Doctor Odyssey doesn’t seem to be coming back for a second season, especially now that the cast options have expired. It’s just one of the one-season ABC shows that we would have liked to see more of, even if just for the campy fun.
Some ABC shows have been more meaningful, though. They deserved the time they needed to grow and explore character storylines. We take a look at the five ABC shows that should have had more time on the air.
Alaska Daily
In May 2023, ABC made one of the worst decisions by cancelling Alaska Daily. The show was a victim of its timeslot, with Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT no longer performing all that well. There’s a reason over the last couple of years ABC has switched Grey’s Anatomy to that later timeslot, since it can handle the dips in linear ratings better.
Alaska Daily brought to light some important real-life problems surrounding Native Americans. When it comes to murders and kidnappings, the police don’t do the work they should to get to the bottom of the situation. While Hilary Swank’s show was able to focus on one situation, there are many more stories to tell, and this series deserved much more time on the air.
8 Simple Rules
Originally called 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, this ABC sitcom suffered a tragic loss. John Ritter’s shocking and untimely death led to the series having to write it in. The third season brought in new characters, darkened the set lighting, and arguably took some of the humor away. That shouldn’t have meant it was canceled, though.
The series needed time to show the grieving process. 8 Simple Rules gave us a raw look at how families cope after the death of a loved one, and we needed to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. This could have allowed the series to lighten up the set a bit and add the humor back in. No, nothing could have replaced Ritter, but that wasn’t the point of the third season.
Pushing Daisies
When it comes to unique comedies, Pushing Daisies is always at the top of the list. It only lasted two seasons, and it definitely deserved better. We haven’t had anything like it since, as the show had a balance of comedy and drama to make us invested in the characters.
The series was great for fans of supernatural stories, as Ned had the ability to bring the dead back to life just by touching them. However, there is a thing called balance, and if the dead are alive for more than a minute, someone else has to die to balance the universe. Ned could touch the dead a second time to make them die permanently, to help with this. We needed more of how that affected Ned.
FlashForward
It’s always sad when supernatural dramas are canceled. They end up bringing all sorts of meaningful storylines, and it’s clear there is more to tell, but they just don’t get the chance. FlashForward is one of the ABC shows that deserved better, but was canceled after just one season.
The series focused on the aftereffects of a global event that caused everyone to lose consciousness for 137 seconds, and in that time, they’re able to see visions of their own life for six months into the future. Not everyone had good outcomes, and so many would focus on how to change their visions. At the same time, a team of Los Angeles FBI agents needed to figure out what had happened. The first season was filmed ahead of the cancellation, meaning we were left with a major cliffhanger of another flashforward 20 years into the future.
Whiskey Cavalier
Another one-season series that deserved longer was Whiskey Cavalier. ABC even attempted to get eyeballs on the series with the pilot episode debuting after the Oscars in 2019 and then getting a rebroadcast three nights later in its regular timeslot. Sadly, it didn’t do well enough in the linear ratings for ABC to keep it around, but it should have moved to Hulu.
The series followed FBI agent Will Chase, who was assigned to work with CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge. They would work together and lead a team of spies in an attempt to save the world, and of course, there was a romantic link there at the same time. It’s interesting that CBS is looking at following a similar format with the two agencies working together for its newest FBI spinoff, CIA.