Wasted Talent: Shows That Never Lived Up To Their Potential

[DittyDotDot]

Kings is a tough one for me. I mean I loved the show the show when it was one, and Ian McShane is awesome. But at the same time I remember watching it and just being able to pretty much see on the screen the crap load of money they must have been spending to produce the show. At the same time the show was getting terrible ratings (like record setting bad) so it is hard to really fault NBC in their decision to cancel the show.

I agree that I can't fault NBC for cancelling it, but I think it better falls into the shows that tragically didn't find an audience and got cancelled too early. Join us in the reminiscing.  http://forums.previously.tv/topic/9563-shows-that-died-before-their-time-never-got-a-fair-shot-or-were-ahead-of-their-time/#entry149397

[ParadoxLost]

Roswell - With the recent cast reunion it made me feel a deep sense of nostalgia. I went back to relive the magic and was quickly reminded of how much potential this show had and how it lost its way very quickly. The concept was interesting enough, but I don't think the writers knew how to make it work on a TV show

This show taught me how to recognize when to abandon a show with haste and never look back. Chalkboard. When the previously that introduces the show has no resemblance to what you watched, either the writers are terrible or the show has gone so wrong compared to what it could have been that you've gone crazy. Either way, it's time to go.

[Snowprince]

Tour of Duty - The first season gave me hope that this show would be to Vietnam what Combat! was to WWII 20 - 25 years earlier. A straight forward semi accurate (as accurate as a TV drama can be) look at that war through the eyes of an infantry squad. No bigger picture flummery, no political axe grinding, no flag waiving or jingoistic BS, just the day to day experience of being a grunt humping the boonies. Season one did a decent job of that. A moderate premise change in season two and a major one in season three torpedoed what could have been a compelling show and turned it into a joke....a not very funny one.

[aradia22]

 

I'd like to throw Smash in here.  The pilot was pretty good.  It had its issues but I thought they could be resolved.  And honestly, they could have been but the show, for the most part, chose not to.  It had some really good stuff and way too much dreck.

Oh, Smash so much. Good things: music. Bad things: almost everything else. Including almost everyone's acting. Even Hilty and Christian Borle couldn't escape the pull of terrible soap acting at times. What we never really got? The backstage theatre show we were promised. With real choreographers and costume designers, not just Derek making all the decisions for... reasons? Give me Tom and Julia slowly developing the story and not just magically coming up with things so we can spend our time on pointless melodrama. Give me the dude who builds the sets and the lighting guy and more Ann Harada. Theatre is so collaborative and there was so little of that on Smash.

 

Yep.  McPhee was the big reason but I would throw in Julia's weirdly dropped adoption story and affair in there as well.  Ellis was bad but getting rid of him was only the tip of the iceberg of what they needed to do.

I'm a McPhee defender. She had her moments. I liked her versions of Let Me Be Your Star and Don't Forget Me and she arguably did a better job than Hilty with Marilyn's breathy voice and vulnerability. That said, they gave her too much of the show. I don't know why they thought they could rely on her and her character to carry so much of the plot. I think season 2 is when her acting just got painfully bad and lifeless. In season 1, used more sparingly, she just came off as the sweet ingenue. Other issues... freaking Dev. Why show, why? I think Ellis also had his moments. I don't blame him for being plot-device-y because they used him as a plot device. Yes, on Julia's adoption story and the terrible actor they cast as his son. And no, I do not forgive Smash for casting Brian D'Arcy James and then only letting him sing one song to Rock Band. Boo on casting Jeremy Jordan and then making him terrible. Why show? Broadway Here I Come was so good. And then you stomped all over it with Hit List and the drug problems. And

poor hit by a bus

Kyle. At least he's in a better place now. And by a better place I mean Les Miz. I came around on Hilty more in season 2 when it wasn't about her competing with McPhee but honestly they were both bad Marilyns. I know Hilty played the same part as Marilyn on stage but trying to actually play Marilyn she was forced to suppress all the things that make her voice worthwhile and when they came out they annoyed me as being wrong for Marilyn. Also, there were lots of abrasively sharp notes. They Just Keep Moving the Line? Awesome. Not Marilyn but awesome. 

