Badmovies.org Forum

Remember these?

* SHIELDS AND YARNELL - A variety show hosted by mimes?  How could THAT fail?

* MARILY MCCOO AND BILLY DAVIS JR.

* THE MONTEFUSCOS

* JOE AND SONS

More?

Not old, but they had a Melrose Place remake the other night.  My wife tells me they made a previous remake which was cancelled.  Not really forgotten, more like I never even knew about it.

There was also a Dark Shadows revival series which got cancelled after a dozen episodes or so. 

Actually, a recent (and very terrible) show was MY BIG FAT GREEK LIFE.  I watched the pilot episode and it was painful.  The humor was forced (and not funny).  I think they ended up making about 6 episodes, which QUICKLY got released in a DVD set.  I wonder if anyone bought it?

Yes, I remember Shields & Yarnell. I even kinda liked it, though I probably shouldn't admit it.

Then there's the ever-popular Manimal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQZxRH6uoiY

And I just finished watching all 20 episodes of Square Pegs on Hulu.com. I still like that show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujw1Shc-KI

That show probably should have been called Minimal

Who remembers THE INVISIBLE MAN with david McCallum?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L4H5JlPf1M

I do! I had such a crush on him for a while. *sigh*

I have Square Pegs on DVD. Would like to see Invisible Man as I'm a huge fan of David McCallum's work.

Cop Rock...cancelled for...well...stuff like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqTiA_LyV3k

I got a couple that come to mind:
+ Supertrain
+ Pink Lady and Jeff
+ The Chevy Chase Show
+ You're in the Picture
+ Me and the Chimp
+ My Mother the Car

And of course my personal favorite, Turn-On!  It is the only show to ever been cancelled during mid-air.  It was cancelled half way through and most the nation never even saw it even begin!   

Holmes and YoYo  (a cop and his Robot partner)
Vengeance Unlimited (Michael Madsen playing Bugs Bunny.  I liked this show.)
Carter Country  (a comedy about cops in Georgia)
CPO Sharkey (Don Rickles as an officer in the navy)
Alias Smith and Jones (this western was so bad it's not even funny)

and The Rerun Show (Each episode was a hilarious spoof version of an older show.  I liked this one too.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccxWOFPanT8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikmPhXvnmbo&feature=related

Carpocalpse

my god, WHO ever ok'ed that show for production???

The Magician with Bill Bixby.  All I can remember about this show is the Corvette he drove.

Salvage One. Somebody should have clued in that when Andy Griffith sent a homebuilt rocket to the moon in the pilot, the show really had nowhere else to go but downhill.

Quark. There's an example of a show that was ahead of its time. The public just wasn't ready for a sci-fi sitcom. I suppose there was Mork and Mindy, but I count that more as a tried-and-true mismatched roommate scenario with an alien. Anyway, I think Richard Benjamin is underrated.

That 80's Show :bouncegiggle:

I remember that show.  It wasn't bad from what I remember, but it wasn't given much of a chance to expand or impress.

"The Immortal" starring CHRISTOPHER GEORGE 
"The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." starring STEFANIE POWERS
"United States" starring BEAU BRIDGES 

I remember watching this show when I was a kid.  I always wanted to see the episode where he's hanging upside down in the flaming room, but I never got to see it.  I think I've been emotionally scarred ever since.

I think I remember this one.  Didn't John Schuck or some other odd-looking actor play the robot?

How about:

* STRUCK BY LIGHTNING - a sitcom with Jack Elam as the Frankenstein Monster (???)

* FUTUREWORLD - every episode, they defeated the robots by spraying something in their eyes or doing something else to blind them (which was the robots' major vulnerability)

* THE MAGIC HOUR - Magic Johnson's dismal talk show

* THE ROPERS - not a good idea to leave THREE'S COMPANY

* THE EDUCATION OF MAX BICFORD - the beginning of the end for Richard Dreyfuss?

I remember that one. I thought it was great at the time. Wouldn't mind seeing it again, just to confirm that it was probably a lot dumber than I remember.

Small And Frye- A show with 2 detectives, one who could shrink to a couple inches tall.  Early 80s.
Manimal- A show where a guy had animal-like abilities.  About 1984 or so.
Makin' It- Starring David Naughton.  The song was popular, the show not even close.

**Shudder**

Cut it out . . . you're scaring me, now!

