Not every show is a winner, but LGBTQ+ programming notoriously gets the axe too soon – often after a mere one season. Many times it seems just as a show gains traction with a queer audience, it receives a cancellation notice. The rainbow community brings some of the most passionate fanbases to shows, and a significant complaint is networks aren’t advertising their LGBTQ+ content appropriately.
Nobody can watch a show until they know it exists, so even though these shows all got the boot after a single season, they are worth watching.
1. Willow (2022-2023) – Disney+
The lesbian Disney princess everybody was waiting for delivered epically in this series continuation of the classic fantasy film Willow (1988). The show barely entered the market before being canceled, but worse yet, the show was pulled entirely from the streaming platform. Those who delayed viewing the show while it aired may be doomed never to see this excellent fantasy adventure.
2. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (2023) – Paramount+
The hit musical movie Grease served as a foundation for this prequel series, showing how the social landscape of Rydell High initially formed. Why is it gay? Nobody will know unless they shell out $19.99 to Amazon or Apple to purchase the show digitally. The show was only available for streaming from April to June 2023 before it was canceled and pulled from the platform. It was later additionally released as a physical DVD.
3. The Watchful Eye (2023) – Freeform
Fans of Only Murders in the Building will want to binge-watch this ten-episode season of a mystery set in New York City in a building full of rich people and their nannies. The ensemble cast of characters includes non-binary representation, which many folks in the queer community appreciate being included.
4. Gotham Knights (2023) – The CW
Set in the Batman universe of Gotham City, a group of runaways become the city’s protectors after Bruce Wayne’s death. The character of Harper Row is a bisexual engineer and a main character in the group. The CW seems to be making a concentrated effort to bring queer superhero stories to the screen, with Batwoman being the longest-running at three seasons. Unfortunately, their advertising often fails to reach the queer audience – perhaps because it’s assumed people know some of these characters are gay, so it doesn’t have to be mentioned explicitly.
5. A League of Their Own (2022) – Prime Video
It’s no small challenge to live up to the precedent of the classic star-studded film of the same name set in 1992. The series delves into the sapphic history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed in the World War II era while the Major Leagues were facing shutdown due to the war. The series was initially renewed for a paltry four-episode final season early in 2023 but was subsequently canceled and blamed on the Writers Guild of America strike that summer.
6. First Kill (2022) – Netflix
Twilight meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this lesbian supernatural romance depicting a vampire and a vampire hunter falling in love. Viewers who enjoy a “romantasy” soap opera of mortal enemies to lovers will immediately be hooked into this young adult love story.
7. Vampire Academy (2022) – Peacock
Based on the book series of the same name by Richelle Mead, this series is Peacock’s competition for the coveted position of forbidden, queer vampire romance show. It followed a trajectory similar to First Kill, with the same audience and the same cancellation after the first season. The downfall of both shows may be an overabundance of vampire fiction in general, so while it offers a small and steady fanbase, many will pass in favor of something different.
8. Paper Girls (2022) – Prime Video
This time-traveling adventure is based on the comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, focusing on a group of young girls accidentally trapped in a war between time-travelers. The series aired in the middle of summer but was canceled in the fall. Fans of the comic book series complain that the show went through all the work of setting up the complicated plot just to throw it all away, which is particularly grievous when it is known in advance that more than one season will be necessary to tell the story.
9. Naomi (2022) – The CW
It’s excellent that comic books and queer characters are getting screen time, but it would be even better if they lasted long enough to get a proper number of seasons to a series. The series follows a young superhero and her friends, including a queer BFF crushing on the title character. The CW is an under-appreciated streaming service that makes its network shows available for free without a subscription while they are currently airing but then licenses the work to other streaming platforms. Those who missed the initial airing can view Naomi on Max (HBO).
10. Pivoting (2022) – Fox
Positioned as a midlife crisis comedy for middle-aged women, the show’s marketing downplayed that one of the main characters is a lesbian divorcing her wife. The show was canceled less than three months after release, an especially poor choice for a show with a target demographic that likely will watch it but not within the immediate release window.
11. Queer as Folk (2022) – Peacock
Reboots have the unique challenge of needing to please the original audience while also trying to draw in new viewers, a problem when the title has stayed the same. This updated version of the 1999 British TV series Queer as Folk focuses on a shooting at a queer nightclub and how that impacts a group of friends struggling in the aftermath.
12. Astrid & Lilly Save the World (2022) – SyFy
Compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer but minus consideration for the male gaze, this show has been consistently included in LGBTQ+ categories, and the marketing largely fails to address why. According to many reviewers, those expecting the romance to be between the main characters or a one-sided crush will be pleasantly surprised to find a more complex display of the range of human relationships.
