Over the years, children's television has become so lucrative entire channels have been created to offer children 24 hours of safe and approved programming for their viewing pleasure. Even streaming giants like Netflix understand how important children are and have created family programming for that purpose.
Just because children's TV is lucrative doesn't mean it's not susceptible to the same misfortunes as adult television. In fact, children's TV shows tend to stay on air a lot shorter than adult forms of media. Sometimes shows are lucky and get to wrap up the stories & end on their own terms. Most of the time, children's shows are cancelled without being able to finish their stories.
It's one of the most frustrating things about television and what makes it even worse is that we're never given a reason as to why our favorite shows have been canceled. Most of the time it has to do with poor ratings, but sometimes the reasons the shows are canceled are weird and downright confusing. And sometimes we think we know why our favorite kids show was canceled, but our version isn't the truth.
15 Zoey 101 Was Actually Cancelled Because Jamie Lynn Spears Wanted To Finish High School In Her Home State
Zoey 101 was a popular teen show that aired on Nickelodeon in the mid-2000s. Many fans speculated that the show was canceled after lead star, Jamie Lynn Spears, got pregnant at sixteen. However, Spears set the record straight last year on a now-deleted Instagram post stating that the show ended because her contract was up and she wanted to go to high school in her hometown.
14 American Dragon: Jake Long Was Cancelled Because Fans Hated The Different Animation Style
The first season of Disney Channel's animated series American Dragon: Jake Long was a massive hit. Unfortunately, the animation style was extremely expensive to maintain, so Disney decided to opt for a cheaper version for season 2. Fans were extremely displeased when season 2 started airing and ratings quickly fell.
13 Young Justice Wasn't Selling Enough Toys
When Young Justice went off the air, many speculated that it was canceled because it was bringing in too many female viewers. However, that's not entirely true. One of the show's producers, Greg Weisman, confirmed that the real reason the show was canceled was because it wasn't selling enough toys.
12 Jennette McCurdy & Ariana Grande Couldn't Get Along And One Was Being Paid More
Truthfully Sam & Cat ended because of a myriad of issues, but the most pressing was the feud between Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande. Their arguments were made even worse when McCurdy discovered that Grande was being paid more than she was. Grande denied the claim, but the show was officially canceled after McCurdy failed to negotiate her contract. We'll let you be the judge of this one.
11 Sonny With A Chance And Its Spin-Off Couldn't Catch A Break
After the success of Camp Rock, Demi Lovato landed her own show on Disney Channel entitled Sonny with a Chance. Unfortunately, the show only lasted two seasons and was forced to end after Lovato was released from her contract due to personal reasons. The network wasn't ready to let the other stars go, however, and launched a spin-off entitled So Random. That series didn't have much luck either and was canceled after one season partially due to Tiffany Thornton's pregnancy.
10 Danny Phantom Was Too Expensive To Produce
To this day, Danny Phantom is one of the best Nick shows that never found a strong enough fanbase. To be fair, it was up against some pretty amazing shows. While the lower ratings had a part in Danny Phantom's cancelation, the real reason for its demise was the price tag of the animation style.
9 Invader Zim Was Attracting Too Many Adult Viewers
Invader Zim is considered a cult classic today and many young adults can still be seen wearing merch from the show. The truth is the show was popular on Nickelodeon but not with the right audience. See, Nickelodeon prided itself on being a network for kids and Invader Zim drew in more teenagers and adults.
8 Charlie's 5-Year Old Actress Started Receiving Death Threats
The reason Disney Channel's originals series Good Luck Charlie was canceled breaks our hearts. While the 5-year old actress who played Charlie had been receiving death threats on social media for some time, the threats got increasingly worse after the show featured a same-sex couple. We still can't believe it and we'd like to track down those haters and trolls.
7 Victoria Justice Didn't Want To Be Stuck Playing Tori Vega Forever
There are a lot of rumors as to why Nickelodeon's hit show Victorious ended. Some speculate it had to do with Ariana Grande's spin-off show while others blamed Victoria Justice for choosing to do a solo tour instead of a full cast one. The truth is Victoria Justice didn't want to play Tori Vega for the rest of her life and was ready to move on to new projects.
6 Lilo & Stitch: The Series Was Cancelled Because Of A Stupid Rule
After the success of their animated feature film, Disney Channel decided to give Lilo and Stitch a series of their own. The series followed Lilo and Stitch as they located Stitch's missing cousins and found forever homes for them. The show was amazing, but was unfortunately canceled after 65 episodes thanks to a longstanding Disney Channel rule that was also responsible for the ending of Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, and many other popular shows.
5 Chowder Was Bringing In Too Many Preschool Viewers
As we've seen, target demographics are very important to cable channels. Cartoon Network saw one of their own hit shows, Chowder, skewing their demographic far younger than they intended. Instead of altering the show's writing to appeal to an older fan base, Cartoon Network canceled the show outright. Even preschoolers aren't safe from TV show cancellation!
4 Filming Got In The Way Of The Naked Brothers Band's Education
While most parents of young stars are constantly pushing them to work as hard as possible, the parents of Nat and Alex Wolff saw things a bit differently. Nat Wolff told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, that the reason The Naked Brothers Band was cancelled was that Nickelodeon wanted them to film 60 episodes during the school year and their parents wanted them to focus on their education instead of getting lost in Hollywood's allure.
3 Girl Meets World Was Rumored To Be Cancelled Because The Stars Were Getting Too Old
Nothing can compare to the success of Boy Meets World, though Girl Meets World did come fairly close before it was canceled without explanation. Many fans tried to rally Netflix to pick up the show, but their efforts failed. While it was never revealed what lead to the cancellation, ratings were okay, & many fans speculate that it ended because the actors were becoming "too old" for Disney Channel. We're not sure if we believe this since several Disney Channel teen characters are played by older actors.
2 Angry Beavers Was Cancelled Before The Final Episode Because It Poked Fun At Nickelodeon
For a while there, Nickelodeon was airing some rather odd shows including Angry Beavers. The show aired for four seasons before it was canceled before the final episode had aired. The creators found out about the cancelation beforehand and had written the final episode in a way that made fun of Nickelodeon's management and the cancelation. That didn't fly, and the episode was never aired.
1 Teen Titans Was Cancelled To Make Room For Other Shows
We're still upset that Teen Titans was canceled and the reason only makes us even more upset. The show ended in a cliffhanger because the creates were expecting to get a season six. Unfortunately, new department heads came in and decided Teen Titans had run its course and it was time for Cartoon Network to create new shows. How rude!