10 Weirdest Reasons Popular TV Shows Were Cancelled

5. Police Squad! - People Had To Actually Watch It

Only ever airing six episodes, Police Squad is more remembered for the Naked Gun movies it spawned, but the original show is still a hoot. Made up of the same machine-gun pace, physical slapstick comedy and a committed performance from Leslie Nielsen, it was a series packed with gags, but that was also its major problem.

Now, a comedy show having too much comedy sounds like a criticism that only the dumbest TV executives could dream up, but that was the real cause of death for this series. The president of ABC famously said that "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it," to explain why Police Squad ended so quickly, and that's just bonkers, right?

Well, it is in the age of serials that demand viewers pay attention, but TV wasn't always viewed as the best conduit for that kind of storytelling. Executives liked shows with broad appeal, ones that you could flick over to and not feel lost, and sadly Police Squad treated its audience with too much respect.