You just reminded me of Big John, Little John.  That was a mid-70s Saturday morning show about a guy who took a drink from what turned out to be the Fountain of Youth. From that point on, he shifts back and forth between man and boy, usually at inconvenient times. Wackiness ensues. Had a great theme song too, perfect example of a cheesy TV theme of the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6m7x9GDxwY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSNT4Y6-5fI

I was looking for clips from the shows Strange But True (80s version), and Weird 2, but couldn't find them.

I love it when wackiness ensues!  This is a sign of truly bad comedy!  It's almost as good as when hilarity prevails!

:teddyr:

Jennifer Slept Here: Ann Jillian was the ghost of a previous tenant in a house who befriended a young boy.
Mr. Sunshine: Sitcom about a blind professor.

Truly, a genius.

I'm not EVEN being sarcastic. God, I wish Cop Rock was still on the air. Imagine the spin-offs! Cop Rock: Special Victims Unit would be amazing. Or how 'bout a Cop Rock/CSI: Miami crossover. I'd love to hear David Caruso sing a li'l jingle made entirely of bad puns and odes to sunglasses.

I got a few that aren't really that old, but came and went with little hubbub, and I've come to like 'em quite a lot (thanks to the magic of DVD-R bootlegs): Nightmare Cafe, Perversions Of Science, Brimstone.

A Horatio Caine musical number. That's great. Except that viewers would probably start channel surfing as he spent half the episode singing his song in a slow monotone with lots of long pauses. :teddyr:

there was one a few years ago with nick lachey leading a competition of gospel choirs!

There was a TV series based on Logan's Run. It was pretty cheesy but I enjoyed it. There was also a cartoon version of Back to the Future that was entertaining.

There was also a short-lived cartoon of The Karate Kid.  A couple other cartoons that disappeared pretty quickly (albeit much older) were "Motormouse and Autocat" and "Fraidy Cat".  And a live-action show with cartoons, which ripped off The Banana Splits (and was also done by Hanna-Barbera) was The Skatebirds.  Terrible, but I kinda enjoyed the Robonic Stooges.

Curse you a thousand times for reminding me of this!  (I used to watch it, too, but I had completely forgotten about it . . . UNTIL NOW!  :hatred:)

Oh man, the Robonic Stooges. That's an example of a weird show seen so briefly and so long ago, I could almost believe I imagined it. One of the truly bizarre combinations of things deemed popular with kids at the time. Hanna-Barbera, in the 70s and early 80s, was great for throwing ideas in the Brundlefly Machine and seeing what comes out.

By popular demand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFpjtJalscc

You know, it's actually better than I remembered. Of course, it looks and sounds like every other HB cartoon of the time, so that figures.

Two words: Gilligan's Planet.

There used to be a show called Catwalk in the mid 90s that starred a pre-fame Neve Campbell. Couldn't find a clip of it, but I remember it used to be about a band (called Catwalk, natch) trying to make it big.

I'll do the honors this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sGOfWP2bWk

And don't forget Dusty's Trail, which was Gilligan's Island set in the Old West. It even starred Bob Denver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SSQXUAqsgA

Boom shows that 3 stooges one sometimes

Not only do I remember watching this show, but I remember being upset when it was canceled (after a very short run).  Someone edited together a few episodes and released it on videotape as THE WACKIEST WAGON TRAIN IN THE WEST (trying to pass it off as a feature film).  Imagine renting THAT one.

Did anyone mention DELTA HOUSE (which was a very short-lived series based on ANIMAL HOUSE)?  Sorry if I missed it among all these great memories . . .

I have extremely hazy memories of that one. Its run was so brief, and I was too young to have even seen Animal House at the time. I remember I liked it, but my older siblings who had seen the movie didn't think it measured up. I think I'd forgotten about Delta House by the time I first saw AH on TV a couple of years later, but I'm sure I'd agree.

Has anybody mentioned The Last Precinct, starring Adam West as a police captain? That one was on the air and back off again after eight episodes, in spite of a really optimistic post-superbowl launch. Looking at the promo on YouTube, it might actually have been as funny as I thought at the time, although my memory of the show is hazy at best. I completely forgot it had Ernie Hudson and Rick "The Burbs" Ducommun, and James Cromwell comes as a surprise, this being years before he became a big name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ba1k2wgZ0
Wouldn't mind seeing this one again, if only for the 80s-style hotties.

Rent it? I own it. I bought it for a dollar at Wal-Mart.

Another in the same vein.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ycH-IMcGE

Tracey Walter was the best thing about that show.

