Journey Planet 58 - Cancelled Too Soon

Wonderfalls debuted on March 12, 2004 and it ended on April 1, 2004 after one season and 4 episodes, aired out of order, although nine additional episodes were released when the DVD was issued. The series starred Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler, Tyron Leitso as Eric Gotts, Tracie Thoms as Mahandra McGinty, and Katie Finneran as Sharon Tyler. The series follows a young woman who hears voices telling her to perform altruistic deeds against her will. The series originally aired on Fox in the U.S. Wonderfalls is available on DVD. It is not currently available for streaming.

Sometimes a show’s cancellation is, at least in part, the result of the coincidental similarity with another show. On September 18, 2006, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, an hour long drama built around the production of a weekly comedy sketch show, debuted on NBC. Three weeks later, on October 11, NBC debuted 30 Rock, an half-hour long comedy built around the production of a weekly comedy sketch show.

While 30 Rock ran for seven seasons and 138 episodes, Studio 60 only lasted a single series and 22 episodes.

A couple years earlier, a similar situation happened when Joan of Arcadia debuted on CBS on September 26, 2003. It ran for two seasons and told the story of a woman who was given tasks to perform by God. Six months later, on March 12, 2004, Fox aired the first episode of Wonderfalls, a story about a woman who hears voices giving her tasks to perform. After airing the first four episodes out of order, Fox cancelled the show. Fortunately, one of the executive producers, Tim Minear, had experience with Fox (he had worked on Firefly), and they had plotted the series to complete a story arc within the 13 episodes initially ordered. The full 80