10 TV Shows That Should've Been Cancelled Sooner

Teen sci-fi show The 100 started out life as an inventive post-apocalyptic drama, where the earth was previously abandoned and the known remnants of humanity now survive in a vast space station. When their orbital home begins to fail, the authorities send our core group of characters - delinquent teens whose lives are considered to be worth little - back down to earth to find out if it is once again inhabitable.

With an intriguing premise and a well-acted ensemble cast of fresh stars, The 100 was guaranteed initial success, as it explored the moral complications of the wider society alongside a Survivor-esque environment. The show even built up a strong fanbase, however it was this fandom presence that ended up - for once, quite fairly - being the show’s downfall.

LGBTQ+ fans in particular flocked to the show after the main character, Clarke Griffin, was revealed to be bisexual, and began a relationship with Lexa, the lesbian leader of a society of earth-dwelling survivors. Those fans were then outraged when Lexa was unceremoniously killed, directly after tenderly consummating their relationship, in a move inherently reminiscent of the death of the original ‘buried gay’ TV character, Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Tara. This resulted in extremely negative press and conversation surrounding the sacrifice of queer representation, and a mass exodus of viewers ensued.

Add to this the fact that soon after, the show’s plot began to dissolve into the outlandish, even for sci-fi and the show’s own mythology’s standards, and what viewers remained steadily fell. While the show got a full seven seasons and a deliberate conclusion, maintaining decent reviews throughout, it’s arguable that a show that failed fans so thoroughly didn’t deserve to go on nearly as long.