"Folks call me Frog."
"What's your real name?"
"Frog. I guess that's why folks call me that."

I wonder what ever happened to Joel Higgins. He did Salvage 1, then this show, then had a hit with Silver Spoons, then he kind of dropped off the radar. Looked him up, and I guess he's done a bit of TV guest work, but mainly been a stage performer.

Mr. Smith, 1983.  A show about a talking orangutan who serves as a political advisor.  No, I'm not kidding.

Hell Town from the mid 80s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNzD2na9CgE

Anyone mention The Highwayman? That was a show that might have had some legs if it had come out a few years earlier. It had the spiky-haired action heroes, the cool high-tech vehicle, the hot babe and a William Conrad narration. And it had Jacko as Jetto!

The show was pure Glen Larson gold, but the whole Knight Rider/Airwolf thing had pretty much run its course. Although, it didn't really have a fair chance either, being on the air for just a couple of months in 1988. By the time I finally got around to seeing it, I was only able to catch a couple of episodes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLLyS88_DB8

I saw one or two episodes of this in the 80s, when one of the independent TV stations used to show old TV shows all night in the summer. My reaction was basically "WTF?"

I think that show really has found its place in TV history though, as an example of the utterly goofy premises a series could be based on. The Simpsons' "Lovematic Grandpa" was a good parody. And it's a fine example of an actor making a bad choice, since Jerry Van Dyke turned down the role of Gilligan in order to do it.

AndyC,
Off your 'related vids' from the Highwayman opening, I found this little 'goodie' from the early '80s.  Uh.. nice Tron costume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeC3aesu0Lc

"Misfits Of Science" starring DEAN PAUL MARTIN   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRZWKfeN1u4

"Gung Ho" starring SCOTT BAKULA 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut1k0Ok6PI4

I remember those shows.. I remember the original Gung Ho, the movie with Gedde Watanabe and Michael Keaton.  Mr. Watanabe is hilarious.

A couple more..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwSZeYDRd08&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm-o_7AGJRQ&feature=related

Voyagers might have lasted longer if it hadn't been for that unfortunate business with the prop gun.

I'm not sure it really qualifies for this topic, but it only lasted one season:

Fernwood Tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwUtEEjZJ8&feature=related

I couldn't find the English opening for Mr. Merlin (1983).  Pretty dumb show about Merlin in modern times, dressed as a regular old guy and helping a young teen become his apprentice.

How about MR. T AND TINA starring Pat Morita

Actually, Jon-Erik Hexum did that bit of stupidity on a show called "Cover Up". "Voyagers" just got canceled after one season, which is a shame as it was an entertaining show, but rather silly.

Ah, all I remember was at the time, everybody was referring to him as the star of Voyagers. Forgot the show had ended prior to that. Speaks volumes for what a memorable show Cover Up must have been - bizarre celebrity death attached to it and I still have absolutely no recollection of the show.

Yeah, the dummy pointed a gun with blanks at his head  and pulled the trigger as a joke.. the blanks still contained enough gunpowder to shoot out paper/plastic wadding and shatter his skull around the temple and send pieces into his brain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SRXhWlgkfs

I got some off the top of my head:

TV
Hardcastle & McCormick
Mann and Machine
The Flash
Night Man
Mutant X (I was p**sed off when that dreck was on)
Viper (Knight Rider wannabe but I liked it)
Team Knight Rider (really!)

Cartoons
The Real Ghostbusters (2nd Generation)
Sky Surfers (love that name Crazy Stuntz)
Godzilla (based on the 2000 movie)
Teen Titans (love the show actually, hate their theme song)

There was a vampire show on Fox I remember watching.  It was about the different classes of vampires.  I liked it but it was there for one or half a season.

Here's one I remember enjoying during the one or two seasons it was on.  There were a couple of shows at the time trying to cash in on the Power Ranger craze.  This one differed because it contained no footage from a pre-exisitng Japanese show spliced into the American footage.  Behold the sheer mediocraty and quick cash in mentality that was USA channels' Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverely Hills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkYjeThIHDk&feature=related

One of the worst PR rip-offs, this show was not without it's own charm.  And I will give it some credit.  Wacthing some youtube clips, and what I remember of the show.  It actaully had some good ideas that the Power Rangers and other Saban shows at the time seemed to have missed:

The main villian didn't know who the heroes were, so they had to hid their identity (this was a major plot hole in many Power Ranger shows)

People seemed to notice when the main characters weren't around.

