delayed and later moved to HBO Max, with ''Tarantula'' ending after one season).

; ''Cortes'' (2020)
:A historical drama miniseries for Amazon Prime Video created and written by Steven Zaillian and starring Javier Bardem. In September 2020, Amazon decided to withdraw from its partnership with Amblin Television on the miniseries, effectively scrapping the project due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic.

; ''Country Style'' (1964)
:A country-themed show made for ATN-7 in Sydney, Australia. In 14 episodes and shot on 16mm film, it had various country music stars appearing as guests, including Rex Dallas and Smoky Dawson. American Marty Robbins, who rarely appeared on television, performed " Devil Woman" and "El Paso". According to associate producers the LeGarde Twins, the show was pulled when host Digby Wolfe began making demands for high pay and luxuries. One episode may have eventually aired on a Saturday morning. The series finally aired 48 years later, debuting on January 2, 2011 on CMC (Country Music Television) in Australia. The first episode was filmed in color, which was so expensive that only that episode was in color; , that first episode remains lost.

D

; ''Day One'' (early 2010)
:American sci-fi drama from NBC about apartment residents who survive an unknown worldwide cataclysm that destroys modern infrastructure. The show was initially ordered to series, then had its order cut to mini-series, then it was announced the pilot would be retooled as a TV movie, before ending up never airing at all. According to NBC's Angela Bromstad, the show was originally expected to fill the ''Heroes'' time slot after the 2010 Winter Olympics. The movie/pilot was directed by Alex Graves, who previously directed the pilot episode for the Fox TV series ''Fringe'' and for the NBC TV series ''Journeyman''.

; '' Despedida de Casado (January 3, 1977)
:Brazilian telenovela produced by TV Globo and written by Walter George Durst, starring Regina Duarte and Antônio Fagundes. The telenovela had 30 episodes recorded and was scheduled to premiere on January 3, 1977, however, it was cancelled after being banned by the censorship board of the Brazilian government (at the time, a military dictatorship), claiming that the telenovela preached the dissolution of marriage and was contrary to morality and good habits. The telenovela's plot was about crisis in marriage and divorce, which became legal in Brazil in December 1977.

; ''The Dictator'' (March 15, 1988)
:Christopher Lloyd starred as Paul Joseph Domino, the deposed President-For-Life of a small South Seas nation, now running a laundromat with his family in New York's Rego Park area. The pilot episode was well-reviewed, and the series was scheduled to premiere on March 15, 1988. However, despite receiving significant on-air promotion from CBS, ''The Dictator'' did not make it to air due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.

; ''Do You Trust Me?'' (2007)
:American game show for CBS hosted by Tucker Carlson. Six episodes were produced in 2007, but none aired. The series had a page on the CBS website.

; '' Domestic Goddess'' (September 20, 2003)
:American cooking series for ABC Family hosted by Roseanne Barr. Thirteen episodes were ordered but Barr underwent an emergency hysterectomy on August 20 which ended the project before it began. A program detailing the show's creation, ''The Real Roseanne Show'', made it to air on ABC that summer.

; ''The Don Hornsby Show'' (also billed as ''The Anchor Hocking Show'') (May 22, 1950)
: Don "Creesh" Hornsby, a rising 26-year-old comic, was slated to host American television's first-ever late night variety show for NBC. Hornsby suddenly died from a rapid onset of polio the day he was to host his first episode. After a one-week delay, NBC went ahead with the basic format, launching ''Broadway Open House'' with Jerry Lester in what would have been Hornsby's time slot. That series would form the most basic structure of the late night television format, and eventually be re-formed as NBC's enduring franchise, ''The Tonight Show''.

; ''Dreamfinders'' (1983)
:Loosely based on the Epcot ride Journey into Imagination, this show that was slated to premier shortly after the launch of The Disney Channel was to focus on the adventures of Dreamfinder and Figment. Despite being promoted along with the launch of the network, it was cancelled shortly after launch with at least one episode partially filmed.

