# Any Shows that were brought back after being cancelled or on a relatively long hiatus **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431 "2006-03-29T18:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/1 "2006-03-29T18:28:48Z")
Family Guy was one, any others? ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/2 "2006-03-29T18:30:43Z")
Moonlighting was cancelled after one season and brought back after a fan campaign. I think Taxi was also canceled by one network and brought back on another network. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/3 "2006-03-29T18:47:37Z")
IIRC Doctor Who was never cancelled, but it was put on hiatus in 1989 to be revived in 2005. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/4 "2006-03-29T18:50:27Z")
I don’t suppose you’ll count the Star Trek animated series? Babylon V switched networks for the fifth season. WKRP in Cincinnati kind of shambled forth from the grave for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/5 "2006-03-29T18:51:28Z")
Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Laugh-In, too… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/6 "2006-03-29T18:55:54Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I don’t suppose you’ll count the Star Trek animated series? or the movies, or all the New Trek series? Or even the fact that it would have been cancelled after two seasons if fans hadn’t demanded it be brought back? _The Critic_ switched networks. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/7 "2006-03-29T19:08:14Z")
_King of the Hill_ was recently cancelled and then renewed, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/8 "2006-03-29T19:19:15Z")
_JAG_ was dumped by NBC after one season, then CBS picked it up and ran it for about a decade. _Matlock_ found a couple of extra years of life on ABC after NBC dumped it. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/9 "2006-03-29T19:33:38Z")
Roswell was cancelled by the WB as its second season was drawing to a close. Katherine Heigl cut off all her hair when she heard she wouldn’t be playing Isabel Evans anymore. 😉 Then Fox studios got UPN to pick up the show, probably as part of a package deal for getting ‘Buffy’. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/10 "2006-03-29T19:43:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Laugh-In, too… Come to think of it, Twilight Zone’s been resurrected twice. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/11 "2006-03-29T20:01:23Z")
_Cagney & Lacey_ and _Designing Women_ were both cancelled in their first seasons and brought back due to fan write-ins (that proved the Nielsens were wrong). I know there are other shows for this list. _What’s Happening!_ had a regrettable zombie show (_What’s Happening, Now!_) several years after cancellation. Without Mama & Dee it didn’t work. Likewise the body of _Sanford & Son_ was stolen from its marble vault, hauled up to Maine, buried overnight in an Indian burial ground, and came back as _Sanford_ (without son, without Esther, without Grady and Bubba, with a stupid sideplot about a Beverly Hills millionairess in love with Fred, etc.). Sometimes dead is bettah… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/12 "2006-03-29T20:03:16Z")
Oh, and the most famous example (or at least most lucrative): _Baywatch_, starring Parker Stevenson and David Hasselhoff, was cancelled by the network after one season. Hasselhoff got together a group of investors and brought it back in syndication (without Stevenson). The cancelled show became the most popular show on the planet and made Hasselhoff very very rich (and will soon do the same for his ex-wife). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/13 "2006-03-29T20:16:36Z")
**Dragnet** was cancelled in 1959, but Jack Webb brought it back as **Dragnet 1967** , which went off the air in 1970. A third version hit the airwaves in 1989 (with different characters) and a fourth in 2003. They were all about cops in LA, based on LAPD files (“The story you are about to hear is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent”). Versions 1, 2, and 4 had Joe Friday as the main character, and he was played by the same actor in the first two versions. **Get Smart** was cancelled by NBC, but switched over to CBS. **The Dick Van Dyck Show** was cancelled at the end of its first season. However, it got great ratings during summer reruns, so CBS changed their mind and renewed the show. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/14 "2006-03-29T20:25:32Z")
**Battlestar Galactica** was cancelled after one season due to its high production cost, only to be revived a year later in the form of **Galactica 1980** , a series so universally reviled that many BSG fans refuse to acknowledge its existence. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/15 "2006-03-29T20:29:09Z")
> [@Lil' Mahoney](#): > > Moonlighting was cancelled after one season and brought back after a fan campaign. “Moonlighting” was successful from the get go and renewed after its first season. However, new episodes eventually became so infrequent that it may have seemed like the show was cancelled and brought back. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/16 "2006-03-29T20:33:31Z")
Absolutely Fabulous ran from 92-94ish and came back for another season in 01. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/17 "2006-03-29T21:28:26Z")
**Maverick** was originally on ABC and starred James Garner and Jack Kelly in the late 1950s-early 1960s. After a couple of seasons Garner quit in a contract dispute and Jack Kelly soldiered on. Garner was replaced Rober Moore. The show died shortly thereafter. After several one shot tv movies tried to revive the show, Garner reprised the character for a show that lasted one year on NBC in the early 1980s, **Brett Maverick**. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/18 "2006-03-29T21:28:51Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Absolutely Fabulous ran from 92-94ish and came back for another season in 01. This is more of a Brittish thing to do though. I don’t think it was cancelled. Fawlty Towers took quite a break between seasons as well. ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/19 "2006-03-29T22:03:04Z")
**Home Movies** started out on UPN and ran for 5 episodes before it was cancelled. Two years later it came back on Cartoon Network and ran for several more seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431/20 "2006-03-29T22:10:24Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Absolutely Fabulous ran from 92-94ish and came back for another season in 01. Actually, Ab Fab wasn’t cancelled, but Jennifer Saunders (who wrote the entire series) said she didn’t have any ideas left for new stories after the third season. Evidently, she thought of some new ideas in the interim seven years. How about “the Brady Bunch”? Cancelled in (I think) '74, brought back as a legendarily reviled variety show in '78, brought back _again_ in the early 80s (as the set-up for a spin-off featuring only Marcia & Jan), and brought back _yet again_ as a very ill-advised drama series. That’s three times the show was revived, not counting the animated series (which ran concurrently with the original series) and the TV movies or feature films. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-shows-that-were-brought-back-after-being-cancelled-or-on-a-relatively-long-hiatus/350431.md?page=2)