The main characters weren't friends,(intially) ;in fact the first episode ends with them saying it's better for them not to hang out together, in order  to help protect themselves. And they sometimes voiced their opinions on not wanting to be superheroes.

Sadly most of these plot points were brought up then forgotten.  Which was a shame because had the writers been smart enough to do more with them, the show might have lasted longer.

Renegades, starring Patrick Swayze (r.i.p.) in 1983 on ABC.  Former gang leaders team up with a cop to take down crime.  I barely remember this show, probably because it sucked.

There was another show that I liked.  The show "Freedom" (I think).  I was about a team of mercenaries.  And It had Darius McCrary, just after his Family Matters run.  I think it was on for a season or two

Two of my favorite unsuccessful tv shows were Sci-fi channels The Invisible man and First wave. I really liked The Invisible man it was very funny with a original spin on the invisible man story. Its to bad it never took off. First wave was more successful but never got popular, and mostly had a undergroundfan base.
Another show which gets rerun now and then is Brimstone. This was a really good show with lots of great characters and original plots. It also has one of my favorite depections of the devil, hes a complete dick.

That was classic, love Tom Waits. I never seen that show but it seemed really funny.

Anyone remember this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRLYJHUeoFE

Believe it or not! Yes! I can actually remember watching some of the episodes, but don't ask me why, I watched them.

That was a sad day when Jon-Erik Hexum did a really stupid mistake of shooting himself in the head. He was great in Voyagers and Cover Up. Did you guys know that he was going to get married to singer/actress Elizabeth Daily.  :bluesad:

Yep, I read about that.  Just goes to show you.. empty or not, DON'T F*** AROUND WITH GUNS!!!

I sort of liked the evil stepmother in The Charmings.  She was kind of funny.  But the show was a typical '80s misfire.

Jennifer Slept Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs1pfDpMrGE

The one who played the first Snow White was very hot Caitlin O'Heaney love her in Tales Of The Gold Monkey and an episode of Silver Spoons, Raven, and the movie Three O'Clock High.

I forgot love Jennifer Slept Here Ann Jillian mega hot.

Yes!  I remember something not mentioned!

The Phoenix!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SASkqWyn40

There was a show in the late eighties called "Probe", co-created by Isaac Asimov.

Me and my mom loved The Phoenix I remember they had a tv movie first when I was 7 then the show when I was 8. I bet everybody was p**sed just like me when very stupid ABC took it off the air I just wish they kept it on for four,five or more seasons.

True enough. First thing they teach you in any safety course - treat every gun as a loaded gun.

Man, Ann Jillian! That takes me back. She was the whole reason I watched Jennifer Slept Here.

And I see Warp Ninja X mentioned Tales of the Gold Monkey. I loved that show. Best thing Stephen Collins did. Haven't heard much about it since then though. I'd definitely buy a DVD set if it was available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdFN6agkNnQ

I remember Tales Of The Golden Monkey.  I think maybe it didn't really last because it was missing the violence from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Here's another one, from the mid-70s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gWh5urAQKA

The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage.  I used to really enjoy that show, pity it never made it past the first season. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wozQisc8cD0

Another one I enjoyed that nobody ever remembers anymore is Deadly Games, where the villains from a videogames this one guy designed come into the real world and he has to try and stop them.   The main bad guy was played by Christopher Llyod and I've always been a big fan of that guy.

Nice!  The beginning of the clip reads "Disney Presents: (title)" as a man is being hung!
 :bouncegiggle:

There was a REALLY stupid NBC tv series from 1983 called "We Got It Made".  It had 2 guys sharing an apartment and hiring a housekeeper, a dippy blond named Micki.  The guys, even though they had girlfriends, lusted after her.  Offensively bad.

We Got It Made was one my favorite shows Teri Copley and Stepfanie Kramer was hot.

Hmm.. it's been a long time since I saw We Got It Made but I remember thinking it was pretty stupid.  Oh well, different strokes.. wait, that's another series.  :tongueout:

Goodnight, Beantown (1983) was short-lived.  It had Bill Bixby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTQ-x6KODQ0

Goodnight Beantown reminded me of Buffalo Bill, with Dabney Coleman and Geena Davis. Probably because the two shows had a similar setting and came out the same year. Didn't watch Beantown much, but I remember liking Buffalo Bill. Dabney Coleman never disappoints when he's playing a smarmy a***ole.

