10 Revived TV Shows That Should've Stayed Cancelled

A show with a killer concept that was simultaneously its greatest strength and weakness, Prison Break should have ended once the key characters, you know, broke out of the prison. Instead, it creaked along for another three seasons, with the protagonists bouncing in and out of incarceration for reasons ever more ridiculous.

It ended in 2009, and while it was good, trashy fun throughout, the time had come to pull the plug. It was genuinely surprising, then, that it returned eight years after this. Prison Break came back with a bang in 2017, and it had brought fresh new ideas with it. There were faked deaths, middle Eastern conflicts, a shady paramilitary organisation, as well as all the usual prison breakery.

Only, there was too much of it. Packed into nine episodes, Prison Break season five was overwhelmingly stupid, with globe trotting, double crossing, and dozens of intense staredowns in every single episode.

It wasn’t Prison Break at its worst: it was focussed, for the most part, and mercifully brief. It couldn’t be more clear that the idea had been rinsed for all it was worth, though - and some years ago at that.