Shows That Never Got A Chance To Shine

[The Horcrux]

What are some shows you've seen that hardly made it past one season but with improvements it could have had a chance to be a great show.

Mine would be The Dresden Files it was ended with just 12 episodes and the dorks at Sci-Fi never even gave it a chace to show it's stuff. It was an overal good show with a great fantasy, magic thing going on, yes the acting could be bad at some points and the CG was crap at some moments but if it was actually given more episodes they could have greatly imporved opon it.

I would also say Teen Titans, yes I know it got a good few season in but I still can't see why CN canned it while it was at the top of its game. I can't help but feeling they did it just to p*ss fans off sometimes and with one of the worse final episodes I've ever seen just making you wish there was more.

[MM54]

I agree about Dresden (though I could be totally biased considering the book series is my FAVORITE book series).

Also, Invader Zim. 1 1/2 seasons was NOT enough for this brilliant little show.

[Leviathan]

Greg the Bunny; The first 6 episodes were incedibly funny, well written and more than just a little daring. Episodes 7 and later weren't nearly as good ...because they were actually Bernie Mac Show reruns that FOX pre-empted Greg for.

Greg hit the ground running and 6 episodes in FOX pulled their usual crap and made the show impossible to see, thus given them reason to cancel it.

[HG Revolution]

Greg the Bunny; The first 6 episodes were incedibly funny, well written and more than just a little daring. Episodes 7 and later weren't nearly as good ...because they were actually Bernie Mac Show reruns that FOX pre-empted Greg for.

Greg hit the ground running and 6 episodes in FOX pulled their usual crap and made the show impossible to see, thus given them reason to cancel it.

Haven't they made more episodes for IFC?

[Storm Eagle]

Perhaps Freaks and Geeks falls into this category. It could have gone on for at least another season.

[Icer]

Sleeper Cell was a great mini-series when it premiered, I was stunned that it commissioned a 2nd season and thrilled. But I felt it still could have done more, I guess it ending on a cliffhanger and knowing there wont be another season makes it more so for me.

Airing 10-12 episodes over a week is just too much, especially if you want to draw some national attention to the show.

[Harlan_Phoenix]

Haven't they made more episodes for IFC?

Yes, but its of somewhat a different plot and format.

[sleepydumbdude]

There was a show on fox called Keen Eddie. It was on for only one season. I loved it, better than half the crap they had on at the time. I remember only seeing about 4 episodes of it before fox got the bright idea to move the show around and eventually it ended up against reruns of Friends on Thursday nights. I didn't even know what night it was on until it was too late and removed from their schedules.
I agree on Invader Zim. I remember having trouble finding when it was on other than the new episodes. Instead they'd just have all their other crap cartoon marathons on all day.

[byron lomax]

One example that comes to mind is Boomtown, an innovative cop show with twisty storylines and great characters; it put a real fresh spin on the cop show format. Sadly it only got one series, and we didn't get to know these characters any further.

The animated series Downtown is another example, I would have loved to see more of it. I guess it's no surprise an innovative cartoon being made by MTV in the late 90s wouldn't last long.

[Lonestarr]

Two Barry Sonnenfeld-produced shows fit the bill:

"The Tick" - Unfailingly amusing and Patrick Warburton was a perfect choice for the titular role.

"Fantasy Island" - Very well-written update with a fine performance by Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke. Still waiting for the DVD set ("The Tick" was released, thankfully).

And good call on "Downtown", byron. (In case you didn't already know... (http://chrisprynoski.blogspot.com/2007/02/mtv-downtown-dvds.html))

[byron lomax]

Two Barry Sonnenfeld-produced shows fit the bill:

"The Tick" - Unfailingly amusing and Patrick Warburton was a perfect choice for the titular role.

"Fantasy Island" - Very well-written update with a fine performance by Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke. Still waiting for the DVD set ("The Tick" was released, thankfully).

And good call on "Downtown", byron. (In case you didn't already know... (http://chrisprynoski.blogspot.com/2007/02/mtv-downtown-dvds.html))

Oh, thank you, and I did know. In fact, the DVD set was delivered just the other day, and I'm so looking forward to watching the series in its entirety.

[Hanshotfirst113]

Firefly
Wonderfalls

[Shawn Hopkins]

Firefly
Wonderfalls

You stole mine.

At least with Wonderfalls they had a chance to complete a seasonal 13 episode arc, even if it wasn't aired on Fox. Firefly didn't even get a complete season.