There's also this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS286gMsdXw

someone may hunt me down for mentioning this one, 

but what about

She's the Sheriff ? with suzanne somers

I remember that show.  I thought it was kinda dumb.  Funny that the actress (Priscilla Barnes) who was supposed to get Mrs. Sommer's role was her replacement on Three's Company when she left the show.

Wow, here's a real obscurity..

Gloria (1982-83) was yet another All In The Family spinoff with Sally Struthers having separated from Mike Stivic and living with their son Joey while working as a veterinary assistant.  Burgess Meredith was also in it.

I saw a couple episodes of GLORIA.  It was really bad.

Yep.. it was pretty awful.
A couple other shows that didn't last too long were:
Better Days (1986).  A show about a surfer kid from Beverly Hills moving to Brooklyn.  The show lasted a whopping 5 weeks and starred no one I ever heard of.
Mr. Sunshine (1986).  Light-hearted comedy about a blind professor.
I used to really like this show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKeSjt_T1d4&feature=related

Has anyone mentioned Howie Mandel's brief series, Good Grief, from 1990? I used to like it. I mean, what's not to like about a sitcom set in a funeral home?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFPUTH2RTRs

Hmm.. never heard of that one!  What a great idea.. wonder why it didn't fly?

"Lottery", ABC 1983-84
A series about an IRS agent and a representative of Ireland's Intersweep Lottery giving away millions of dollars to average people.  I remember this show quite well and liked it quite a bit.  It fit the era of big-money Reaganomics '80s to a tee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBTFIUsDxWg

Was B.J. and the Bear too successful to qualify?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AsqKQptTdQ


Howzabout Riptide?!  Babes, helicopters, speedboats and robots, wotta show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMq59GCaIfw&feature=related

Well, both shows ran for 3 seasons, but not many people talk about either show too often.  They'll fit.

Here's a kid show that didn't last long, had stupid cartoons and shows (Captain Marvel was okay) and was hosted by Charles Nelson Reilly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsfQIst5S9s

Grady (1975), a very short-lived Sandford and Son spinoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tugnqemIto

12 episodes of great gobbily goodness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvNcSFzda4

The truly awful All in the Family spinoff Gloria, featuring a Meathead-less Gloria and Joey living in rural New York.

Gloria worked for veterinarian Burgess Meredeth and so spent a lot of the time covered in poop.

The home built spaceship from SALVAGE ONE was THE VULTURE

Ozzymandias speaks: This one was always mentioned in TV trivia books when I was a kid. After seeing the opening on You Tube, I'd like to see more of Coronet Blue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvof8Hvm3B0

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

Dumb southern po-leece comedy: Carter Country, late '70s.  Victor French was in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKDqlrKzPo

MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT with WILLIAM WINDOM as a family man and cartoonists with a pitrid theme song crappy animation and all that,   MR TERRIFIC a rather stupid attempt to cash in on the then popular tv series BATMAN ,

Here's one that most people probably down even remember: Aliens in the Family.  Curiously enough, Hayden Panettiere (Cheerleader from Heroes, Kairi's voice from Kingdom Hearts, and Dot from A Bug's Life) got her start here in a small cameo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrMCLVA_xrA

The Dukes Of Hazzard spinoff (God, no!!!): ENOS.  Gyuh gyuh gyuh!

Also: I totally forgot about Circus Of The Stars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WvwE0wM6LE&feature=related

I have very vague recollections of that show, although I have on occasion quoted the mayor. Strikes me as really weird that they'd zing the president right in the title for no reason other than it was set in rural Georgia, but it was the 70s.

Here's one from the 80s, when technology really started developing rapidly, and people believed any smart kid with an Apple II and a 300-baud acoustic coupler could do just about anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vRyKslGrGk

There was also Buck Henry's "Captain Nice" w/ William Daniels and Alice Ghostley about that same time. The only memory I have of that show is how Captain Nice got his name.
Because his real name was Carter Nash,  he had a belt buckle with the initials CN on it, and when someone saw the initials on his belt buckle, Captain Nice had to come up with an alias with the same initials, thus Captain Nice.

Darn! But I missed those old TV shows, unsuccessful or not.

Oh man, I wish I could remember the name of this one. There was a godawful short-lived show from the early 80's about a teenager who meets the wizard Merlin. Apparently, Merlin, being immortal has still been alive since the time of King Arthur, living in secrecy. He meets his high school dude and divulges his secret, taking the kid under his wing as an apprentice. I'm not joking, that was the premise. I even remember the kid had an unbelievably cliche wisecracking best friend.