E

; ''Eight Days a Week'' (early 2008)
:The CW announced this single-camera comedy for mid-season, but no episodes were produced besides the unaired pilot, partly due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.

; ''Escaping the KKK'' (originally titled ''Generation KKK'') (January 10, 2017)
:An A&E docuseries profiling the Ku Klux Klan and members seeking to break away from it. A&E cancelled the series on December 24, 2016 (three weeks before its scheduled premiere), amid revelations that the show's producers made monetary payments to some participants for access (there were also concerns from critics at the time that the show would glorify the all-white organization and its reactionary beliefs).

; ''Ev and Ocho'' (September 3, 2012)
:A VH1 reality show featuring NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson ("Ocho Cinco") and his then-wife, former '' Basketball Wives'' star Evelyn Lozada, had eleven episodes taped. Johnson's arrest for assaulting Lozada, which came three weeks before the show was to premiere, and the subsequent divorce, prompted VH1 to shelve the series.

; ''Everything Money Can't Buy'' (Fall 1974)
:ABC originally announced this series for its fall schedule, although no pilot had been made, just a sizzle reel. Retooled into the 1976 show '' Good Heavens''.

F

; ''Famous'' (June 12, 2016)
:This Fox Broadcasting Company comedy was filmed in mock-documentary style at a couples therapy session, and features dating high school teachers Fred and Geneva, both of whom secretly aspire to work in Hollywood. He wants to be a screenwriter and she envisions stardom as a pop diva. The series was picked up in April 2016 and was set to air on June 12, 2016. The series was given a straight to series order with 10 episodes, but a cast had not been chosen in time. The show was later pulled from the schedule with regular summer reruns airing instead.

; ''Fearless'' (Fall 2003, early 2004)
:The WB announced production of this show for the 2003–04 season that was based on the young adult series of novels by Francine Pascal for its Tuesday-night schedule. The show starred Rachael Leigh Cook, Bianca Lawson, Ian Somerhalder, and Eric Balfour. The network decided to put ''One Tree Hill'' in its place (a show that complemented its lead-in, ''Gilmore Girls'', as lead actor Chad Michael Murray appeared in its first two seasons) and move ''Fearless'' to midseason after hearing of issues producers were having with the lead character's emotions and later issues of casting. After many delays, the show was canceled. The pilot was the only episode shot, and although it never aired on television, it later leaked on the Internet.

;''Flip It Forward'' (Fall 2014)
:This HGTV series was to feature David Benham and his twin brother, Jason Benham ( The Benham Brothers). The already-greenlit series was abruptly canceled in the wake of protests after reports surfaced of the duo's ties to religious groups (the Benhams publicly oppose homosexuality and are also prominent pro-life and Christian activists).

;''Force III'' (fall 1987)
:It was revealed that Orbis Communications and movie producers Edward S. Feldman and Charles R. Meeker were to unveil a syndicated half-hour action drama, ''Force III'', in 1987, with a 65-episode order, from writer Edward J. Lasko. It was meant to be sold to local stations, but was reportedly cancelled before any of the 65 episodes could be aired.

;'' Friend Me'' (early 2013)
:A late addition to CBS's 2012–13 schedule, this multi-camera sitcom was scheduled to premiere mid-season. The show never aired due to the suicide of co-creator Alan Kirschenbaum in October 2012. The show's official page disappeared from the CBS website sometime in February 2013, and it was reportedly announced as axed at the August Television Critics Association Press Tour.

;''The Frame'' (2011)
:US network The CW announced this 8-week 16-episode '' Big Brother''-esque reality game show for mid-season in 2011, but it was revealed to be shelved in March 2012.

