The 1990s saw a wave of sitcoms, dramas, and teen shows hit the small screen. Since the '90s were a time when media of all different forms were incredibly popular, there's most likely a multitude of media that comes to mind when looking back on the decade. Boybands were at the height of their popularity, grunge had pushed heavy metal music out of the limelight, and the first PlayStation console was released in the middle of the decade.

Home computers were starting to become more present in average households and there were many, many moments in pop culture that defined the decade. Amidst all of that, TV shows were (mostly) thriving. There wasn't a shortage of television programming to choose from, and when a season of a show ended, you only had to wait a few months for it to return rather than a year or more.

Countless shows come to mind when thinking back to television in the '90s such as ER, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These shows, and many more, became staples of '90s television that changed the way TV shows were made going forward. There are so many great '90s shows that went on for years before they finally ended, but there are also quite a few shows that didn't last as long.

As much as the decade was a time for television to excel, it was also a time when too many shows were created and not enough space was made on the airwaves for them to stand a chance. One of the most well-known examples of this happening was when the now cult-classic Freaks and Geeks ended after only one season, but there are certainly other examples. Here are ten, somewhat weird, '90s TV shows that didn't last very long:

Related: 10 Long Forgotten '90s B-Movies

10 The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993-1994)

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Fox

This odd western show starring B-movie actor Bruce Campbell as the titular Brisco County Jr., a bounty hunter in the Old West who fights bad guys with futuristic gadgets. Brisco is a Harvard Law graduate who is hired by local robbers to search for members of the John Bly gang which happen to be the same gang that killed his father. He's accompanied by his one-time rival and fellow bounty hunter Lord Bowler (Julius Carry) as they ride through the West and encounter strange golden orbs with mysterious abilities.

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. is both sci-fi and western, both action and comedy, with a bit of adventure mixed in. It only aired for one season consisting of 27 episodes (remember when shows had more than ten episodes?) and premiered with a two-hour-long pilot movie on Fox. It premiered at 8:00 pm on a Friday night and then once again on Saturday at 7:00 pm. Both viewings earned strong ratings, and the show kept the 8:00 Friday night time slot. It was fully expected to be the breakout hit of the year, but that distinction went to its follow-up show the X-Files. Ratings were low after the pilot movie, and the series was canceled after just one season.

9 VR.5 (1995-1997)

vr. 5 oliver
Fox Network

Years after her scientist father and her sister were killed in a car accident, Sidney Bloom (Lori Singer) works at a telephone company and enjoys playing around with virtual reality. She accidentally discovers that she can enter the minds of other people through an advanced virtual reality. What she does in VR affects what happens in the real world. She subsequently agrees to use her abilities to help a secret organization called the Committee.

The first ten episodes of this one-season show aired in the spring of '95, while the last three episodes aired two years later in the spring of '97. Fox produced the last three episodes of VR.5 but did not purchase them, which led to the remaining episodes premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel for the first time in the U.S. in '97. These final three episodes were actually produced for the international market as Fox had not agreed to a 13-episode season.

8 Maximum Bob (1998)

maximum bob-1
ABC

Described as a "Twin Peaks"-like series, Maximum Bob takes place in the fictional Florida town of Deepwater and centers around an ultra-conservative judge named Bob Gibbs known for giving the maximum sentence to defendants. The eccentric cast of characters also includes his wife who is a psychic who performed in a mermaid show until she nearly lost her life to an alligator, a widowed sheriff who enjoys ballroom dancing, and a spitfire public defendant from Miami. The show also includes an inbred family full of dysfunctional people.

Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, the show was extremely short-lived as it only lasted seven episodes before getting canned. ABC would have ordered more episodes if the rating had been better, but the show did not measure up. Given the premise and the unpleasant, offbeat characters, it doesn't seem all that surprising that the show didn't last.

7 Nowhere Man (1995-1996)

Nowhere Man-1
UPN

Over the course of one evening, documentary photographer Thomas Veil (Bruce Greenwood) seemingly has his entire existence erased. No one in his life remembers him or can confirm his identity, and he thinks it has to do with a photo he took in South America showing four men being hanged, likely by U.S. soldiers. The only evidence Tom has of his life is the negatives of that photo.

Nowhere Man received critical acclaim upon its premiere and even earned TV Guide's label of "This season's coolest hit." Despite the praise, the show was canceled after only one season which ran from August 1995 to May 1996 with 25 episodes. Later on in the early 2000s, reruns of the show aired on the Family Channel in Canada.

6 The Single Guy (1995-1997)

the single guy jonathan silverman
NBC

A writer named Jonathan Elliot (Jonathan Silverman) is a writer living in New York City whose career is making little headway. Also, a bachelor living on his own, he finds the dating scene to be quite daunting, and he envies the love lives of others. He attempts to find success and love with the help of his best friend Sam (Joey Slotnick) and his wife Trudy (Ming-Na Wen) as well as his wacky doorman Manny (Ernest Borgnine).