Does anyone remember the name of this show? It was soooooooo bad.

That would be "Mr. Merlin" with Barnard Hughes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uANZDfTGdU4

UNCLE CROCS BLOCK with CHARLES NELSON REILY as the host of a kids show and they had JONATHAN HARRIS and there was BILLY BRATSON/CAPTIAN MARBLES,MR RABBITEARS, and CUCOO KENIVAL a bird who rode a motorcycle out of his clock

That's it! Thanks, I'm no longer going crazy. They actually made 22 episodes of that? Amazing.

Ever wonder what a Mel Brooks-created sitcom that was sort of a embryonic version of his film ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS would have been like?

Say "Allo!" to When Things Were Rotten:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMDunJc5KUQ

Starring Dick Gautier, Dick Van Patten, Bernie Kopell, and everybody's favorite Hee Haw Honey, Misty Rowe.

I still remember that theme song.

"Hurray for Robin Hood!"

A thought: TV theme songs were always better when they ended with harp glissandos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QOCND9dgTE

I have vague but good memories of a CBS sitcom based on the Frankenstein legend called Struck By Lightning. Google-eyed Jack Elam played The Monster (named 'Frank') and Jeffery Kramer  (Deputy Hendricks from the first two JAWS movies) was Dr. Stein.

I'll bet RC remembers this, too.

IMDB says it only lasted for THREE episodes. Funny - it seemed like four...

(http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr154/Raffine/struckmiller321art1.jpg)
Elam as Frank

I recall what I think was a pilot for a series, a sitcom with a family of ghosts (no one can see them but the viewing audience) living in an house and then some new unwanted people come to live there. I recall I thought it was quite funny at the time but I guess not very many did like it as it never became a series. I have no idea what it was called now.

I thought Struck by Lightning was a great show. Mind you, I was 7 or 8 when it aired. Looking back with the benefit of experience, it was pretty much a one-joke show that wouldn't have given the writers a whole lot to work with after the first couple of episodes. That seems to be the story with a lot of things I enjoyed watching as a kid. Either the show quietly disappears, like Struck by Lightning or Mr Merlin, or it sticks around long enough for the writers to actually run out of ideas and all but abandon the concept, as happened with Salvage 1 or Whiz Kids.

Which is better, a show that goes away after a couple of episodes, leaving you with the memory of a couple of good episodes, or a show that stayed on for a season or two, with more good episodes, but a sharp decline in quality even a kid can appreciate?

I only have a vague recollection of Struck by Lightning, maybe a couple of lines (which is kind of surprising, actually), but I remember liking it, and being disappointed when it was cancelled. On the other hand, my vague memory of Salvage 1, which started off with a pretty good pilot and a couple of decent episodes, is mostly of how quickly the spaceship was shoved into the background and being disappointed by the last few episodes. Disappointment when the show doesn't get a chance, and disappointment when it does.

Actually, it's little wonder TV shows today are so lacking in the sort of diversity of settings and characters we used to enjoy. Making something different that lasts is not an easy thing, and fairly risky. Not surprising that the bulk of these shows are from the 70s and early 80s. You still had remnants of the 60s, such as the traditional model of the situation comedy, and the experimentation with programming. By the end of the 80s, hardly anybody in mainstream TV was running things up the flagpole to see who salutes. The major networks had pretty much established that the most profitable shows, the cheapest to produce and the easiest to write, the ones most likely to have a long run, were shows that didn't stray too far from the ordinary. A bunch of quirky people in a bar, an apartment, a coffee shop, etc. The TV equivalent of a beige room - you can pretty much dress it up any way you want.

Pity the shows with the most restrictive premises were also the most interesting.

not that old (8 years ?), but i loved this show when it was on. it's a shame it never became a series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=8sX3E4Xp68w

Just watched the MST3K episode with the "movie" that was cobbled together out of this series, Riding with Death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWLDa5DnpQ

THE BEARCATS about these two men in 1920s america traveling cross coutry in a old time car fitten with a gattling gun

I actually remember watching an episode or two of this! And the MST3K version, natch.

Here's one where I vividly remember the theme song but have no memory of the show itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNpa_vTjRM&feature=related

It was one of those shows my older sister - a preteen at the time - forced the family to watch.

Bobby Sherman and a pre-Starsky & Hutch David Soul?
A 12 year old girls' idea of a perfect world in 1969, I suppose...