G

; ''Garbage Pail Kids'' (September 19, 1987)
:An animated series based on Topps's popular parody of the ''Cabbage Patch Kids'' was scheduled to debut on CBS's Saturday-morning schedule, but was canceled before its debut after complaints from parental groups and (like ''Little Muppet Monsters'') replaced by an extra half-hour of '' Muppet Babies''. Although the 13 produced episodes aired in other countries (most notably Iceland), it remained unseen on television in North America. It was not until April 2006 that the complete series was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment.

; ''Good Grief'' (August 8, 2014)
: Lifetime had announced plans to debut the reality television series, which would have followed the owners of the Johnson Family Mortuary funeral home in Fort Worth, Texas, and began airing promotions for the series. Lifetime decided to cancel the series altogether on July 24, 2014 after several scheduling and filming issues. The program's scrapping ultimately came from the July 15 discovery of eight unattended and/or decomposing bodies at the funeral home, which led to the arrests of owner Dondre Johnson and his wife Rachel Hardy-Johnson. (The funeral home's landlord, who was executing an eviction process, discovered the bodies and alerted authorities; both Dondre and Rachel eventually were sentenced to prison terms.) The funeral home itself had been the subject of an investigation by The Texas Funeral Services Commission and had been scrutinized by critics and the local media regarding their practices and boasting about promoting the series prior to their arrest.

; ''The Grubbs'' (November 3, 2002)
:An American version of Granada Television's ''The Grimleys'', starring Randy Quaid, Carol Kane, and Michael Cera, which was produced without Granada's input and blasted in early reviews as "the worst sitcom ever produced". Scheduled for Sunday nights at 9:30 PM, the show was scrapped two days before its debut. Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman stated that it "failed to live up to its creative potential".

; ''Guasap!'' (Fall 2012)
:Comedy/talk-show set to air on Cuatro. It was canned after Cuatro's parent group Mediaset España rejected four pilots and all parties involved in the show decided the program's timing was not right.

H

; ''Hancock Down Under'' (1968)
:British comedian Tony Hancock was set to star in the Australian-produced TV series, playing himself as a new immigrant to Australia. After shooting the first three episodes, Hancock, whose career had faltered because of his alcoholism, committed suicide. The series was canceled without airing, although the three episodes were eventually edited together and broadcast in Australia as ''The Tony Hancock Special'' in 1972.

; ''Head of the Class'' (June 24, 1960)
:This summer prime time game show hosted by Gene Rayburn was slated to air on NBC's Friday-night schedule from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m., and ''TV Guide'' listed this as such; however, NBC changed its plans and opted to fill the time period with reruns of ''Wichita Town''. The pilot is among the holdings of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. This unaired show is not to be confused with the sitcom of the same name which ran on ABC from 1986 to 1991.

; '' Heads Up!'' (2016)
:Game show based on the popular app, produced by Ellen DeGeneres and hosted by Loni Love. 65 episodes were completed for HLN but the network shelved the show after refocusing its programming on news. The show eventually aired in Canada on the Family Channel and its sister channel, Family Chrgd.

; ''Heathers'' (2018)
:TV show based on the 1988 movie of the same name was set to air on the Paramount Network on March 7, 2018, but was delayed due to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Paramount would later announce the show would premiere on July 10, 2018, but then cancelled the project a few weeks later on June 1, 2018. On October 4, 2018, Variety reported that a truncated version of the series would air over five nights beginning on October 25, 2018, a run itself truncated and edited due to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

; ''Heavens to Betsy'' (1995)
:Dolly Parton starred in this American half-hour comedy for CBS. Six episodes were made but none aired. The concept was later reused in the 1996 CBS TV movie '' Unlikely Angel''.

; ''Hieroglyph'' (early 2015)
:Fox gave this historical action drama set in ancient Egypt a 13-episode straight-to-series order in October 2013 and released a trailer in May 2014. The network subsequently canceled the series in July 2014, after a single episode had been shot and several scripts had been written.