One I think could have used a third season was Dead Like Me. It was just getting deep and dark and interesting. And even though I love the movies that came of its failure, I think Freaks and Geeks should have gotten more episodes. I also think Veronica Mars deserved more than 2 1/2 seasons.

[Wounded_Dragon]

I'm gonna throw out Babylon 5's Crusade. Show was put through the ringer and pretty much canceled before the first episode even aired.

[Michael24]

"Fantasy Island" - Very well-written update with a fine performance by Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke. Still waiting for the DVD set ("The Tick" was released, thankfully).


I also enjoyed that Fantasy Island. McDowell was great!

Ditto on Firefly.

And I'll mention The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (got one good, and long, season, but the full potential was only barely tapped) and Brimstone.

[Simpler Simon]

There was an old ABC series called 'Spy Game' that got canned after a few episodes or so. It starred Linden Ashby, and the promos even banked on his role as Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat. It was a throwback to all the 60s spy shows and had one of the catchiest theme songs ever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhruhe9G_g).

[Sandoz]

t least with Wonderfalls they had a chance to complete a seasonal 13 episode arc, even if it wasn't aired on Fox. Firefly didn't even get a complete season.
Eh? Firefly had a complete season. It even had one more episode than Wonderfalls.

[Michael24]

Firefly was cancelled after just 12 episodes, leaving 3 more episodes unseen until the DVD release.

[Sandoz]

Firefly was cancelled after just 12 episodes, leaving 3 more episodes unseen until the DVD release.
Yet he mentioned Wonderfalls as getting a complete season, when it didn't fully air on Fox either.

[Bones Justice]

I like a lot of the choices here: Firefly, The Tick, Invader Zim.


There was an old ABC series called 'Spy Game' that got canned after a few episodes or so. It starred Linden Ashby, and the promos even banked on his role as Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat. It was a throwback to all the 60s spy shows and had one of the catchiest theme songs ever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhruhe9G_g).

Never saw that but I loved The War Next Door, also starring Ashby, this time as a former spy. The show was a half-hour sitcom. Ashby's character retires after his long-time nemesis is finally killed off. Soon after, he gets a new neighbor -- his nemesis, somehow back from the dead. Every episode ends with his nemesis getting killed again, yet somehow he keeps coming back. The last episode that was shown has Ashby's character getting killed but presumably, he would be back, too, because there were several episodes that never aired. They had not gotten around to revealing how the villain kept returning, but the show had enough sci-fi to it that clones, time-travel, or robots were not beyond the realm of possibility. Plus, the show was funny as all heck! Unfortunately, this show was on USA Network in it's infancy and didn't stand a chance in the ratings department. It's never been re-run even once, as far as I know.

I also like the USA series Matrix, which didn't make it past season one, either. A hitman returns from the dead on the condition that he helps people. Carrie-Anne Moss co-starred prior to becoming famous in The Matrix movies, by the way.

Another of my obscure espionage favorites is Spy Net, an "educational" series on CBC that morphed from a show about how to spy to a fictional series about a spy code-named "Sam" (played by Kim Schraner). Low budget but it had that great serial feel to it. Always a "must-see".

[Kolbar]

Dark Shadows: The Revival premiered with incredibly bad timing. After a good start in ratings, the first Gulf War caused NBC to continually move the show around the schedue and pre-empt episodes to air news stories about the war. So, then they cancelled it after twelve episodes.

[Stu]

MTV's Spider-Man seem to come and go in a ridicolusly short amount of time, despite earning good ratings in an unfriendly timeslot. Shame, good show.

[AhmedtheHead]

The Jake Effect, which starred Jason Bateman and Greg Grunberg.

I found 6 episodes of this and I enjoyed them a lot. Very funny and creative.
UNFORTUNATELY, NBC didn't even give it a chance to show it had viewers by canceling it before airing. Idiots.

Cedric the Entertainer Presents

This was a hilarious show that was doing well in the African-American demographic, but FOX decided the ratings weren't good enough, and canceled it. And on top of that, the network insulted Cedric, claiming the show wasn't "showing his talents." (BTW, Cedric was a writer on the show.) If I was Cedric, I would stay away from FOX. That was downright insulting.:mad:

[Simpler Simon]

MTV's Spider-Man seem to come and go in a ridicolusly short amount of time, despite earning good ratings in an unfriendly timeslot. Shame, good show.

How could I forget that? It wasn't the best spidey series ever, but it deserved more than 1 season. Funny how no one thought to keep the series alive so there would be a spidey toon for when the sequel came out.