Hey, but Joan Blondell and Mr. Spock, Sr. was in it. You'd think I'd remember THAT!

Another show our house was not allowed to miss was The New People. Vastly cooler than a lumberjack Bobby Sherman, it was a very weird pre-Lost epic about a group of teenage hippies marooned on a Mysterious Island by a Mysterious Plane Crash.

This bit does make it look really interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC3nfHUrxlY

"REALITY IS A BUMMER TRIP OUT" indeed!

Like most shows of that era it had a really groovy theme song.

Oh, man, does anybody remember the sitcom Herman's Head from the early 90s? The central character went through life and you always inside his head, where 4 actors portrayed different aspects of his personality, a typical shallow fratboy type, a neurotic, a nerdy genius type, and even a woman who represented his "sensitive side." I remember seeing the pilot, knowing it was going to be bad, and it did not disappoint. I thought, "this show won't make it to the back 9," but I'll be damned if it didn't actually make to a 3rd season. I remember talking to people who said it was actually a funny show, but the only funny I ever saw in it was how bad it was.

Here's another one. Cop Rock. Yes, a crime drama series that was also a musical. Not kidding. This was also in the early 90's. That one didn't make it through a season.

I even remember a courtroom scene in Cop Rock where the verdict was being announced on a trial and the jury actually broke into a gospel style number, rising up and in robes and singing about the guy being guilty. What a bizarre show.

A couple of odd ones from me.

"The Man From Atlantis": Starring a pre-Dallas Patrick Duffy.
"Co-ed Fever": An Animal House Ripoff that starred David Keith and only ran for one episode. I actually remember part of the episode involved the dorm getting set on fire and the only guy there didn't know how to use the fire extinguisher.
"Comedy Break" with Mack & Jamie. Sketch comedy show with the standup duo. I remember they had an all girl band that didn't have a name. There was contest to name it and the winning name was going to be announced at the beginning of the 3rd season. Unfortunately, it only ran for 2. A couple of running bits: The guys as John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their early Beatle days writing songs with Beatle song titles being part of the dialogue. Another was where they played a rich, elderly couple that had a drummer doing rimshots in their home.
Laugh Trax: Starred Jim Staahl, Lucy Webb, Howie Mandel, Gail Matthias. Ran for one season. They had a running bit with Jim, Lucy and Gail dressed in 50s girl outfits lip syncing girl group hits.

Learning the Ropes was one I enjoyed as a teen. It was a sitcom in which a teacher (Llye Alzado) moonlighted as a masked pro wrestler at night. The late "Dr. Death" Steve Williams played the masked wrestler. Nicole Stoffman (Stephanie Kaye from "Degrassi Jr. High") left that show for this believe it or not. Several NWA wrestlers from the 80s appeared on the show, most memorably Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin in a story where Garvin gets injured by the masked wrestler and Alzado's lead character feels all guilty about possibly ending Garvin's career. Basically every episode had pro wrestlers discussing life lessons. The show was kind of hampered by the 80s kayfabe of pro wrestling from that time.

I remember that one. It was pretty funny.

Can anyone remember the kids gameshow SHANANIGANS with STUBBY KAYE as the host where kids were on a giant gameboard Or the WW II series 12 OCLOCK HIGH and GARRISONS GERILLAS, and the realy bad shows like ME AND THE CHIMP and THE PRUITS OF SOUTH HAMSHIRE with PHILLAS DILLER

Steven Segal's twin little sisters had a mildly entertaining show for a minute in the 80's. Of course, as an adolescent growing up in this time, the only reason to watch this was due to the fact that they were hot.

"Double Trouble"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2lyIKc-G4

"Shenanigans," "12 O'Clock High," "Garrison's Gorillas," "Me and the Chimp," "The Pruitts of Southampton." I'm old enough to remember all of these. Well, except for "Shenanigans," which I don't remember. I will say the only one I can ever remember watching was "12 O'Clock High," and I don't think I watched it past the first commercial break, before either changing the channel or shutting the TV off.

I will add, that on one of those lists, that come out now and then, of the worst TV programs ever to be on TV, both "Me and the Chimp" and "The Pruitts of Southhampton" made the list.

Hoboy, I remember that one.

Which reminds me: anybody remember Mr. Smith, a laff-a-minute sitcom from the early 80's about a super-intellegent orangutan who become the darling of Washington, DC.?

http://www.tvacres.com/simians_orangutans_smith.htm (http://www.tvacres.com/simians_orangutans_smith.htm)

Come to think of it, neither do I.

