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

[Moose135]

Outsourced

such a sweet quirky funny show.  I think people thought it was racists so did not give it chance.  I loved the cast so much and was so disappointed it was canceled.

Too many of my friends and coworkers lost jobs to overseas outsourcing for me to find any humor in a show about it.

[Ohwell]

Too many of my friends and coworkers lost jobs to overseas outsourcing for me to find any humor in a show about it.

And I think that's precisely why it got canceled, thank goodness.  I can't believe that anyone would think a show about outsourcing jobs would be funny.

[paulvdb]

Kings- I loved the take on the biblical story and it ended as a cliffhanger

Life As We Know It- Like Kings I think I was one of the few people watching it.

I guess I am the only other person who watched both those shows. I would have liked to see more seasons for both of them.

[JayKay]

I watched Life As We Know It, too. It was a decent show, especially for teen fare but I remember that Kelly Osbourne's inclusion got it a bunch of bad press and it kind of became a joke in the media. A lot of young actors from it still pop up all over the place today though, which is neat.

[Popples]

I think Swingtown was just screwed because they were on the wrong network. The show was a better fit for cable. Really, now in 2014, it's a slam dunk netflix show.

 

So true, if it were on AMC with stuff like Mad Men, it probably would have flourished (and maybe won some Emmy's). Plus, I really need Jack Davenport back on my television.

Super Clyde was a pilot that didn't get picked up but was eventually released online, so it kind of counts. The main character (played by Rupert Grint) inherited a fortune and used it to secretly help people who deserved it. The show was created by Greg Garcia (My Name Is Earl, Raising Hope) and had a similar feel to his other shows. Really his mistake was thinking CBS would be interested. He did the pilot for The Millers at the same time and of course they went with the multi-camera show about the wacky family.

 

Oh, and did I mention Stephen Fry was in the cast? Yeah, we could have gotten Stephen friggin' Fry on a CBS sitcom.

 

I feel so robbed.

[Aquarius]

Too many of my friends and coworkers lost jobs to overseas outsourcing for me to find any humor in a show about it.

 

So true.  I did not lose my job, so I am lucky in that respect,.  But, outsourcing is also no fun for those left to deal with an overseas staff of people who have jobs not because they are high-quality but because they are cheap.  Yeah, not a lot of laughs for me in that show.

[Neurochick]

I'll add Common Law to the list.  It was a USA show starring the gorgeous Michael Ealy and pretty Warren Kole as cop partners with some dysfunction.  Typical USA summer fare, but it started getting its footing just as it finished its first season and the leads had excellent buddy chemistry.  I like Graceland, but miss the breezy nature of USA shows like Common Law.

 

 

I agree, I loved Common Law, it was a nice, fluffy USA show.  Today USA is trying to get all serious, why I don't know, maybe they want Emmys or something.  Someone should tell them to stay fluffy.

[tribeca]

maybe they should have named Outsource something different.  The cast was very sweet and it did have funny bits.  They cast was diverse which was nice to see on network TV.  There were a lot of support for this show on TWOP apparently none of them are here *g

[twoods]

This thread makes me so sad because I miss so many of these shows:

Kyle XY

American Dreams

10 Things I Hate About You

Common Law

Emily Owens MD

Miss Match

Privileged

[twinkles2]

Privileged! Thank you! Both the guy on that show and the older sister have shown up on Mistresses this season and I couldn't remember the name of the show or be bothered to look it up. I loved the entire cast on that show.

I also really loved Detroit 187 and was mad it was cancelled. I think that year pottery much everything I really liked got cancelled.

I'd also add Life with Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi. It only got 2 seasons and had a great finale, but it was such a good show. It totally got screwed by NBCs stupid Leno show.

[Neurochick]

I'd also add Life with Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi. It only got 2 seasons and had a great finale, but it was such a good show. It totally got screwed by NBCs stupid Leno show.

 

 

I hope whoever that was that thought people would want to see Jay Leno five nights a week on prime time lost their job and never works in TV AGAIN.  Many shows got fucked by that dumbass decision.  Even I knew it would fail, hey, maybe NBC should hire me.  

[selkie]

I've rediscovered Lucky Louie on HBO, and looking back, they had a good set-up, were reliably funny and it so should have gotten at least a second season.

[ganesh]

That show was fine. I think the tv landscape wasn't ready for what Louie was doing. Maybe in 2 more years it would have been successful. 

[SparedTurkey]

Andy Richter Controls the Universe: Funny show, great cast. For some reason it never took off.

[ganesh]

Universe was kind of like Better Off Ted in a way. Both very good with an underrated cast. I think Paget Brewster has some of the best comic timing, but she's always playing it so straight. She's really subtle. 

[ParadoxLost]

I hope whoever that was that thought people would want to see Jay Leno five nights a week on prime time lost their job and never works in TV AGAIN.  Many shows got fucked by that dumbass decision.  Even I knew it would fail, hey, maybe NBC should hire me.  

 

He runs CNN now.

[giovannif7]

A possible rebirth for one of my favorite long-dead Gone Too Soon / Ahead Of Its Time shows - Amazon may be interested in reviving the Patrick Warburton-led live action version of The Tick!

[DittyDotDot]

That would be so awesome! I loved The Tick!