Anyone remember Calamity Jane? It was one of the original launch shows for Kids WB I recall, and it was cancelled after like 1 episode. There's something I would've jumped on had it been given more airtime.

[Wonderwall]

I remember Calamity Jane, I thought it was cool, they showed like all the episodes that were produced here in Canada, but it was really slow on showing new episodes.

[Bones Justice]

MTV's Spider-Man seem to come and go in a ridicolusly short amount of time, despite earning good ratings in an unfriendly timeslot. Shame, good show.

I never understood what caused this show to be cancelled. Was a lack of interest by MTV? Or did the studio that produced it decide not to make any more episodes?

I liked this show better than any of the other Spidey stuff created, including the movies. I was sorry to see it get cancelled.

[Michael24]

Never saw that but I loved The War Next Door, also starring Ashby, this time as a former spy. The show was a half-hour sitcom. Ashby's character retires after his long-time nemesis is finally killed off. Soon after, he gets a new neighbor -- his nemesis, somehow back from the dead. Every episode ends with his nemesis getting killed again, yet somehow he keeps coming back.

I never watched it, but I remember seeing the ads for it. Didn't the deaths alternate, though? Like, sometimes Ashby's character died, and other times the bad guy died. I thought that was the gimmick, that they kept killing each other, yet kept coming back.

[Stu]

I never understood what caused this show to be cancelled. Was a lack of interest by MTV?

Bingo. The network never seemed to want the show - they originally aired the show painfully out of order in a timeslot when most of the MTV audience was already well on thier way to a hangover. They delayed it months on end and the show came and went in a matter of weeks.

It actually did good ratings and was well-recieved on DVD in a spectacular set a few months after. Marvel apprantly tried to get it back on a new network but obviously failed. It recieved a mixed reactions from a few fans but deserved much better than it got.

[RedNinja84]

Another MTV cartoon canceled before its time was Downtown. I liked it and it got canned after a season. The same goes for Undergrads and Clone High. I also think The Class got canceled before it got started.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Yet he mentioned Wonderfalls as getting a complete season, when it didn't fully air on Fox either.

Firefly was set up for a 22 episode season (or at least more than 15, I'm not sure) and didn't get all of that. Wonderfalls was planned from the beginning for a 13 episode first season and all of those were finished.

[Bones Justice]

It actually did good ratings and was well-recieved on DVD in a spectacular set a few months after.

Well, too bad. I do own the DVD set and it's great. Not only do I love the show but the extras are quite good and plentiful, too.


I never watched it, but I remember seeing the ads for it. Didn't the deaths alternate, though? Like, sometimes Ashby's character died, and other times the bad guy died. I thought that was the gimmick, that they kept killing each other, yet kept coming back.

No, Ashby's character, Kennedy Smith, only died in the last episode that aired, as far as I remember. Up to that point, it was always the villian, Kriegman, that died. I thought that at some point, we might learn how he kept coming back. I was surprised when Smith died in the last one but I think they showed previews for the following week with him alive again. Supposedly, there are several unaired episodes but they never even bothered to re-run any of the episodes already shown. It was a funny show that I wish some network would re-run again someday. Heck, I'd buy a DVD set.

That Kriegman guy was a riot! I've only ever seen him in one other thing, a bit part in the movie Unbreakable. He's the guy that Bruce Willis' character spots trying to sneak a gun into the stadium. I don't know what happened to the actor but he was genius as Kriegman.

[RAINMAN]

Cedric the Entertainer Presents

This was a hilarious show that was doing well in the African-American demographic, but FOX decided the ratings weren't good enough, and canceled it. And on top of that, the network insulted Cedric, claiming the show wasn't "showing his talents." (BTW, Cedric was a writer on the show.) If I was Cedric, I would stay away from FOX. That was downright insulting.:mad:


Man, did I ever like that show. It was like a updaetd version of in living colors. Fox really drop the ball whit this one.

[Nightwing]

I would also say Teen Titans, yes I know it got a good few season in but I still can't see why CN canned it while it was at the top of its game. I can't help but feeling they did it just to p*ss fans off sometimes and with one of the worse final episodes I've ever seen just making you wish there was more.

I respectfully disagree about Teen Titans. I think it got a good run. I wanted more, and I didn't like how near the end CN seemed to be giving it less and less fuel to keep pushing forward, but I'm okay with what we got. And don't make the mistake of thinking a huge corporate entertainment world institution wants to do something to annoy the fans. They don't care about us. They care about our money, and scoring our willingness to give them our money. :p


This just in! Big Entertainment news! Critics hail "Firefly" as the most canceled show ever!! lol. Firefly was massively mistreated by FOX. It was canceled before getting a full list of episodes, and the episodes that were made and were aired were aired out of order. Picture Joss Whedon trying to explain to the FOX suits that the best way to introduce the show was with the first episode. They wanted to air the third episode instead (The Train Job). And it was downhill from there.

