A surprising number of TV shows have “lost episodes” – broadcasts that either never aired or were later misplaced after their initial broadcast.

In most instances, these episodes were lost due to the cost-cutting measures of TV studios who were less concerned with keeping a complete archive than they were with re-using available video tape.

Other times, it’s the case that an episode was actually aired, only to be later removed from future circulation due to viewer complaints and subsequently mislaid during the archiving process.

Then there are those occasions where an episode is filmed and has to be permanently shelved due to unintentional connections to real-world tragedies. In these scenarios, the episodes are not strictly speaking “lost” – but they’ll never see the light of day as originally planned.

And lastly, sometimes episodes are scripted but ultimately abandoned prior to filming. As they were never filmed, these are in some ways the most truly “lost episodes” – considering fans will never, ever get to see them!

Regardless the reason behind why an episode is lost, the end result is always the same: TV fans are left fascinated – or even frustrated – by the gaps left behind in their favorite shows.

In honor of these missing pieces of television history, we’ve pulled together this list of 16 TV Shows With Lost Episodes.

This post was written exclusively for Screen Rant – click here to read the full article