 

Also, why not more useful cameos? People don't have to pop in for 5 seconds. You can actually use them to move the story along. I know, shocker.

 

OK, I need to stop venting about Smash or I'll be here for hours. 

 

The other show that never lived up to its potential is Being Erica. Also, Drop Dead Diva. I keep signing on for magical shows with female protagonists that lose steam after a few seasons when it becomes clear the writers don't have a plan and didn't think through the world they created.

[aradia22]

This might be blasphemy but I'm going to throw in Dead Like Me. I really enjoyed the show but I mourn the Bryan Fuller show we could have had. What if Betty had stayed and we really explored the mythology he seemed to be laying out in those first few episodes?

[ganesh]

Wasn't there an initial plot that the dad was going to be gay too?

[Wax Lion]

That was one of the storylines that Showtime squashed, one of many aspects of Fuller's terrible relationship with Showtime. Apparently, a Showtime exec pushed for Rebecca Gayheart's exit, not finding her pretty enough and telling Fuller he couldn't possibly see that Gayheart is attractive because he's gay. According to my memory of that Fuller interview, they also forced the show to do two clip shows in a season to save money.

 

That was seriously a great show that was destroyed by network interference.

[ganesh]

I thought they got rid of Gayheart because she killed some one with her car. 

[DittyDotDot]

Yes, she killed a kid if I remember right and TPTB thought that having her play a free spirited reaper might be in bad taste.

 

ETA: I just realized it sounded like I was saying that Gayheart murdered a kid--as I understand it was a car accident and totally an accident.

Edited June 25, 2014 by DittyDotDot

[ganesh]

I thought she was DUI?

[Bella]

Since part of my job as mod is rumor control, I bring you Wikipedia's Rebecca Gayheart entry, which is probably as good as any. 

 

The relevant section:

 

On June 13, 2001, Gayheart was driving a vehicle which struck nine-year-old Jorge Cruz, Jr. as he walked across a street in Los Angeles. He died the following day from his injuries. On November 27, 2001, Gayheart pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter. She was sentenced to three years of probation, a one-year suspension of her license, a $2,800 fine and 750 hours of community service.[3][12]

 

It doesn't mention DUI, but she was obviously held responsible.

[Bastet]

Crisis.  The pilot had some issues, but allowing for the inherent growing pains and knowing the series was planned for a self-contained 13-episode run, it gave the impression it could really be something interesting.  Instead, it quickly revealed itself as a convoluted mess completely lacking in suspense. 

[BigDfromLA]

"Dark Angel" had an outstanding first season and then turned unwatchable in season two. John Savage as Lydecker was an outstanding villain. Things went downhill when they killed him off. I have never seen a show get overhauled from season one to two to make it such a different (and far worse) program.

 

I really enjoyed Smash. I loved the Derek character...he was hilarious. Katharine McPhee is stunningly beautiful and is a good singer. Who cares that her acting isn't the best.

[ganesh]

I heard that the "eyes only" guy on Dark Angel was supposed to die in the end of S1 but he was Alba's bf at the time and she threw a fit about it. Salt, of course, so I don't know.

[Rinaldo]

Smash, of course. I foolishly hoped for a lot, and was even willing to give it the benefit of the doubt after the pilot, I so wanted a fun well-populated look at the theater world. But I was wrong, and the series was wronger. Only Christian Borle and Megan Hilty came out of it with reputations intact (and I'm definitely including the behind-the-scenes people).

 

Up All Night was mentioned, and I'll second that, though I don't know that what was good about it could really have been sustained. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett were just heartbreakingly right and good as a married couple with a new baby. Their interactions, and reactions to the kid, were funny and sweet and spot-on. Could the two of them at home have made a series? Probably not, but the outside-the-house stuff devised for them was jarringly out of key. And then it got more so. And then they jettisoned the dad-at-home aspect that was built into the premise. And then a series of what amounted to reboots, with wacky relatives and who knows what. And then an announced format change that mercifully never came to pass, and it died an invisible death. So nothing happened with the very real promise at the outset.

 

Another even lighter comedy that few others may remember (and probably nobody but me thought had "potential"): Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. It lasted four seasons, so I guess it must have been moderately popular. But I regretted that, after its initial spring half-season, it threw out what made it really distinctive. It was the best TV depiction I've seen of the grad-student lifestyle: prolonging your studies and taking more classes because you're not sure what you want to do with your life, an assistantship plus a little part-time job will pay your needs, and hanging out with your two buddies is more fun than anything else you can think of. (Or, one of the characters had taken a distasteful job that paid, unfortunately, really well, which is another way it can go.) The whole seductive possibility of postponing adulthood indefinitely. There was something there we haven't seen on the tube, and ripe for comedic treatment. But it all got discarded bit by bit, for a much more ordinary Friends sort of setup -- more characters added, people get jobs or discover what they want to do with their lives, everybody lives in the same apartment building. It lost everything that made it intriguing.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Rinaldo

[janie jones]

It was the best TV depiction I've seen of the grad-student lifestyle: prolonging your studies and taking more classes because you're not sure what you want to do with your life, an assistantship plus a little part-time job will pay your needs, and hanging out with your two buddies is more fun than anything else you can think of. (Or, one of the characters had taken a distasteful job that paid, unfortunately, really well, which is another way it can go.) The whole seductive possibility of postponing adulthood indefinitely. There was something there we haven't seen on the tube, and ripe for comedic treatment. But it all got discarded bit by bit, for a much more ordinary Friends sort of setup -- more characters added, people get jobs or discover what they want to do with their lives, everybody lives in the same apartment building. It lost everything that made it intriguing.

I was a kid when that show was on, so some of that stuff must have gone over my head.  I know I didn't like the later episodes as much.  But now this description makes me very interested in it all over again!

[ShadowSixx]

Betrayal - I give shows 3 episodes to impress me because I was interested in the premise. I think what hurt the show for me is the simple fact that I didn't know any of the actors but I overlooked that. The first episode nearly had me rolling my eyes, they already rush into the affair and then when she finds out that he's an attorney that her husband will be sparring with in the courtroom she gets all dramatic and drops her wine glass and slumps down against the wall. It was a little overreaction to it. Then the next two episodes were a total snooze. I think if they had actually did a slow build to the affair and not start the show off with leading to it it could have been better. Then again they gave the lead female the career of photographer, which isn't all that exciting when you put it to television.

[Anna Yolei]

Smash, of course. I foolishly hoped for a lot, and was even willing to give it the benefit of the doubt after the pilot, I so wanted a fun well-populated look at the theater world. But I was wrong, and the series was wronger. Only Christian Borle and Megan Hilty came out of it with reputations intact (and I'm definitely including the behind-the-scenes people).

Up All Night was mentioned, and I'll second that, though I don't know that what was good about it could really have been sustained. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett were just heartbreakingly right and good as a married couple with a new baby. Their interactions, and reactions to the kid, were funny and sweet and spot-on. Could the two of them at home have made a series? Probably not, but the outside-the-house stuff devised for them was jarringly out of key. And then it got more so. And then they jettisoned the dad-at-home aspect that was built into the premise. And then a series of what amounted to reboots, with wacky relatives and who knows what. And then an announced format change that mercifully never came to pass, and it died an invisible death. So nothing happened with the very real promise at the outset.

Another even lighter comedy that few others may remember (and probably nobody but me thought had "potential"): Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. It lasted four seasons, so I guess it must have been moderately popular. But I regretted that, after its initial spring half-season, it threw out what made it really distinctive. It was the best TV depiction I've seen of the grad-student lifestyle: prolonging your studies and taking more classes because you're not sure what you want to do with your life, an assistantship plus a little part-time job will pay your needs, and hanging out with your two buddies is more fun than anything else you can think of. (Or, one of the characters had taken a distasteful job that paid, unfortunately, really well, which is another way it can go.) The whole seductive possibility of postponing adulthood indefinitely. There was something there we haven't seen on the tube, and ripe for comedic treatment. But it all got discarded bit by bit, for a much more ordinary Friends sort of setup -- more characters added, people get jobs or discover what they want to do with their lives, everybody lives in the same apartment building. It lost everything that made it intriguing.

Well, that explains why it was renamed "Two Giys and a Girl".

[ParadoxLost]

Once Upon A Time.  I used to lament that they didn't base the show on the real fairy tales rather than the Disney version.  I used  to lament that they didn't make Storybrooke opposite land and force good and evil to coexist in the same bodies when the curse broke.

 

Now I just lament that everything is plot plot plot and I can never have nice things, like character development.

[Wax Lion]

I hate to say it, but I feel this way about every decent show produced by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. Life on Mars, 90210, The Night Shift. I often feel like their shows are ones that could be great, aim to be great but they never accomplish what they aim to make.

[Rick Kitchen]

The biggest problem with Flash Forward was that they showed several great shows and set everything up for a big season, and then poof, the show was gone for like four months.  Any momentum was gone.  They should have played the whole show chronologically instead of making us wait.

[ganesh]

On FF, they really focused on the wrong stuff. When they stayed locked into the actual mystery it was actually pretty good. There was a middle section of the show where is was basically a 5 parter and it was really well done.

 

I think the main problem was that they tried to jam a cable show into a broadcast network model. *Everyone* was trying to find "the next Lost" at the time and the show suffered as a result. Put that on FX for only 13 episodes and it's a totally different show. 

[Kanako]

Both The Bletchley Circle and Copper could've been very good.  I mean, who wouldn't want three beautiful ladies -- solving puzzles -- in post-War London???  Or three comrades-in-arms (handsome ones, I must add) doing some awesome CSI/procedural/political s@it in post-Civil-War New York???  Both shows had some good actors and flashes of decent writing. 

 

Somehow, the Bletchley ladies forgot to solve puzzles and the men never got to do much together (and instead, we got way too much trivial melodrama surrounding them).  Both shows were canceled after 2 seasons.  Sigh.  I'm still looking for a decent period piece that is not Downton Abbey.  Thought Turn might be it, but it ain't.

[ShadowSixx]

Dracula - I like vampire dramas and whatnot as I do watch Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and I do find JRM to be very cute. So I thought that this show had a shot but there was more talking and less action. A vampire show should be more action and not all that talking or whatever they did have it was relatively boring and not exciting.

[The Crazed Spruce]

I'm still looking for a decent period piece that is not Downton Abbey.

You should give Murdoch Mysteries a try. It's a procedural set in Toronto at the turn of the 20th century. It's not nearly as melodramatic as Copper and The Blechley Circle, but still brings the drama when it has to.

[Kanako]

You should give Murdoch Mysteries a try. It's a procedural set in Toronto at the turn of the 20th century. It's not nearly as melodramatic as Copper and The Blechley Circle, but still brings the drama when it has to.

Huh, never even heard of it, but it sounds interesting -- AND it's on Amazon Prime!  Yippeee!  I'll have to give it a shot.  Thanks for the recommendation!

[SnideAsides]

Fear Factor. A reality show based entirely on exploiting common fears? That should be brilliant television. But then... it wasn't. The contestants were almost universally jackasses, most of the stunts were so overly complicated and relied on the same few concepts (Heights! Cold water! Gross food we just invented!), and the few stunts that seemed like they could plausibly happen and weren't just created for the visuals were invariably lame. And also, Joe Rogan.

[GreekGeek]

Does anyone remember Boomtown? It was a crime show with the events shown in multiple perspectives. But someone decided the viewers were idiots who couldn't figure out why they were seeing the same events more than once, and turned it back into a mediocre routine police procedural. Boo!

 

Journeyman came up several times. I caught one episode on its initial run (the second), and liked the fact that it took the hero across multiple time periods to solve the same problem. (The contrast between the 1970's air travel experience and the 2000's one was funny.) But I thought the hero was dull and I missed the equivalent of the Sam/Al banter from Quantum Leap. It wasn't until I caught the whole season on Hulu that I realized there was a whole overarching mystery, which came together at the end. So I'll buy the argument that it wasn't meant to be drawn out for years.

[Rick Kitchen]

Does anyone remember Boomtown? It was a crime show with the events shown in multiple perspectives. But someone decided the viewers were idiots who couldn't figure out why they were seeing the same events more than once, and turned it back into a mediocre routine police procedural. Boo!

 

 

This.  I loved "Boomtown" when it first came out, but then it just failed.  But at least we got Donnie Wahlburg out of it, and he has developed into a very good actor.

[LJonEarth]

Caprica

The O.C. - this show started off fresh and subversive and immediately fell into standard fare for its genre

Halt and Catch Fire - from episode one, you could see the network/writers' every motive to match everything that made Breaking Bad and Mad Men 

Smash - I'll bandwagon to what has been said about this show

Suburbia - see The O.C., plus the leads had a little too much of the wrong kind of chemistry. 

[GreekGeek]

I thought of another one--The Practice. It would have been fun to see more of sleazy lawyers and obviously guilty clients, instead of the standard TV idealistic lawyers and wrongfully accused clients. But the idealists and underdogs were standard plotlines after awhile.

[SparedTurkey]

Glee. This show had everything going for it. A huge following of teens/preteens AND the "elusive" 18-25 demo, a network that would promote the pants off it and a cast with stacks of chemistry. And then the writers (Ryan Murphy) thought they could change the world, and in doing so, wrecked the show. The first 13 episodes were golden but after that, the quality declined slowly until the end of season 2. Where it crash and burned. But there are a few things that contributed to its downfall, that I will never understand:

1. The way the showrunners/writers deliberately antagonised their own fandom. I had no stake in any relationship, but taunting Brittana/Klaine/Faberry/Finchel (etc. the list goes on) fandoms just seemed like they were cutting off their nose to spite their face. And not to mention those were the ones spending the big bucks on concerts, merch etc.

2. Getting rid of most cast members. No, not all of the cast were great thespians. Some couldn't sing, some couldn't dance, some couldn't act. But they all worked together so well. The chemistry was there - visible in every song performance. The show may have wanted Glee to be the next Degrassi High, but it was clear after Graduation Gate that it just wasn't. The audience were invested in the characters, not the idea of the show. And to antagonise cast members for not going back for Cory Monteith's memorial episode was also in bad taste, but I won't dwell on it).

3. Turning the show into an after-school special, as it suited them. The show was rooted in black comedy and should have stuck to that. But to turn it into a special lesson, where it is terrible for the gay male to suffer harrassment (which, yes, obviously) but to then have the main Glee (male) leader out a lesbian "for her own good" - come on. The show got muddled and more importantly, was not funny.

 

Well, there are lots of reasons it wasn't successful. But seriously, this show had so much potential that it is a shame it never made it. It really is a lesson for other showrunners of what NOT to do.

[galax-arena]

I’m not sure Glee really counts here. After all, Glee did live up to its potential and get off the ground with the first thirteen episodes, and then it went into a steep (VERY steep) nosedive. I’m thinking more of shows that really didn’t get off the ground at all. I mentioned Terra Nova in an earlier comment; with that show, there was never a single moment where I thought that the show achieved liftoff, however momentarily.

 

IMO Glee fits more into the “Once great shows that got so bad they sent you into a rage spiral” thread, which I think is worse because it can be painful to see a show that you loved so much at one point descending into such utter shit. At least I never got a chance to become terribly attached to Terra Nova.

Edited August 22, 2014 by galax-arena

[Oosala]

 

Copper could've been very good.

I was so looking forward to Copper and then was so disappointed in it.  I think I only lasted about 5-6 episodes.  I appreciated the realistically gritty look to the sets and the characters but I did NOT appreciate that I could never actually see what was happening because it was filmed so dark-looking.  And that whole thing about the child whore really creeped me the hell out.  How could a show with Franka Potente end up being craptacular?  Still a little bitter.

[Jeebus Cripes]

Copper was just so very boring to me. I was only ever interested in the guy with one leg (I can't recall names at all). Bland characters, really boring plot, too.

[kassygreene]

I forced myself to watch the entire first season of Copper, mostly by not letting myself pause it.  While the characters were probably consistent with the times, and certainly consistent with their circumstances (the child whore is both sooo plausible and utterly repellent, and my response to her is contrary to my own view of my own compassion that I resent that too).  But at no time did I give a damn about any of these people, or their stories.  

 

The only thing I liked about Copper was that when Ripper Street came out, I stopped watching after the first episode.  Saved myself a lot of time!

 

Not sure this fits in this topic, but the lead character's house, with its two stories and open plan first floor (and sizeable kitchen), seems to fit the trope of the over-sized apartment in shows set in NYC.

[Wax Lion]

On the 'shows that never got a chance" tread someone mentioned Outsourced, which I'd place on this thread instead.

 

Maybe the show should have found a new title instead of keeping the one from the movie it adapted but I think the concept could have worked. Unfortunately in execution, it was a show about an American living abroad who spent most of his time teaching his new co-workers (who, again, weren't the foreigners) to be more American. The lead actor just didn't have the depth to elevate those bad scripts. It could have been an interesting show if the show was more about him adapting to a sudden and unplanned move to a foreign country (and not with the stale diarrhea jokes of the pilot).

 

The second huge mistake of the show was trying to make the boss, a guy who decided to fire the entire staff except for the protagonist to increase profits, as a lovably wacky and high-maintenance guy. If they made him more of a jerk, the show wouldn't have seemed so insensitive to the issue of outsourcing.

 

So basically, we had a show with two character types that are unbearable in real life -- the sociopathic businessman who cares more about increasing his next bonus even if it means ruining lives and the ugly American. The way Outsourced was made, it pretty much embraced those two as people we're supposed to find charmingly flawed.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Wax Lion

[Ujio]

I know it's been discussed ad nauseam in this thread, but I need to chime in and say what a pity that Boardwalk Empire never achieved the kind of greatness (and accolades) that it could/should have.  I mean, great cast, wonderful production value, some flashes of fantastic writing, with (very) colorful characters and an interesting era -- how COULD it not go right???

 

We just finished watching season 4 (yes, we're too cheap to pay for HBO), and it made me feel truly sad about all the LOST opportunities.  I wonder if the producers (Scorsese, Wahlberg, et al) feel that this show was an underachiever, too. 

[Actionmage]

Keeping to 1 season shows:

 

Best Friends Forever-- Even if USA has been cool and Jess and Len have a new show, that the just right everything of BFF still rankles with this fan.

Alcatraz--The mystery was still unspooling, the cast was excellent, San Francisco looked lovely, and the interconnectedness didn't bother me too much. The pacing didn't help the show ( it could plod with the best/worst of 'em), but the overall story was getting to the "here's some answers that set up more questions" section. Plus Sam Neill? *sigh*

The Dresden Files-- Smart, snarky, modern mage working as an actual Wizard (check his Yellow Pages' ad!) in Chicago, Illinois, US of A. How can that miss with the delightful Paul Blackthorne as the lead? Yeah, yeah, SyFy, but besides that? We never even got to the better stuff from the books!

Legend and The Lazarus Man-- Two Westerns that were straight up syndication shows, yet they each had an interesting premise that, I feel, deserved another season. Legend, starring Richard Dean Anderson as Ernest Pratt , was about a dime novelist who let the public think he was the purer-than-anyone nom de plume he wrote as. John DeLancie and Marc Adair-Rios were an inventor and his right-hand man who helped "Nicodemus Legend" solve crimes and mysteries in the late 1800s West.  The Lazarus Man, starring Robert Urich, was darker, yet intriguing. Urich's character crawled out of a grave, post-Civil War, and has Northern and Southern items, as well as amnesia. Calling himself Lazarus, he remembers a brunette and getting brained just before Lincoln's assassination. Due to Mr. Urich's cancer diagnosis, the show stopped production.

Wonderland-- a drama about the doctors and patients in a NYC mental health hospital. It aired two episodes before being pulled from the schedule. It was the brainchild of Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with Peter Berg writing and directing the pilot. The main cast was Ted Levine, Michelle Forbes, Martin Donovan, Michael Jai White, and Billy Burke! The amazing Leland Orser was one of the complicated patients! It was on ABC at 9PM Central, so the subject matter should not have played a part. It was a smart, adult look at mental illness, though, so I guess that couldn't be allowed.

[Amello]

Michelle Forbes and Billie Burke? Why the heck have I not seen this show?

[kathyk24]

The problem with Flash Forward was the lead was such a jerk no one cared about his flash. I was happy when his wife cheated on him. I loved his partner and wished he was the lead.

[ganesh]

They shot themselves in the foot making the lead a cop. Because there are no other characters that can be on tv. The lead in the book was different and I think it could have worked fine on tv. 

 

They did do a good job of making the world pretty real though, and they were answering questions and solving things along the way. 

[truthaboutluv]

Oh, remember from a few years ago Alcatraz?  It seemed so strong at first but I remember getting bored so quick.

 

 

Wow, I thought I was the only one who watched this. Like someone posted above, every fall season I too look for the new shows I think sounds the most promising to try and get into. I was really excited for this one because I love mystery type shows and the idea that a whole prison of men vanished, sounded awesome. But something just didn't work for me. I didn't really connect with the lead actress, the guy from Lost was okay but the chemistry was off between him and lead imo and ultimately I found that I just had little investment in any of the main characters. The weekly stories where they revisited a particular prisoner as they started up their crimes again was interesting but I just didn't really care that much about any of them. I just thought the cast chemistry was incredibly lacking.

 

One of the more recent examples I think is absolutely perfect for this thread is the show Twisted on ABCFamily. The show had an AWESOME premise - boy "kills" his aunt at 11, goes off to Juvie, gets released and comes back to the same town where the murder happened. A week after he gets there, a high school girl is murdered. Meanwhile, his two best friends at the time the murder happened have both tried to put the whole thing behind them and move on but are now brought back together when he returns.

 

Awesome premise and one that could have mined many seasons of mystery and twists and turns. The show was supposed to be the male version of Pretty Little Liars which yes has gotten really convoluted now but in the earlier seasons was awesome with the mystery. But instead, we got a high school angsty drama revolving more around one of the girls and the inevitable lame triangle happened where the one girl was in love with him while he wanted the other girl. Episode after episode, nothing happened in the mystery, the victims were all but insignificant so you hardly cared who killed them because half the time you barely even remembered them. 

Edited September 6, 2014 by truthaboutluv

[janie jones]

Wonderland-- a drama about the doctors and patients in a NYC mental health hospital. It aired two episodes before being pulled from the schedule. It was the brainchild of Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with Peter Berg writing and directing the pilot. The main cast was Ted Levine, Michelle Forbes, Martin Donovan, Michael Jai White, and Billy Burke! The amazing Leland Orser was one of the complicated patients! It was on ABC at 9PM Central, so the subject matter should not have played a part. It was a smart, adult look at mental illness, though, so I guess that couldn't be allowed.

I loved the shit out of that show.  I was really disappointed when it was cancelled, but I didn't remember the cast!  I only remembered Leland Orser. Edited September 6, 2014 by janie jones

[Wax Lion]

I thought Twisted would have been great if the three leads could have just been friends. Let them have all the romantic entanglements the PLL girls have, just make it happen with outside characters. Not every straight male and straight female lead have to fall in love. It's not like PLL has lacked for stories without Emily developing crushes on Aria, Spencer or Hanna.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Wax Lion

[Actionmage]

Why the heck have I not seen this show?

 

Amello,  I am sorry to say that it was on ABC for two whole episodes, in 2000, before it was yanked. (Yeah, it was opposite er and lost 20M viewers in Week 2, but  there were a total of 8 episodes filmed.)

 

There's not much about it, being only 2 aired episodes, but here's a link about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderland_(TV_series)

and here's one to Martin Donovan's website: http://www.martindonovan.org/?cat=34 ( The TV Guide interview is enlightening about the idea behind  the show.)

Edited September 8, 2014 by Actionmage

[CabotCove]

Constantine

Intelligence

[Rinaldo]

I was a kid when that show [Two Guys and a Girl, sometimes with a Pizza Place ] was on, so some of that stuff must have gone over my head.  I know I didn't like the later episodes as much.  But now this description makes me very interested in it all over again!

I'm watching the pilot right now, for the first time since it originally aired, and all the potential I remembered is absolutely there.* I'm loving it all over again.

 

(*Plus the pleasure-in-retrospect of seeing a funny young unknown Ryan Reynolds as one of the guys. He's delightful.)

[Demented Daisy]

​Murder in the First -- the first season was great, I thought.  By focusing on one case for the entirety of the season, they could explore the intricacies of a trial, not just a couple of witnesses and forensic evidence.  It was compelling.  (Of course, Tom Felton gets at least partial credit for that.)

 

But season 2 was a bloated mess.  Half a dozen different storylines and I still don't understand what the 2 shooters in the first episode had to do with anything.  

[CabotCove]

Is it too early to put Sleepy Hollow