Guide Last Updated: February 24th, 2026
Are you searching for TV shows to stream? Do you enjoy watching short-lived and/or forgotten television? If so, this guide is for you. Below you’ll find more than 100 TV shows you’ve either never heard of or you forgot existed, all streaming and ready to watch. Most of these shows were on the air for a single season or less. I’ve also included some shows that ran for two seasons or more, particularly if one or both of those seasons were short.
Not surprisingly, most the TV shows included in this guide originally aired during the last few decades. But you can stream a handful of forgotten TV shows dating back to the 1950s.
Currently, the guide covers the following streaming services:
- Amazon Prime Video (Subscription)
- Disney+ (Subscription)
- Hulu (Subscription)
- Netflix (Subscription)
- Paramount+ (Subscription)
- Shout! Factory TV (Free/Ad-Supported)
There’s some overlap, with certain TV shows available on multiple streaming services. Also, TV shows disappear from streaming services all the time, often without warning. Before sighing up for any of the subscription services, be sure to double check to make sure the show(s) you want to watch are still available.
I’ll be updating this guide periodically but I can’t possibly keep track of all the TV shows coming and going on all of these streaming services. I’ll be relying on contributions from readers to keep this guide up-to-date.
Amazon Prime Video (Subscription)
Banacek [The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie] (NBC, 1972-1974) – 2 seasons, 17 episodes
The Californians (NBC, 1957-1959) – 2 seasons, 69 episodes
Dangerous Assignment (Syndicated, 1951-1952) – 1 season, 39 episodes
Decoy (Syndicated, 1957-1958) – 1 season, 39 episodes
Harts of the West (CBS, 1993-1994) – 1 season, 15 episodes
Life with Elizabeth (Syndicated, 1953-1955) – 2 seasons, 65 episodes [17 streaming]
Little Men (PAX, 1998-1999) – 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Mike Hammer, Private Eye (Syndicated, 1997-1998) – 1 season, 26 episodes
Mr. Lucky (CBS, 1959-1960) – 1 season, 34 episodes
Movin’ On (NBC, 1974-1976) – 2 seasons, 44 episodes [42 streaming]
NightMan (Syndicated, 1997-1999) – 2 seasons, 44 episodes
Pat Paulsen’s Half a Comedy Hour (ABC, 1970) – 1 season, 13 episodes
The Pinkertons (Syndicated, 2014-2015) – 1 season, 22 episodes
Queen of Swords (Syndicated, 2000-2001) – 1 season, 22 episodes
The Rebel (ABC, 1959-1961) – 2 seasons, 76 episodes
Steve Canyon (Syndicated, 1958-1959) – 1 season, 34 episodes
Stringray (NBC, 1986-1987) – 2 seasons, 24 episodes
Tucker’s Witch (CBS, 1982-1983) – 1 season, 12 episodes
The Westerner (NBC, 1960) – 1 season, 13 episodes
Women of the House (CBS/Lifetime, 1995) – 1 season, 13 episodes
Yancy Derringer (CBS, 1958-1959) – 1 season, 34 episodes
Disney+ (Subscription)
24: Legacy (FOX, 2017) – 1 season, 12 episodes
Bordertown (FOX, 2016) – 1 season, 13 episodes
Doctor Odyssey (FOX, 2024-2025) – 1 season, 18 episodes
Firefly (FOX, 2002) – 1 season, 14 episodes
The Golden Palace (CBS, 1992-1993) – 1 season, 24 episodes
Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC, 2015-2016) – 2 seasons, 18 episodes
Marvel’s The Inhumans (ABC, 2017) – 1 season, 8 episodes
The Muppets (ABC, 2015-2016) – 1 season, 16 episodes
My So-Called Life (ABC, 1994-1995) – 1 season, 19 episodes
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Hulu (Subscription)
24: Legacy (FOX, 2017) – 1 season, 12 episodes
Bordertown (FOX, 2016) – 1 season, 13 episodes
Firefly (FOX, 2002) – 1 season, 14 episodes
Wayward Pines (FOX, 2015-2016) – 2 seasons, 20 episodes
Netflix (Subscription)
There are currently no short-lived or forgotten TV shows streaming on Netflix.
Paramount+ (Subscription)
NOTE: Paramount+ was known as CBS All Access from 2014 to 2021.
Extant (CBS, 2014-2015) – 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Freaks and Geeks (NBC, 1999-2000) – 1 season, 18 episodes
Jericho (CBS, 2006-2008) – 2 seasons, 30 episodes
Life Unexpected (The CW, 2010-2011) – 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Limitless (CBS, 2015-2016) – 1 season, 22 episodes
Star Trek: The Animated Series (NBC, 1973-1974) – 2 seasons, 22 episodes
Superior Donuts (CBS, 2017-2018) – 2 seasons, 34 episodes
Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-1991) – 2 seasons, 30 episodes
Shout! Factory TV (Free/Ad-Supported)
Ace Crawford, Private Eye (CBS, 1983) – 1 season, 5 episodes
C.P.O. Sharkey (NBC, 1976-1978) – 2 seasons, 37 episodes [34 streaming]
Fridays (ABC, 1980-1982) – 3 seasons, 58 episodes [select episodes streaming]
Hawkeye (Syndicated, 1994-1995) – 1 season, 22 episodes
Marker (UPN, 1995) – 1 season, 13 episodes
The Goldbergs (CBS/NBC/DuMont/Syndication, 1949-1955) [71 episodes streaming]
The Goode Family (ABC, 2009) – 1 season, 13 episodes
“The Greatest American Heroine” [Unsold Pilot] (NBC, 1986)
The Rebel (ABC, 1959-1961) – 2 seasons, 76 episodes
The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (CBS, 1970) – 1 season, 13 episodes
The Tim Conway Show (CBS, 1980-1981) – 2 seasons, 31 episodes
Swan’s Crossing (Syndicated, 1992) – 1 season, 65 episodes
If I’ve missed any short-lived or forgotten TV shows streaming on any of these services, please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an e-mail. Also, if you think I should include additional streaming services in this guide, I’m open to suggestions.
