When a TV show is canceled it can be hard to move on. TV fans get more attached to their favorite shows and stories because they spend so much time week in and out getting invested. The 2015-2016 season was a rough time for cancellation as many shows, both new and old, got canceled. Luckily there are plenty of new (or newish) shows that share more than a passing resemblance to some canceled favorites. Here are seven new shows worth checking out.
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If You Miss The Grinder, Watch The Good Place
The Grinder was one of the most wacky and inventive new comedies of the 2015-2016 season. Sadly, almost no one watched it and FOX, unsurprisingly, canceled it. Thankfully NBC picked up the wacky sitcom ball and delivered The Good Place.
The Good Place and The Grinder have wildly different premises but their sensibilities and senses of humor are surprisingly similar. The Grinder‘s greatest strength was an ability to balance wild absurdist humor with genuine heart and emotion, and The Good Place manages to do exactly the same thing. It’s rare to find a good comedy with excellent jokes. It’s even rarer to find one that makes you care about its characters. The Good Place, like The Grinder before it, is up to the task. If you want to laugh and feel good about it afterwards, you really need to catch up on The Good Place.
If You Miss Castle, Watch Lethal Weapon
If you were watching the long-running Castle to follow the romance behind Castle and Beckett and that’s all, Lethal Weapon probably isn’t the show for you. If you watched Castle because it was a fun detective show with great chemistry between two leads, then Lethal Weapon is right up your alley.
Lethal Weapon does not have any sense of romantic or sexual tension between two leads Riggs and Murtaugh (and the two never will have that type of relationship). Lethal Weapon does provide the same kind of bickering but ultimately compassionate relationship between Riggs and Murtaugh that was present with Beckett and Castle, especially in the earlier years. Like Castle, Lethal Weapon is deceptively smart and entertaining. While it could be easy for you to write off Lethal Weapon as just another crime procedural, the same could have been said of Castle. If you look deep enough into Lethal Weapon you’ll find the same kind of heart and depth that was inside Castle.
If You Miss Person of Interest, Watch Timeless
Person of Interest was a series that gradually got more sci-fi as time went on. Later seasons of Person of Interest barely resembled the show that began in season 1. Timeless, on the other hand, dives headfirst into its sci-fi premise, not only presenting time travel as reality but throwing the characters right into historical events and asking viewers to catch up.
Despite the differences in approach, if you enjoyed Person of Interest there is more than enough to appeal to you in Timeless. Timeless has the same type of structure as Person of Interest. There is a season-long mystery involving a mysterious group that is peppered in between singular one-episode adventures. Timeless also nails one of the best aspects of Person of Interest, a cast of likable and diverse characters gathered together into one crime-solving team. If you seriously miss the dynamic between Finch, Reese, Root and Shaw, the Timeless trio of Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus have you covered.
If You Miss Limitless, Watch No Tomorrow
It might not seem like Limitless, a vaguely sci-fi dramedy, has much in common with No Tomorrow, a vaguely sci-fi rom-com. It’s true that on the surface the two shows could not appear more different but underneath their marketing exteriors Limtless and No Tomorrow share very similar tones with a winking self-awareness to the audience.
If you watched Limitless for the grand criminal conspiracy and its heart, you might want to give No Tomorrow a pass. If you were watching Limitless for the greatest strengths of the series, the characters, the humor and the chemistry between the leads, No Tomorrow will soothe the pain of Limitless‘ loss. No Tomorrow has the same quirky sense of humor and fourth-wall breaking jokes that made Limitless such a delight and a unique spot on network TV.
If You Miss Heroes: Reborn, Watch Legends of Tomorrow
Heroes: Reborn really came at the worst possible moment. When Heroes first hit TV, it was the only superhero show in town. When Heroes was rebooted with Heroes: Reborn, superheroes were all over TV and the show could not keep up. Still, Heroes: Reborn did add something different to the TV landscape. Unfortunately a new show that launched at the same time was doing everything Heroes: Reborn was but doing it better. If you decided to check out Heroes: Reborn because you were fan or the original series or enjoy a larger superhero show with a sprawling cast, you need to give Legends of Tomorrow a chance.
Legends of Tomorrow, which premiered around the same time as Heroes: Reborn, took all the best things about Heroes (and Reborn) but updated them and made them feel fresh. If you enjoyed the time travel of Heroes: Reborn, Legends of Tomorrow is all about time travel. If you appreciated the way that Heroes: Reborn would hop around the globe with their storytelling, Legends of Tomorrow moves to a new location nearly every week. Most importantly, though, Legends of Tomorrow capitalizes on the concept of different people from all walks of life coming together for a common goal that made Heroes and the reboot so special.
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If You Miss Parenthood, Watch This is Us
Though Parenthood and This is Us share almost nothing behind-the-scenes other than airing on the same network, This is Us really does feel like the spiritual successor to Parenthood. If you are searching for the same kind of heartwarming storytelling and family values that Parenthood presented week after week, This is Us is perfect for you. Parenthood blended heart and humor with near perfect precision and This is Us might even be better at it.
Parenthood was a rarity on network TV because there were never any big jaw-dropping moments or melodramatic plot twists. It was a story of a family and all the normal and relatable events that affect them. This is Us takes that same approach that you loved in Parenthood and expands it. This Is Us is not just about the issues plaguing one small family. This is Us uses the issues of the family at its core to explore those of the larger world around us, including racism, sexism and the stigma of drug use, just to name a few key issues so far. This is Us doesn’t just manage to replace Parenthood by having everything you loved about the show; This is Us does everything so well that it might actually end up being better than Parenthood in time.
If You Miss Galavant, Watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
If you are looking for a network musical comedy in the absence of Galavant, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend really is your only other option. The setting and title of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend might be off-putting to some. There are no singing knights, swinging swords or Joshua Sasse on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but the two shows do share more than the fact that characters occasionally break into song.
If you laughed harder at Galavant than any other network comedy, you are guaranteed to get some chuckles out of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. There is a similar sense of humor and irreverence to both Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Galavant. The heart of Galavant can almost be found in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. You couldn’t watch Galavant without being a little bit wrapped up in the romance of it all. Galavant was a musical romantic comedy on weekly basis, an insane musical romantic comedy but a rom-com nonetheless. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend continues to carry that insane rom-com torch as a show that balances over-the-top humor with real and compelling romance.
So what do you think? Do these suggestions for new shows sound like a good fit? Which of these canceled shows have you missed the most? Do you have a new series suggestion for fans of another canceled series?
(Images courtesy of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
