Hm. Late to the party, nevertheless I can't resist to give my two cents to the phenomenon which is btw. not even new, or limited to Netflix.

First I didn't grow up with much TV, because there were many more interesting things to do as a child, like playing in the forest. Later on I haven't been a fan either, and finally discarded my TV in 1996 and went into cinema instead. But again, not that much.

For a time I substituted that with a Hauppauge WinTV in one of my PCI-slots, and had the surreal experience to watch the
second plane crash into the Twin Towers in NYC live on CNN after IRC exploded with: "TURN ON CNN NOW!1!!". Removed the card maybe a few weeks after that, because TV became toxic then, as in News are bad for you, and wasn't worth the energy anymore.

Did a strict media diet for a few years then, until I couldn't resist because of Battlestar Galactica, and got lost into Lost :)

From then on I partially catched up, but still very selective.

Anyways, what follows is an incomplete list of things which either never made it further than the pilot, or got canceled
mid-season, or could have been longer IMO.

Earliest thing which comes to mind are several attempts from
Gene Roddenberry with

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_II_(film) in 1973

followed by

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_(film) in 74

and [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_New_World_(film) in 75

Similar for [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(TV_series) around the same time.

Then the reimagined

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(2008_TV_series)

where I can recommend the original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series) if you are into realistic Non-Zombie Post-Apocalypse stuff and can get it in good quality.

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Train_(TV_series) from 1999 What are they going to do after? How? Where? WTF?

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series)
This was one of the most annoying cancelings mid-season!

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcasts_(TV_series)
from 2011 could have been more.

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series)
also from 2011 could have been much more.

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series) 2011

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies 2011

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance_(TV_series) 2013

[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewind_(2013_film)
Never made it into a series. WHY?

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_(miniseries) 2015

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayward_Pines 2015

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupied 2015-2017
This one is special and maybe didn't get much attention because politically incorrect with the ongoing Crimean ...
how to put it, occupation, crisis? Anyways, very watchable!
(I'm delighted to discover there is a third season out there now. Yay!)

[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(TV_series) 2016-2018 How do the aliens look? I mean WTF? What a let-down :(

[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) 2014-2017 Not really canceled, but could have been more.

[19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Sun 2018 Could have been so much more...

Maybe it's because budgets of production companies have been tighter since the

[20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80... ?

Also more and more competition with more and more immersive games, sometimes rendered so photorealistic that players just dive in to explore the gameworld by sightseeing, and have fun interacting with things like in an old point-and-click adventure, just seriously upgraded and optionally in groups, networked :)