The Single Guy ran longer than the other shows on this list but still had a short lifespan of two seasons. The series was favored enough by NBC to earn a time slot in the network's coveted "Must-See-TV" lineup but ultimately failed to generate enough enthusiasm from critics and viewers. It didn't help that the show premiered at the same time that already extremely successful sitcoms of similar nature were airing, such as Friends and Seinfeld. It was one of the highest-rated shows to ever get canceled, according to Nielsen Media Research. After the show was removed from its 8:30 pm Thursday night time slot, its ratings plummeted.

Related: 13 TV Shows That Kept Going After the Main Character Left

5 Bakersfield P.D. (1993-1994)

Bakersfield P.D.
Fox

Before he was Gus Fring in Breaking Bad or Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian, Giancarlo Esposito was Paul Gigante, a former FBI agent who left the bureau to become a detective in Bakersfield, California in Bakersfield P.D. However, the sophisticated city-slicker doesn't quite mesh with his new rural colleagues, as to them Gigante is quite difficult to figure out.

The crime-comedy sitcom was shot with naturalistic lighting and without the use of a laugh track. After only one season, Fox canceled the cop comedy, citing low ratings as the reason for axing it. After its cancelation, the cable channel Trio aired the reruns under its "Brilliant by Canceled" umbrella.

4 Action (1999-2000)

Action 1999
Fox

Sleazy executive of Dragonfire Films, Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr), has hit rock bottom with his $150 box office bomb "Slow Torture." The only way for him to make up for his failure is to produce a new film called "Beverly Hills Gun Club", and the only person who will help him do it is ex-child star turned hooker, Wendy Ward (Illeana Douglas).

Action was deemed a dark comedy that was bold in its satire of the entertainment business and course attitude. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly states that Action's "acid heartlessness renders it a more artful but ultimately less likable piece of work." The edginess of the show combined with low ratings caused Fox to cancel it after only one season. Of the 13 episodes that were produced, the first eight aired on Fox in 1999. The remaining five episodes were eventually aired on other networks such as FX and Comedy Central.

3 Profit (1996-1997)

Profit 1996
Fox

An employee of a multinational company, Jim Profit (Adrian Pasdar) isn't above using any means necessary to move up the ranks. Blackmail, extortion, intimidation, and even murder are all on the table for Jim. Everyone at the company, including the president, is unaware of his sinister ways. Until security chief Joanne Meltzer (Lisa Zane) sees something evil in his eyes and investigates him when irregularities occur within the company.

Profit has somewhat of a weird history in regard to its reception and cancelation. Critics praised the show when it first aired, and it still holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics raved about its bold satire and exciting nature and Entertainment Weekly ranked it number eight on its "Ten Best TV Shows of 1996" list. Nonetheless, some viewers were outraged by the show. Fox received calls objecting to the amoral nature of Jim Profit and some even called him "Satan in a suit." People working in corporate America were apparently also outraged at the poor portrayal of the business world, but the official reason for canceling the show was the poor Nielson ratings, as it ranked 136 out of 160 shows for the year 1996.

2 Cop Rock (1990)

Cop Rock
ABC Network

Centering around the lives of the Los Angeles Police Department, Cop Rock featured an ensemble cast of police offers and detectives who solved crimes across the City of Angels, mixing in musical numbers in between cases. The show's main storyline focused on Captain Hollander (Larry Joshua) investigating the involvement of Detective LaRusso (Peter Onorati) in the execution of a murder suspect.

ABC broadcasted only 11 episodes of this critical and commercial flop before axing the police musical procedural. The combination of choreographed musical performances mixed in with police investigations proved to be a jarring and bizarre experience for most viewers and remains one of the biggest television failures of the 1990s.

1 Dead at 21 (1994)

Dead at 21
MTV

On his 20th birthday, Ed Bellamy (Jack Noseworthy) discovers that he was unknowingly the subject of a childhood experiment. The microchips implanted in his brain make him a genius, but will also be the cause of his death by his 21st birthday. Ed is accompanied by Maria (Lisa Dean Ryan) as he tries to find a way to prevent his death, but the research center that conducted the experiment on him frames him for murder and sends an FBI agent to capture him.

Dead at 21 definitely had an interesting enough premise that would entice the young viewers of MTV to watch it. It ran for a 13-episode-long season in the summer of 1994. Yet, the show failed to find a dedicated audience despite being on a network geared toward teenagers and young adults which resulted in low ratings. In addition to the low ratings, the show received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the concept and others criticizing the execution.