; ''Hollyweird'' (1998)
:A show about "the adventures of an intrepid pair of friends from Ohio who take their love for the macabre and use it to solve crimes plaguing Los Angeles", the show was to star Melissa George, Bodhi Elfman and Fab Filippo. The pilot was ordered to series; however, Fox's tinkering and delays frustrated creator Shaun Cassidy, who pulled out of the project, saying that Fox had forced him to spend "much of the last year trying to fix something I never viewed as broken in the first place." Ultimately, production never went ahead on the show.

; ''Hooligan's Island'' (2013)
:A projected British sitcom television series created by, written by and starring Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall. The show was to be a spin-off sequel to Mayall and Edmondson's BBC Two sitcom, ''Bottom'', which ran from 1991 to 1995, and was based on the sitcom's 1997 stage tour, '' Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island'', with the show's characters Richie and Eddie stranded on a desert island. It was due to air on BBC Two in 2013. On 15 October 2012, Edmondson announced during an interview with BBC Radio Essex that he had pulled out of the new series of ''Hooligan's Island'' stating that he wished to pursue other interests.

; ''Hoyt'n Andy's Sportsbender'' (1995)
:An animated sitcom produced by Jumbo Pictures and Sunbow Entertainment that was planned to air on ESPN in 1995. However, the series was cancelled before it aired as the channel was acquired by The Walt Disney Company alongside ABC. The series ended up airing in its entirety on RTÉ2 in Ireland and Studio 23 in the Philippines. In the United States, the series was released on Tubi in the mid-late 2010s.

; ''Hotel Story'' (1977)
:This Australian series made by Crawford Productions was cancelled by Network Ten before a single episode aired and only seven episodes filmed. After Network Ten cancelled the series, Crawford Productions found their series' contract had never been signed, so they had no legal redress. The first four episodes later went to air as a "miniseries" screened over two nights (July 13 and December 27, 1977).

I

; ''Immigrants'' (August 12, 2004)
:This animated series from Klasky Csupo for Spike TV featured a story about two immigrants – Jóska and Vladislav (from Hungary and Russia, respectively) – as they adjust to their new life in the United States. Six episodes were ordered, with a two-hour marathon to begin the run. However, for reasons unknown, the series never aired. The series was made into a motion picture for theatrical release, which was released on DVD in the United States in 2009.

; ''In The Dark'' (Summer 1997)
:The WB was slated to air an American version of a British game show of the same name on its prime-time Sunday schedule, but it was removed before its premiere. It is unrelated to the 2019 dramedy of the same name which airs on The CW.

; '' The IT Crowd'' (US Adaptation) (early 2008, Fall 2008)
:NBC slated an American adaptation of the British comedy series of the same name with an American cast (although Richard Ayoade reprised his role as Moss). Jessica St. Clair played the female lead Jen, and Joel McHale played Roy. The show taped its pilot before a live audience on February 16, 2007, and was picked up for a midseason debut in 2008, but was later pushed back to air during the 2008–09 season. On September 13, 2007, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' reported that NBC was considering pulling the plug on the show. When NBC announced its schedule for the 2008–09 season, ''The IT Crowd'' was not on it, and McHale had since been cast as the lead for ''Community''. The pilot has been seen on various video-sharing sites, including YouTube.

J

; ''The Jake Effect'' (early 2002)
:Seven episodes of this sitcom starring Jason Bateman were produced to premiere in midseason 2002, but NBC canceled the series before a single episode aired. In 2006, Bravo aired the first six episodes of the series as part of its "Brilliant But Canceled" block.

; ''Jingles'' (2008)
:A CBS series produced by Mark Burnett in which teams compete to create new advertising jingles for brand-name products. It starred Gene Simmons and Kimberly Caldwell.

L

; ''Law & Order: For the Defense'' (Fall 2021)
:In May 2021, NBC had given a straight-to-series order to ''Law & Order: For the Defense'', a new legal drama from '' Law & Order'' franchise creator Dick Wolf, would premiere during the 2021–22 television season. In July 2021, multiple trade publications reported that NBC and Wolf had mutually agreed to scrap the series, which had not yet cast any roles, and that they would instead revive the original '' Law & Order'' (which had ended production in 2010) for the time slot.