Yeah, I mentioned that one on page 4.. Surprised someone else knew about it!  I actually saw the show.. yup, pretty awful. 

And there was this one, trying to cash in on the Wayland Flowers & Madam phenom..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG2yJs3SwCM

Here's one: Speak Up, America!

This was trying to cash in on the success of shows like Real People and That's Incredible, except that it failed because the hosts were really, really bad. Real People had some talented people in it that, while the show was insipid, they at least made it funny and somewhat satirical. That's Incredible succeeded because it had well-known celebrity hosts. Speak Up, America! had none of that. I remember as a kid tuning in and even at that age realizing how bad it was.

Does The Invaders count?  I love that show, and it had very few episodes.

Funny thing about Mr. Smith: I remember the ads but don't actually remember actually watching any episode.

Which is odd, because I was 'into' primates at the time and even toyed with majoring in primatology at Emory's Yerkes Institute.

The realization I would be injecting monkeys with nasty diseases and watching 'em fizz  rather than spending all day petting them, feeding them bananas, and teaching them sign language kinda turned me off of the dea.  :thumbdown:

Ozzymandias speaks: They weren't Steven Segal's sisters, they were sistersKaty Segal, from Married With Children and Futurama. AND YES THEY WERE HOT!  :hot:

One of them later was the voice of Bobby on King of the Hill.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

What about the Wes Craven sitcom from 1989 called The People Next Door.   I believe it was about a cartoonist played by Jeffrey Jones that imagination would come to life or some such nonsense.  Not sure how long it lasted but it wasn't that long.

MY LIVING DOLL about a man and his robot wife RHODA,THE CHAMPIONS about these plane crash survivors that recive superhuman powers from some monks in tibet,MISFITS OF SCIENCE,THE GUNS OF WILL SONNET with WALTER BRENAN,DIRTY SALLY,

I was going to mention Small Wonder, but a quick peek at Wikipedia tells me it was actually a moderate success, lasting four seasons. Still largely forgotten though.

That show actually has one bizarre memory associated with it for me. I was at my grandmother's, and Small Wonder just happened to be on TV. She had an old guy rooming at her place at the time. Nice guy, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I don't know if he was a bit senile or just not too bright, or maybe a bit of both. Anyway, he suddenly says to me "They say she's a robot, but I think she's just a regular little girl."
I don't remember even having a response to that. I just stared at him, thinking "Holy crap, is he serious?" :bouncegiggle:

Sy, does anyone remember a show called Automan?  It was about a being created when a computer overloaded from a power surge (I think.)  Anyways, the title character was a being with an actor's head and a CGI body.  He could only appear at night.  He also had with him a sidekick which could take the form of any vehicle he needed.  I only remember a few episodes of that show.

Does anyone remember the Powers of Matthew Star with Lou Gossett Jr?  It was about this teenage boy who was the prince of a planet that was being conquered by an alien race.  He an his royal escort escape their planet and head to Earth with the desire to return and free his people.  Matthew himself had psychokinetic powers.  Think that show ran for a season and a half.

I don't remember a TV show called "Automan," but I do remember "The Powers of Matthew Star." Even though, I don't think I ever saw one episode of it.

The show actually lasted for one season, 22 episodes, from 17 Sept. 1982 to 15 Apr. 1983.

And what might have been. Tom Cruise tried out for the title role, but was beaten out by Peter Barton.

Oh dear Lord, I remember that one! I WISH I didn't, though.

These aren't that old, but I used to love both "Vengeance Unlimited" (The Punisher meets Bugs Bunny, played by Michael Madsen!) and "Murder One", which was kind of ahead of its time in that it stretched one central story over the course of one season.  I also kind of enjoyed the Kolchak remake.  All snuffed by ABC.

Does anybody remember the X-Files spinoff?  I think it was called "Lone Gunmen"  That one should've had a built-in audience but nobody seemed to care.
And I swear I can remember this truly godawful sitcom from the '90s, that was about actual Pilgrims and set 1600s America.  I thought it was called "Be Thankful" or "Give Thanks" but I can't find any matches on imdb or youtube.

To me, the Lone Gunmen was actually better than the X-Files was at that point in its run. It had freaky adventures, likable characters, more laughs and not nearly as much of the soap opera crap that had taken over the X-Files.

Ugh.. the (thankfully) only spin-off from Bewitched: TABITHA (1977).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgyPjJDZ1EY&NR=1