The landscape of television is always changing, with new shows popping up every week to take the place of shows that are ending, shows getting greenlit and canceled according to the whims of their audience. A lot of planning and time and money goes into making a TV show, and if the audience isn’t there, or if the stars or creators aren’t game for more, they don’t tend to stick around for very long. Even successful television has an expiration date.

But sometimes that expiration date ends up getting extended. There have been plenty of TV shows in the past that were cut short for a variety of different reasons, only to be picked back up at a later date, either directly after they were canceled by their original network or decades later, when it became clear that maybe there was enough of a new audience justify bringing back a cult classic.

These are the shows that tend to be the most beloved — there’s nothing like an untimely cancellation for getting your audience up in arms about wanting more of what they can’t have. Sometimes, they can, and a show that seems doomed is rescued at the last minute, or surprise revived some time later when the original cast and crew all happen to have schedules that align.

Occasionally, these rescues go well, and the shows end up running for several more seasons. just as often they don’t. In other cases, it quickly becomes clear that the end should have been the end. Still, it’s always interesting to see what it takes to bring a TV show back to life, even for a season or two.

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