All we have now is the power of DVD sales. I bought Serenity when it came out, and the new special edition that came out just recently. And don't tell the guy in the cubical infront of me, but he's getting "Firefly" for his birthday next month.

Yeah....sooo my top pick on this list is Firefly. Oh well! Joss is good with that stuff anyway. He said that being under the thumb of potential cancellation helps you prioritize to get the stories done that you need to get done. Makes sense.

If shows with Five seasons can be on the list, then I want to add Joss Whedon's ANGEL. I feel about Angel the way I said I feel about Teen Titans, but Joss was ready to take Angel on forever. Meanwhile the evil suits just dropped him on the street and didn't even give him cab money.

[80's guy]

That's 80's show, this could had been a good spinoff.

Father of the Pride, I really liked this show.

Birds of Prey didn't get the same success like Smallville.

The Mullets , because of mullets.

[Kid Cloudkicker]

Space: Above & Beyond, awesome show awesome characterization, great story telling, i wish Fox would've given it a chance at a 2nd season
Titus: Loosely based off of the comic routine/ real life situations of Comic Christoper Titus, this was the funniest show on FOX, i don't remember if it got a 2nd season. again Fox screwing up on something that could've been just as big of a hit as Married with Children, that 70's show and the Simpsons
The PJ's this show had me ROTFLMAO every time,...Fox cancelled it, it had a brief reprise on the defunct WB but that was it.

[tucsoncoyote]

It's amazing no one has really gone back in time and found out that CBS had The Flash, (as in the DC Superhero). this show got only a few episodes, and really was fun to watch. Including the one episode where we had a younger Mark Hammil as The Prankster...(or was it the Trickster *Shrugs*) but you would think that CBS would have looked at this with some more intent.. it was fun, funny and had action as we got to see a lot of speed blur.

But that's CBS for you.. ending it after just a few episodes..

:coyote:

[Wonderwall]

That's 80's show, this could had been a good spinoff.

Father of the Pride, I really liked this show.

Birds of Prey didn't get the same success like Smallville.

The Mullets , because of mullets.

I only really liked Father of the Pride, and its been 2 years since ive seen it, so maybe i wouldnt like it now. BOP was alright, the other two were awful shows.

[80's guy]

Here some more

Street Hawk, 1985.a motorcycle verison of Knight Rider, Cancel after 13 episode.
I heard that it air too late when super vehcile series was dissappering.

Dinotopia, Was a good mini series, but the television series is an different story.

Freaks and Greeks NBC been changing it schedues causing low ratings. Cancel after airing 12 episodes, three more air on NBC in July. Abc Family
then air all the episodes.

Saved by the Bell: The College Years , The Bell didn't save it from low rating on prime time.

Save by the Bell:The New Class They reuse plots from Save by the Bell.

[Azrael24]

Aquaman
Drive
Kidnapped
Vanished
Traveler (assuming its canceled, but hopefully not :sad:)

[Michael24]

It's amazing no one has really gone back in time and found out that CBS had The Flash, (as in the DC Superhero). this show got only a few episodes, and really was fun to watch. Including the one episode where we had a younger Mark Hammil as The Prankster...(or was it the Trickster *Shrugs*) but you would think that CBS would have looked at this with some more intent.. it was fun, funny and had action as we got to see a lot of speed blur.

But that's CBS for you.. ending it after just a few episodes..

:coyote:

Actually, The Flash had a full 22-episode first (and only) season. The fact that CBS constantly changed the night and time did nothing to help the ratings. John Wesley Shipp, who played Flash, said a few years later he ran into one of the executive producers at a party, and the guy told him, "You know, if CBS hadn't bungled that show, we'd probably still be on the air right now." Shame. It was a really good show. My family and I watched it every week. I still need to pick up the DVD box set.

And yeah, Mark Hamill played The Trickster, which he reprised in an episode of Justice League.

[tucsoncoyote]

Well here's an ABC show I remembered during the 1980-1981 TV season, and Just like The Flash, ABC Dropped this show after either 22 or 39 episodes (Can't really remember the number of episodes it had.

It was called "The Greatest American Hero" and Starred Robert Culp of I Spy fame, and some other actor and an actress I even can't remember.

