10 Cancelled TV Shows That Made Obvious Mistakes
9. Airing Episodes Out Of Order - Firefly
It certainly wasn't creator Joss Whedon's fault that his cult fave sci-fi Western series Firefly was cancelled by Fox after just 11 of its 14 filmed episodes were aired.
As was a depressingly common occurrence in the late '90s and early '00s, Fox gave the show such little chance to succeed that it basically amounts to sabotage.
The big problem? Fox decided to air the episodes out of order, because they felt that the pilot episode, "Serenity," wasn't a satisfactorily action-packed introduction to the series.
And so the second episode, "The Train Job," was retooled into a "second pilot," in turn depriving audiences of the crucial onboarding and character information present in the original pilot.
The rest of the season aired episodes in a seemingly semi-random order, creating a disjointed and occasionally nonsensical feel which unsurprisingly turned many viewers off.
Fox ultimately cancelled the show amid declining ratings, but once Firefly hit DVD and people saw the episodes in the correct chronological order, it became a word-of-mouth success.
This led to Whedon getting the green light to produce a feature film sequel, Serenity, which while well-received failed to turn a profit at the box office, effectively ending the series for good.