All 6 seasons of THE CISCO KID is available on Amazon Prime. Plus THE PRISONER and all seasons of NYPD BLUE
Cool!
Sadly, no VR.5.
On Hulu, I’d add Saved by the Bell: The College Years. And if 2 seasons qualifies: Land of the Giants and Car 54, Where Are You?
NBC and ABC also have a “throwback” selection of shows on their sites — and ad supported. They are largely populated by short-lived in-house programs like The Cape, Outsourced, L&O: LA, Up All Night, and Smash on NBC; and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, FlashForward, Reaper, Manhattan Love Story, Trophy Wife, and The Muppets on ABC. The one classic short-lived throwback is the original BSG on NBC’s site.
Thank you for this. I have watched quite a few of the shows that are available via Amazon Prime.
Unfortunately, most of these are US only services. Netflix in other countries has some different programming so availability varies.
love it! so I can stream for free?
Other short-lived shows: Hank, No Time For Sergeants, F Troop, My Mother the Car, Knight Rider. Also short-lived but immensely popular and well- remembered was Gilligan’s Island!
you can buy Hank on DVD
The one and done Melrose Place revival is available via Prime. This list is cool.
Amazon Prime also has Dilbert and recently added Gidget as well.
Amazon Prime just added Booker, the 21 Jump Street spin-off.
With new streamers popping up, it won’t be long before every lost series is up for download!
Amazon Prime has 20 episodes of “Strike It Rich” (Syndication, 1986-1987; 1 season, ~195 episodes) available for streaming thanks to Buzzr. The show was pretty obscure and scarce prior to them being added back in January.
Love and Marriage on Amazon starts off with four early episodes. The next eight in their ‘season one’ are actually the eight episodes that NBC never aired. In these shows one of the two daughters is mysteriously absent from the opening titles and the show itself, and is never mentioned. Perhaps her disappearance was explained in one of the episodes Amazon skipped over.
THE ROKU CHANNEL also streams some short-run TV series, such as TATE, 26 MEN. THE ADVENTURES OF JIM BOWIE, GIDGET & GOOD MORNING WORLD.
Canada’s top TV network CTV has a free streaming area on their site called CTV Throwback which offers many of the shows that are on the Sony/Crackle streaming service — including Bad Teacher and Rake, which are both awful — but they also offer the following short-lived series which aren’t on your list:
‘Til Death
10 Items Or Less
Hawthorne
Joan Of Arcadia
Justified
Muddling Through
My Boys
My Two Dads
Necessary Roughness
Ned and Stacey
Parker Lewis Can’t Lose
Sanford Arms (6 episodes)
Square Pegs
Tabitha
The Naked Truth
The original Rake, from Australia, is off color but EXTREMELY funny and on Netflix
Where could I watch shows like my three sons Marcus welbey old soap operas old sit coms
Patricia, Many recordings of vintage daytime soaps can be found on YouTube, many other obscure shows as well
As far as I can tell, the greatest shows ever produced, ” I Love Lucy, ” ” The Lucy Show,” and ” Here’s Lucy” were not mentioned. Thankfully, they are alive and well on HULU!
Tubi has tons of older shows (for example Naked City). Too many to list.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS COLLECTION OF SHOWS! Unforch it doesn’t contain anything about ABC’s Triple Emmy Award Winning ROOM 222 with my favorite actress MISS KAREN VALENTINE from 1969 – 1974. Taking a gander at it recently it’s just as hip as ‘twas then often concentrating on societal issues that are still relevant today. And today… HAPPY 74th BIRTHDAY, KAREN! Cheers, TRETierney
Anyone have any idea where I can watch or buy The Case Of The Dangerous Robin starring Rick Jason?
The Film Detective (thefilmdetective.tv) offers a large number of short-lived and forgotten shows. I’m not sure if they offer complete series runs, but they do offer:
The Adventures of Champion
Dangerous Assignment
Four Star Playhouse
Fury
Judge Roy Bean
Lock Up
Man with a Camera
Public Defender
Stanley
Suspense
The Range Rider
and others. Their TV Grab Bag option has individual episodes of The $64,000 Question, The Spike Jones Show, Biff Baker, USA, and others.
I’ve been trying desperately to find the CW tv show, “Cult,” and can’t find it ANYWHERE, now that it’s been removed from Netflix. I’d also like to find the show, “The Messengers,” also originally on The CW (also recently removed from Netflix). I was willing to pay for these shows in a legitimate way, but no one seems to want to take my money. So, now I’m looking to find them bootleg. Can ANYONE help me?
Hoping you can help FIND a TV show. It’s got tween/teens (3, I think) and all I can remember is these kids pushing each other in a wheelbarrow on the trailer and one of them saying “France is a country.” Somewhere between 2007-2014.
Crackle blows my mind! For sitcoms, they also have The Girl With Something Extra, Occasional Wife and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Their crime drama offerings include Cassie & Co., Hawk and Houston Knights. Just go there and look! I’m sure you’ll be as surprised as I was.
How about Griff, Hot”l Baltimore ,class of 65.