10 Great TV Shows That Got Cancelled After Just 1 Season
2. Trophy Wife
Released on ABC in 2013, this delightful comedy from the minds of Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins was a revelation of refreshing humour in a genre that had been stale for a long time.
Trophy Wife follows Kate Harrison (played by the wonderful Malin Akerman) as she leaves her party-girl lifestyle behind after falling in love with and marrying a middle-aged man. Parallels with The Modern Family were obviously drawn, but Trophy Wife had an identity of its own, largely based on goofy-but-believable characters, clever irony, and great chemistry.
It was a sitcom in format, but it avoided falling into the usual tropes by respecting its audience and not underestimating it. It was intelligent, but not conceited; it was funny, but not over the top. Its only major flaw is its unfortunate title, which undersells the plot and reduces Akerman's character (and performance) to something it's not.
For whatever reason, the folks at ABC didn't seem to appreciate Trophy Wife enough and kept putting it in the least attractive timeslots, which kept it from reaching a greater audience and practically doomed it.