; ''Let's Dance'' (November 23, 2009)
:ABC ordered five episodes of an intended comedy-celebrity dance competition, to be hosted by Kathy Griffin; however, casting difficulties led to the series being scrapped.

; '' Liza and David'' (October or November 2002)
:This planned reality series, about the lives of Liza Minnelli and her then-husband, producer David Gest, was abruptly canceled by VH1 in October just before its debut.

; ''Lizzie McGuire'' reboot for Disney+ (2020)
:Originally announced to much fanfare along with Disney+ at the D23 expo in 2019, this reboot of the early 2000s Disney Channel series shot two episodes, and had a brief clip appear during a Disney+ sizzle reel on New Year's Day 2020. However, just days later, it was announced that production was paused due to the exit of the original creator Terri Minsky over creative differences, and ultimately by year's end, Hilary Duff (Lizzie) would reveal on her Instagram page that the show had been shelved.

; ''The Love Nest'' (Fall 1974)
:CBS originally announced this sitcom to air in its fall schedule on Friday nights. It starred Charles Lane and Florida Friebus as widowed senior citizens who live together in a Florida trailer park.

; ''Lost in the USA'' (Fall 2001)
:An American reality show scheduled for Sunday at 7 on The WB, it was to follow four groups of young people on a cross-country scavenger hunt. It was canceled due to troubles at the production company Artists Television Group.

; '' Loveland'' (2009)
:British dating game show that was to be aired on Sky One but was cancelled due to production costs.

M

; ''Made by Maddie'' (September 13, 2020)
:A Nickelodeon animated series for preschoolers (originally titled ''Fashion Ally'') about 8-year-old Maddie (voiced by Alyssa Cheatham) "as she uses her imagination and design ingenuity to turn every problem into a positive with the perfect fashion fix." around New York City. It was pulled from the schedule on September 4, 2020, following scrutiny over similarities between the program and the Matthew A. Cherry Oscar-winning animated short, ''Hair Love''. In March 2021, Brian Robbins, President of ViacomCBS Kids & Family, was reported by Deadline Hollywood as saying "We'll probably have an announcement soon about the strategy for ''Made By Maddie'' but I'm not ready to tell you yet." On August 17, 2021, the trademark for the series was changed to abandoned.

; ''Made in Kentucky'' (2018)
:MTV reality show following young people and their shenanigans in Kentucky.

; ''Mail Order Family'' (intended for 2017)
:An ordered NBC sitcom about a widowed American single father who marries a mail-order bride from the Philippines. Executive producer and co-creator Jackie Clarke based the series on her own experiences growing up with her Filipina stepmother (which was previously a web animated series, which was covered in a segment of the radio show ''This American Life''), and intended to portray the character as a strong woman who helped her overcome the death of her birth mother. Less than three days after announcing the project, NBC decided not to move forward with a pilot after protests from the Asian-American community and advocates for trafficked women and mail-order brides after a Change.org petition protesting the project garnered nearly 10,000 signatures. NBC released a statement stating, "We purchased the pitch understanding that it would tell the creator's real-life experience of being raised by a strong Filipina stepmother after the loss of her own mother...The writer and producer have taken the sensitivity to the initial concept to heart and we have chosen not to move forward with the project at this time." Dr. E. J. R. David and Dr. Alicia del Prado, co-chairs of the Asian American Psychological Association's Division on Filipino Americans, wrote a column in '' Psychology Today'' about what lessons could be learned from the handling of the show, mentioning how future efforts should collaborate from people from the related community and not "trivialize, make light of, or laugh at serious real-life issues" such as human trafficking or buying human beings.

; ''Mainly For Men'' (1969)
:A BBC
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