The Plot idea was really simple. Some Ordinary teacher of High school kids (Who are mostly troublemakers I might add), receives from Aliens a superhero supersuit that gives him the ability to fly, smash through walls, and even be impervious to Bullets (Much like Superman).

The only issue was that the teacher loses the Manual that comes with the supersuit, and alongside an FBI operative (Done by Robert Culp, he tries to figure out the suit's powers). Of course the teacher also is a divorcee and soon he takes a liking to the female lawyer who took his divorce case (and in fact this story actually had some plot with the Lawyer doing sort of a Lois lane.

So what exactly killed this one? Well it was the fact that the teacher Character's last name was originally "Hinkley" and since this was during the 1980-1981 season, Another person was in the news.. Namely the guy who attempted to assassinate then President Ronald Reagan. The Shooter's name? John Hinkley Jr. So then ABC execs tried to salvage the show by changing the main characters last name, but in the end, due to poor managing of time plus all the other shows out there, The Greatest American hero ended up much like Superman was on Green Kryptonite Namely dead.

It was a fun show, had a great Theme song, and had some rather good plots especially when dealig with Robert Culp..and his FBI Scenario stiuations.

But in the end, The Greatest American hero ended up more Dead than superman due to the assassinaion atttempt on president Reagon, poor ratings and heavily shifting of the time slots (From Friday to Thursday to Tuesday to Wednesday to Saturday on ABC..)

But it really wasn't a bad show really... Now if he could have only found that manual...

:coyote:

[Michael24]

The Greatest American Hero had about two-and-a-half seasons with 40 episodes aired (and a handful unaired until syndication) from 1981-83.

But I think the point of this thread was to discuss extremely short-lived shows that showed a lot of potential, but were canned after less than a season or so. I don't really think a series that ran for, say, only two or three seasons qualifies as a show that never got a chance to shine.

[Mikintosh]

Cedric the Entertainer Presents

This was a hilarious show that was doing well in the African-American demographic, but FOX decided the ratings weren't good enough, and canceled it. And on top of that, the network insulted Cedric, claiming the show wasn't "showing his talents." (BTW, Cedric was a writer on the show.) If I was Cedric, I would stay away from FOX. That was downright insulting.:mad:

Though I never actually saw the show, I remember it at the time getting not very good reviews. Anyone know what the ratings were like? Besides, I think Cedric's much better off in the big-money film industry, even if his movies haven't been all that top-notch.

Even though I'm sure most of the peeps here aren't The N watchers, I miss O'Grady. It was one of the few original shows on the network, and I thought it was funnier than Home Movies. But somehow, even though they had 12 hours of programming to fill and only six shows on the docket, they still managed to hardly put O'Grady out there at all (It was only on for 19 episodes over 1 1/2 seasons), the better to show eight nightly episodes of Degrassi. To their credit (or Soup2Nuts, not sure whose decision it was), they did get celebrity voices for the last abbreviated season and did promote those episodes well (actually, I remember a promo where they said that if the ratings were good for these episodes, they'd get everybody jetskis). But with all the reruns that fill the network (especially Sabrina the Teenage Witch, for chrissakes), you'd think their ratings standards were low enough to keep any show on the air.

[MajorTom]

Freaks and Geeks certainly is at the top of my list. It's one of the best shows ever made, and it got canceled. At least it has a decent ending, all things considered.

[tucsoncoyote]

The Greatest American Hero had about two-and-a-half seasons with 40 episodes aired (and a handful unaired until syndication) from 1981-83.

But I think the point of this thread was to discuss extremely short-lived shows that showed a lot of potential, but were canned after less than a season or so. I don't really think a series that ran for, say, only two or three seasons qualifies as a show that never got a chance to shine.

Granted, there Michael, but then it does make you wonder what NBC's Supertrain would have been if it had gotten more than just 9 episodes.
Wait I know a lot of you guys might or might not have ever heard of it, but this NBC Fiasco, was the reason why shows Like Knightrider and the A-Team came to be hits.

Supertrain is only 9 episodes long, and in fact was the worst Idea Fred Silverman, (Then Head of NBC) ever conceived. the Story revolved around an atomic powered high speed train traveling across the US.. and in fact in a way I'm glad it did get only 9 episodes. But then What would have happened if it had gotten more than just 9 episodes? Anyone want to take a stab at that one?

I personally think this is the Exception to the Rule in this thread .. for every 99 shows that could have been good and potential hits, there's always one that would have flopped and flopped big time. and Supertrain was it.

But still does anyone want to take a stab at this one? Well.... Anyone?

:coyote: