Shows That: Died Before Their Time, Never Got A Fair Shot, Or Were Ahead Of Their Time

[festivus]

Yeah, I'm pretty picky about my comedies and Enlisted was a good one.

[Grrarrggh]

I'm still angry that The Brave was cancelled. That was a great programme. 

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I'm still angry that The Brave was cancelled. That was a great programme. 

They did themselves no favor in losing their nerd credentials by doubling down on their Captain "Top".  An early example of ignore the gatekeepers to your own peril. Meanwhile a modern day prequel of Taken would have snatched part of their audience and that show had a bad soft reboot for its second season premise.

[roamyn]

22 hours ago, mishy said:

Homefront did have two seasons. I loved this show so much!

For some reason, I thought it was only one.

It was created by the guy who played Mary’s Ingalls husband on Little House.  He then went on to created Malcolm in the Middle - Linwood Boomer, I think his name is.

[juno]

Better off Ted lasted 2 seasons and it did not run out of gas at all. Just a great show with a great cast and lots of laughs.

[partofme]

2 hours ago, roamyn said:

For some reason, I thought it was only one.

It was created by the guy who played Mary’s Ingalls husband on Little House.  He then went on to created Malcolm in the Middle - Linwood Boomer, I think his name is.

I can confirm it had 2 seasons.   I was really into Homefront the first season but for some reason lost interest very quickly in the second.

[Mabinogia]

44 minutes ago, juno said:

Better off Ted lasted 2 seasons and it did not run out of gas at all. Just a great show with a great cast and lots of laughs.

I have it on DVD and though I've watched it a bunch of times it still cracks me up. I loved the Veridian Dynamics commercials they would show. And Lem and Phil just kill me. 

[juno]

24 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I have it on DVD and though I've watched it a bunch of times it still cracks me up. I loved the Veridian Dynamics commercials they would show. And Lem and Phil just kill me. 

The scientists could have had their own show. They were the best.

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, juno said:

Better off Ted lasted 2 seasons and it did not run out of gas at all. Just a great show with a great cast and lots of laughs.

The motion sensors for the lights. 

[Mabinogia]

42 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

The motion sensors for the lights. 

That is my favorite episode ever! 

[Egg McMuffin]

I liked Homefront a lot. ABC fumbled it and moved it opposite Cheers in the second season. I think period pieces are a tough sell to begin with.

Linwood Boomer from “Little House” wasn’t involved with it, though. His writing/producing credits are almost exclusively for sitcoms - Night Court, Silver Spoons, Malcolm, etc.

Homefront was created by “Knots Landing” showrunners Bernard Lechowick and Lynn Marie Latham. They took some of the Knots writers when they left that show to do their own series, and Knots plummeted in quality and ratings when they left and only lasted a couple of more seasons.

[Grrarrggh]

My Mom tells me I was devastated when Manimal was cancelled. I have no memory as I was only aged 3!

[juno]

Santa Clarita Diet; lasted 3 seasons, 30 episodes. This may seem like a lot of episodes but this show was so good and there was so much left to watch. The chemistry, acting and writing was off the charts. This is a show that needs to be brought back from the dead 🤣

Edited November 20, 2022 by juno

[juno]

Atypical; another one of my favorite TV shows. 38 episodes, 4 seasons. It had a great and satisfying ending but I wish I would have lasted more.

BTW, the MVP of this series was Brigette Lundy-Paine who put in an absolutely incredible performance.

[juno]

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Crazy show that is so funny. Krysten Ritter is amazing.

2 seasons and 26 episodes.

[Jaded]

On 11/21/2022 at 8:24 PM, juno said:

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Crazy show that is so funny. Krysten Ritter is amazing.

2 seasons and 26 episodes.

I loved that show.  I also liked James Van Der Beek more back then too as a person overall. 

[juno]

1 minute ago, Jaded said:

I loved that show.  I also liked James Van Der Beek more back then too as a person overall. 

I am binging it now. He is great on the show.

[Danny Franks]

A show that few people remember, and one that has a very search unfriendly title - Go On.

It was a single season comedy starring Matthew Perry. The premise was that his wife had died, and he ended up joining a loss support group. It was sweet and a bit silly but very heartfelt, and had some really fun performances from a number of people:

Laura Benanti, Brett Gelman, Tyler James Williams, John Cho, Julie White and Allison Miller.

I really wish it had gotten a second season, at least, to explore more of the grieving process and the sad, sometimes dark, humour around it.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Danny Franks

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

A show that few people remember, and one that has a very search unfriendly title - Go On.

It was a single season comedy starring Matthew Perry. The premise was that his wife had died, and he ended up joining a loss support group. It was sweet and a bit silly but very heartfelt, and had some really fun performances from a number of people:

Laura Benanti, Brett Gelman, Tyler James Williams, John Cho, Julie White and Allison Miller.

I really wish it had gotten a second season, at least, to explore more of the grieving process and the sad, sometimes dark, humour around it.

I watched that show and really liked that show.  It streams on nbc.com.

It premiered in August 2012 and I had just lost my husband a couple months before so it resonated with me.

Edited November 23, 2022 by bluegirl147

[DoctorAtomic]

Back when Fox was daring, Action, with Jay Mohr. It was slightly ahead of its time; dark humor, and antihero-ish, even though it was a sitcom. Maybe only two years later, it would easily have been an HBO show.

[festivus]

4 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

A show that few people remember, and one that has a very search unfriendly title - Go On.

I think I've posted about this one before in here. I loved this show and I remember laughing so hard at some of it I hurt. I'd love to see this one again. I believe The New Normal came on after it and that one wasn't as good but it also got cancelled too soon.

[bluegirl147]

18 minutes ago, festivus said:

I believe The New Normal came on after it and that one wasn't as good but it also got cancelled too soon.

Yep it was on during the same time period and I liked it as well.

[SparedTurkey]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:24 PM, juno said:

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Crazy show that is so funny. Krysten Ritter is amazing.

Yes!!!!!!!!! Hilarious

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Better than movies 3 & 4

[DoctorAtomic]

Hands down. 

[Bastet]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:21 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

Back when Fox was daring, Action, with Jay Mohr.

Weird -- I remember liking it, but can't remember a single detail about it.

[MusubiMyHomie]

Does anybody remember NBC's Ed? I recently brought up Ed in the Celebrity Deaths forum when Nicki Aycox, who played Carol's sister, passed away.

It's bizarre how music rights issues were a problem for Ed when it first aired on NBC, and now those same music rights issues are why Ed is forgotten today. (Except by us over in the Primetimer forums, of course.)

During the summer, I was both catching up on The Good Fight and watching Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and those two legal procedurals made me think, "If it hadn't featured so many expensive-to-clear songs, Ed would have experienced a popularity resurgence on Netflix or Hulu." The courtroom cases of the week were the second best element of Ed.

The best element of the show was its sense of humor straight out of Late Show with David Letterman's "Biff Henderson visiting a small town" segments. (Creators/showrunners Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman were Letterman writers.) The Stuckeybowl employees' antics were hilarious even when Phil Stubbs was at his most annoying. The weakest element was Ed's three-year pursuit of Carol. The MADtv parody of Ed perfectly nailed how much of a creepy stalker Ed was to Carol.

Edited November 26, 2022 by MusubiMyHomie

[juno]

13 minutes ago, MusubiMyHomie said:

Does anybody remember NBC's Ed? I recently brought up Ed in the Celebrity Deaths forum when Nicki Aycox, who played Carol's sister, passed away.

It's bizarre how music rights issues were a problem for Ed when it first aired on NBC, and now those same music rights issues are why Ed is forgotten today. (Except by us over in the Primetimer forums, of course.)

During the summer, I was both catching up on The Good Fight and watching Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and those two legal procedurals made me think, "If it hadn't featured so many expensive-to-clear songs, Ed would have experienced a popularity resurgence on Netflix or Hulu." The courtroom cases of the week were the second best element of Ed.

The best element of the show was its sense of humor straight out of Late Show with David Letterman's "Biff Henderson visiting a small town" segments. (Creators/showrunners Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman were Letterman writers.) The Stuckeybowl employees' antics were hilarious even when Phil Stubbs was at his most annoying. The weakest element was Ed's three-year pursuit of Carol. The MADtv parody of Ed perfectly nailed how much of a creepy stalker Ed was to Carol.

I tried to rewatch it a few months ago and the shipping for Ed and Carol was pretty bad. Every single relationship was doomed in order to keep them available for each other. In probably the strangest part of the show was the sudden focus on the teens and Warren who were the worst part of the show. I could not get through the first season even though the chemistry and writing is amazing.

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Weird -- I remember liking it, but can't remember a single detail about it.

I think he was an agent, but I remember the female lead was a prostitute he hired to be his advisor. So he treated clients like she would. I also think the third lead was his (the character's) dad. It was very of today. tbh, it could have been proto-Entourage if Ari was the main character instead of Vince. 

[Bort]

2 hours ago, MusubiMyHomie said:

It's bizarre how music rights issues were a problem for Ed when it first aired on NBC, and now those same music rights issues are why Ed is forgotten today. (Except by us over in the Primetimer forums, of course.)

Is that still the reason, though? Cold Case had even more music rights issues but that’s apparently resolved because it streams over on HBO Max now — music intact. Seems more like Ed is forgotten because it was forgettable. 

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, MusubiMyHomie said:

Does anybody remember NBC's Ed? I recently brought up Ed in the Celebrity Deaths forum when Nicki Aycox, who played Carol's sister, passed away.

I loved Ed!  Even now, when I see John Slattery in anything, I call him "Principal Jackass." Which I think actually came from TWoP and not the show itself, but it still stands.

[MusubiMyHomie]

45 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

when I see John Slattery in anything, I call him "Principal Jackass." Which I think actually came from TWoP

Oh God, I remember the TWoP members always referring to Dennis as Principal Jackass! I always clicked to TWoP after every episode of Ed to see what other Ed fans would say about the episode in the Ed forum.

ETA: I'm discovering that he was referred to as Principal Jackass everywhere, not just TWoP.

Edited November 26, 2022 by MusubiMyHomie

[MusubiMyHomie]

6 hours ago, juno said:

the teens and Warren who were the worst part of the show

Nah, I grew to like the three teen characters, but yeah, Warren was really off-putting at first as a way for the show to glimpse what Ed was like as a Stuckeyville High student who nursed a crush on Carol. Warren started out as attracted to Carol, who was his teacher, and then became fixated on popular girl Jessica Martell. Warren's scenes became funnier when his best friend Mark, their classmate Diane (a pre-Big Love/Once Upon a Time Ginnifer Goodwin), and—in the funniest Warren-related subplot—Shirley got roped into his ridiculous schemes to become more popular.

Warren, Mark, and Diane's friendship also evolved into one of the best elements of the show. A lesser show—like any one of the teen soaps that aired on the WB at the time—would have taken the storyline about Mark's growing feelings for Diane, who started dating Warren, and drawn it out for half a season or more. Instead of a boring love triangle driving Warren and Mark apart, the show quickly shut down the triangle thing when Warren realized he doesn't want to hurt his best friend's feelings, so he allowed his two friends to become a couple. And when the Ed writers had Mark go into gastric bypass surgery just like the teen actor who played him, I really liked the subplot about Warren and Diane arranging a "final feast" for Mark before his surgery.

The Ed writers were good at taking characters who were becoming annoying and one-note (Warren or Phil) and surrounding them with characters who made them more tolerable or challenged them whenever their schemes got out of hand (Mark and Diane or, in Phil's case, Eli). Too bad those same writers couldn't see that Rena Sofer's A.D.A. character and Sabrina Lloyd's law firm partner character were more interesting love interests for Ed than Carol (who had a thing for older men like Principal Jackass) ever was.

I didn't care for NBC's sappy Ed promos, which tried to sell Ed and Carol as the network TV love story of the early 2000s. What were you smoking, NBC promo department?

[juno]

7 minutes ago, MusubiMyHomie said:

Nah, I grew to like the three teen characters, but yeah, Warren was really off-putting at first as a way for the show to glimpse what Ed was like as a Stuckeyville High student who nursed a crush on Carol. Warren started out as attracted to Carol, who was his teacher, and then became fixated on popular girl Jessica Martell. Warren's scenes became funnier when his best friend Mark, their classmate Diane (a pre-Big Love/Once Upon a Time Ginnifer Goodwin), and—in the funniest Warren-related subplot—Shirley got roped into his ridiculous schemes to become more popular.

Warren, Mark, and Diane's friendship also evolved into one of the best elements of the show. A lesser show—like any one of the teen soaps that aired on the WB at the time—would have taken the storyline about Mark's growing feelings for Diane, who started dating Warren, and drawn it out for half a season or more. Instead of a boring love triangle driving Warren and Mark apart, the show quickly shut down the triangle thing when Warren realized he doesn't want to hurt his best friend's feelings, so he allowed his two friends to become a couple. And when the Ed writers had Mark go into gastric bypass surgery just like the teen actor who played him, I really liked the subplot about Warren and Diane arranging a "final feast" for Mark before his surgery.

The Ed writers were good at taking characters who were becoming annoying and one-note (Warren or Phil) and surrounding them with characters who made them more tolerable or challenged them whenever their schemes got out of hand (Mark and Diane or, in Phil's case, Eli). Too bad those same writers couldn't see that Rena Sofer's A.D.A. character and Sabrina Lloyd's law firm partner character were more interesting love interests for Ed than Carol (who had a thing for older men like Principal Jackass) ever was.

I didn't care for NBC's sappy Ed promos, which tried to sell Ed and Carol as the network TV love story of the early 2000s. What were you smoking, NBC promo department?

While I don't agree about the teens, I absoultely agree with you about Frankie and Bonnie. They were great, especially Frankie, but this show had to cram the Ed and Carol pairing at us so they killed those relationships. One of my biggest pet peeves of TV shows.

[Egg McMuffin]

Has anyone mentioned “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” yet? Only got a couple of seasons, but deserved a couple more.

[DoctorAtomic]

Criminally underrated Paget Brewster.

[juno]

I know Life in Pieces lasted 4 seasons but this was a great and funny show. Great writing, great cast with huge chemistry. Ended too soon.

[BlueSkies]

I absolutely despise what MTV turned into.  But the premise of this show seemed interesting.   It only lasted 1 season.  

Modern day kids having to live in a house with 1970s fashions/technology/sayings/etc....

[juno]

Sirens (TV Series) was another show about EMTs in Chicago. Hilarious and well written and acted. Yep, lasted 2 seasons. ☹️

[MagnusHex]

Fillmore! was a fun Disney parody of hard-boiled '70s cop drama, but set in an elementary school setting and having juvenile misdemeanor instead of serious crimes (though the show's protagonists certainly treated it as seriously). It was a fun show suitable for older audiences who might have remembered those cop shows, but alas, it only had two seasons before never showing up on Disney+. With shows like Kids Next Door treating petty children problems (like "adult tyranny") as a serious plot, Fillmore would've fitted right in the 2000s.

[Egg McMuffin]

I never heard of Fillmore, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and saw that it shares quite a few writers with the underrated Pepper Ann, so I’ll have to check it out. I always found Pepper Ann, with it’s cleverness and pop culture references, to be better written than many prime time sitcoms (check out the “Groundhog Day” parody episode, called “TGIF”, if you don’t believe me).

[janie jones]

18 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Has anyone mentioned “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” yet? Only got a couple of seasons, but deserved a couple more.

That and Andy Barker, PI. I think Andy Richter is underappreciated.

[MusubiMyHomie]

8 hours ago, MagnusHex said:

Fillmore! was a fun Disney parody of hard-boiled '70s cop drama

I remember Fillmore!, especially the hall monitors' scenes with their stressed-out boss (although Captain Trunk from Sledge Hammer! and the captain who always says, "I don't wanna hear it, McBain!" were much funnier parodies of boss characters from cop movies or shows) and creator Scott M. Gimple's gimmick of naming all the characters after San Francisco streets (from Cornelius Fillmore to Principal Folsom). And if Scott Gimple's name looks familiar, that's because he's the same Scott Gimple who later showran The Walking Dead.

[Annber03]

7 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

I never heard of Fillmore, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and saw that it shares quite a few writers with the underrated Pepper Ann, so I’ll have to check it out. I always found Pepper Ann, with it’s cleverness and pop culture references, to be better written than many prime time sitcoms (check out the “Groundhog Day” parody episode, called “TGIF”, if you don’t believe me).

I loved "Pepper Ann" :D. That show was fun. 

[magicdog]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:47 PM, BlueSkies said:

I absolutely despise what MTV turned into.  But the premise of this show seemed interesting.   It only lasted 1 season.

It seems to be a ripoff of the "house" series from PBS.  There was 1900 House, Regency House, 1940s House, and Frontier House.  Those are great studies in living in another time period (1900 House in particular since despite the lovely fashions and Late Victorian/Early Edwardian touches, it was a big adjustment to live as our great grandparents had).  70s House seems to be a cakewalk in comparison, as someone who was just a child at the time but remembers it fairly well.  At worst you had to find info in a book and unless you had cable, you only had a handful of channels.  

[Jaded]

I'm still mad about "The Huntress" on USA in the early 2000's was cancelled after one super long season of 28 episodes that aired from July 2000 to Sept 9th 2001.  There was a pilot movie that had aired a couple months before the TV show started. The last episode ended on cliffhanger which was really annoying. It was loosely based on the real life bounty hunter "Ralph "Papa" Thorson" with the characters having the same names as him, his wife and their daughter. I only saw the Steve McQueen movie that was based on him a few years ago. He doesn't die at the end but the basis for "The Huntress" was that Ralph had been killed due to a car bomb so Mom and Daughter ended up as a bounty hunting team.

I remember checking online and inside the local TV guide that came in the newspaper every week for quite awhile to see if there would be any new airings. When 2003 rolled around I figured it wasn't coming back. It would have been nice if another TV movie could have been made to wrap things up.

I loved how the Dotty (Anette O'Toole) and her daughter Brandi (Jordana Spiro) became a bounty hunting duo after Ralph (Michael McKean) got blown up due to a a car bomb. James Remar was it in too and his character went by the name Tiny which still makes me laugh thinking about it. Dotty and Tiny eventually become a couple. 
 

[bluegirl147]

39 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I'm still mad about "The Huntress" on USA in the early 2000's was cancelled after one super long season of 28 episodes that aired from July 2000 to Sept 9th 2001.  There was a pilot movie that had aired a couple months before the TV show started. The last episode ended on cliffhanger which was really annoying. It was loosely based on the real life bounty hunter "Ralph "Papa" Thorson" with the characters having the same names as him, his wife and their daughter. I only saw the Steve McQueen movie that was based on him a few years ago. He doesn't die at the end but the basis for "The Huntress" was that Ralph had been killed due to a car bomb so Mom and Daughter ended up as a bounty hunting team.

I remember checking online and inside the local TV guide that came in the newspaper every week for quite awhile to see if there would be any new airings. When 2003 rolled around I figured it wasn't coming back. It would have been nice if another TV movie could have been made to wrap things up.

I loved how the Dotty (Anette O'Toole) and her daughter Brandi (Jordana Spiro) became a bounty hunting duo after Ralph (Michael McKean) got blown up due to a a car bomb. James Remar was it in too and his character went by the name Tiny which still makes me laugh thinking about it. Dotty and Tiny eventually become a couple. 
 

I really liked that show. I remember watching it on Saturday mornings so they must have aired it multiple times during the week.

[Scarlett45]

On 11/19/2022 at 3:48 PM, juno said:

Santa Clarita Diet; lasted 3 seasons, 30 episodes. This may seem like a lot of episodes but this show was so good and there was so much left to watch. The chemistry, acting and writing was off the charts. This is a show that needs to be brought back from the dead 🤣

I liked it a lot too. Such a witty dark comedy. 

[methodwriter85]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:33 PM, kariyaki said:

Is that still the reason, though? Cold Case had even more music rights issues but that’s apparently resolved because it streams over on HBO Max now — music intact. Seems more like Ed is forgotten because it was forgettable. 

I mean 90210 and Daria have been stripped of their music and they've had a pretty good streaming life.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I mean 90210 and Daria have been stripped of their music and they've had a pretty good streaming life.

Exactly. Music rights aren’t why Ed doesn’t stream. Low demand is why. 

[DXD526]

Does anyone remember a nighttime soap called Pasadena? I thought it was absolute cheesy goodness, but only lasted a few episodes in the fall of 2001.