13. I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021) – Prime Video
Queer horror stories can leave viewers hesitant to commit, fearing the gay villain trope. Low viewership and negative reviews made it unlikely for anybody to know what happened that summer. The studio trend of reinventing already owned IPs rather than investing in new stories is wearing thin on audiences, a problem that could be combated by marketing that alleviates the target audience’s concerns.
14. Ratched (2020) – Netflix
The character of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest receives a deep-dive, including a lesbian love interest in this Netflix original. Starring Sarah Paulson and Cynthia Nixon, the psychological thriller is sure to appeal to queer fans of the horror genre.
15. The Vagrant Queen (2020) – SyFy
An interview with Digital Spy revealed that this sci-fi show focused on inclusion at every level of production, choosing to focus on women and minorities in a genre that can often be catered to men. The queer romance doesn’t come to fruition until the end of the only season, so fans will want to tune in for the science fiction story first and foremost.
16. Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020) – Netflix
The title promises campy, comedy fun with the premise and delivers so much more. Fraternal twins accidentally fall into bounty hunting, which leads to hilarity. Still, the plot also explores the emotional journey of one twin discovering her orientation doesn’t fit quite where she thought and the struggles that come along with that realization in a community that isn’t always accepting.
Queer fans couldn’t help but notice the cancellation occurred at the same time as G.L.O.W, another notably queer show.
17. Utopia Falls (2020) – Hulu
This sci-fi series is set in the future, where a teenage competition decides a person’s fate, and features two LGBTQ+ characters. Reviews describe it as a musical Hunger Games.
18. Stumptown (2019 – 2020) – ABC
This comic book adaptation is a crime drama featuring a bisexual private investigator as the lead character. While only having one season, it did offer eighteen episodes, which will feel like two seasons compared to the skimpy seasons offered by streaming-based networks.
19. Abby’s (2019) – NBC
A bisexual ex-Marine opens a speakeasy in her backyard in this sitcom that follows the eccentric regulars who frequent the unlicensed establishment. The title character is played by Natalie Morales, who also represented a queer character in the Netflix original Dead to Me.
20. Grandfathered (2016) – Fox
John Stamos leads the cast as a wealthy bachelor who owns a restaurant managed by a lesbian. At the same time, the queer character was hailed as avoiding tropes and stereotypes that couldn’t overcome the audience’s dislike for the incompetence of the main character, according to many reviews. The sitcom has twenty-two episodes, giving it the feel of a longer-running show.
21. One Big Happy (2015) – NBC
Fans of 90s sitcoms will enjoy this comedy about a lesbian carrying her straight guy BFF’s baby. The network ordered only six episodes, which, at twenty-two minutes of running time, makes the first season roughly the same length as a movie.
22. Underemployed (2012 – 2013) – MTV
Five friends who graduated together are underemployed in this short-lived comedy series. The title could have been a strong selling point to a target audience grappling with similar underemployment but failed to tap into that potential. The plot does include a coming-out character arc for one of the friends, but the series cancelation stops it from developing into a more nuanced representation.
23. Wonderfalls (2004) – Fox
This quirky supernatural comedy only aired four episodes before being pulled from the network, despite thirteen already created episodes existing. The timing of that move coincided very suspiciously with the revelation that the main character’s sister is a lesbian. The main character’s dry sarcasm is coupled with a twist on the reluctant hero trope that left fans begging for more. A grassroots campaign resulted in the release of the entire season on DVD.
Honorable Mentions: Will They or Won’t They?
The fate of some queer shows still hangs in the undecided space, and they deserve mention to avoid the chopping block suffered by so many other great shows.
24. Uncoupled (2022 – ?) – Showtime
Neil Patrick Harris stars in a romantic comedy about a newly single middle-aged bachelor who just got dumped by his long-term boyfriend and must now navigate a very different dating scene than he remembers. Technically, this series was canceled and then renewed, but work on the second season was paused due to the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike in the summer of 2023.
Will this show get swept under the rug, or is production on season two already ongoing? We’re hoping for a positive update soon.
25. Deadloch (2023) – Prime Video
Don’t let the slow start of the first episode deter watching this top-notch mystery set in a mostly queer town plagued by a serial killer. Even the most accomplished armchair detectives will be glued to the screen to watch these two detectives mesh their polar opposite personalities to solve crime. The Australian show has a humor that goes from subtle to wacky without warning in the best of ways and offers a bonus of delightful accents for American viewers. Amazon has yet to renew or cancel the show, giving viewers time to appreciate the first season and show support for a second season.
Criteria
This list does not represent the entirety of work that meets the qualifications, as many other queer shows were canceled after one season. Limited-run miniseries never intended for additional seasons were excluded, and the remaining shows are presented reverse-chronologically based on the subjective criteria of general popularity, passionate fanbases, and this reviewer watching the series or being likely to watch the series based on the synopsis.