[Neurochick]

He runs CNN now.

 

LOL and look where CNN is.

[cpcathy]

I liked Lucky Louie as well, even thought I'm glad we have Louie now. I still miss Bored to Death. I didn't discover it until it went to DVD, but what an original, funny show. The friendship between Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis was so sweet.

[supposebly]

My Own Worst Enemy (Christian Slater plays a family man in an average office job who finds out one day that that's actually an implanted cover identity, and he's really an amoral government agent)

 

I really would have loved seeing Christian Slater going semi-bonkers for another season or two. I'm starting to wonder if Sean Bean's new show is a take on that although with a very different tone. My Own Worst Enemy was much funnier as far as I remember.

Edited August 30, 2014 by supposebly

[twoods]

I forgot to add Men of A Certain Age. Great show and cancelled too soon. Loved the cast and their chemistry.

[Ambrosefolly]

I am DVRing Don't Trust the B- in Apartment 23, and it really is a shame that this show didn't complete at least 3 seasons. I thought the entire cast was strong and found the friendship between Chloe and June probably the most genuine on television. While I can rave about Kristen Ritter's performance, I believe that Dreama Walker pulled off the harder job of playing "straight" person of the pair, as it is very difficult to pull of a sweet type character without coming across as self righteous, naive or a goody two shoes most of the time. And James Van Der Beek playing a fictionalized versioned of himself completely changed my opinion of him, to the point I wish the Dawson's Creek would have put more of that James into Dawson. 

[pootlus]

Lord, yes, I miss Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 a lot. And count me in as another person who never really thought much of JvdB until that show - now I want to see him do stuff that's not atrocious D-movies (The Storm, I'm looking at you).  He was brilliant. And my god, Kevin Sorbo's cameo had me in tears of laughter.

 

My other shows in this category are The Dresden Files and Dead Like Me (although I would have liked Lois and Clark to wrap up the baby plot, I'm not sure the producers loved the show enough to make it good and hey at least they didn't can it at the end of S3 which would probably have made me suicidal).

 

The Dresden Files suffered from some uneven early episodes and the old "let's run the episodes out of order" thing that networks seem to love (and does it ever work?). But the final three or four episodes of the show were really really good and I'm gutted it got cancelled. Paul Blackthorne and Terrance Mann snarking at each other will never get old.  I'm a huge fan of the books and I think the changes they made for TV worked in the main (and I became a fan of Harry/Murph on the show while hating it in the books).

[ganesh]

The network fucked over The Dresden Files royally. There's no doubt about it. Nowadays it probably would have a good run on netflix or hulu. BBCA probably would have done a good job with it. They've been the go to for good genre over the last two years.

[Raja]

Wedding Band, as a modern day The Monkees  it was burned off late Saturday nights

[Kel Varnsen]

Wedding Band, as a modern day The Monkees  it was burned off late Saturday nights

I really liked that show. An hour long comedy with music that actually didn't suck. I wish TBS had give it a bit more of a push since I thought it was really something creative.

[JayKay]

I've been watching Kolchak: The Night Stalker from the 70's on Netflix because I heard it was a proto-X-Files. I never expected it to be as funny, charming and intelligent as it is. The lead always wears the same wardrobe and has a whimsical goofiness and self-depreciation about him that I love. Surprisingly humorous for a show where people get killed by monsters all the time.

Unfortunately, it's only one season long. Very depressing. I can't even sign an e-petition to have it renewed.

[ikmccall]

I agree with a lot of the shows mentioned in this thread:

 

Better Off Ted

Pushing Daisies

Deadwood (shakes fist at HBO)

Rome

The Middleman

Keen Eddie

Terriers

Wonderfalls

 

And I add High Incident (police show from the mid 90's starring David Keith and Matt Craven) and Eerie, Indiana.

[DearEvette]

It was already mentioned before, but I want to add some love to the dearly departed Ben & Kate.  I thought Nate Faxon and Dakota Johnson made great siblings.  I also found her very charming and well suited to the role of Kate.  And I loved how the daughter was written and acted on the show.   I am not a huge fan of sitcoms in general, so it is kind of a bummer that the ones I tend to like (Happy Endings, Trophy Wife)  don't seem to last very long.  Here's hoping my bad mojo does not rub off on Black-ish.

[briochetwist]

My top in this category is Homefront. I might have even gotten a little teary when it was axed.

 

Yup.  And I've been in love with Kyle Chandler ever since.

[Rick Kitchen]

I will always mourn Pushing Daisies.

Profit.  Adrian Pasdar was genius, and the show was utterly, amazingly bizarre.

[Bruinsfan]

The sad thing is, Pushing Daisies was the quirky magical realism Bryan Fuller series that was actually a big hit against all odds - it started out with almost 13 million viewers, and maintained high ratings for the first season. Then came the 10-month hiatus and lack of promotion, and the audience never had a chance to find it again before cancellation.

[romantic idiot]

So true.  I did not lose my job, so I am lucky in that respect,.  But, outsourcing is also no fun for those left to deal with an overseas staff of people who have jobs not because they are high-quality but because they are cheap.  Yeah, not a lot of laughs for me in that show.

 

And to complete the trifecta, it's also no fun on the other side when you are automatically dismissed as low quality because you happen to be cheap (because of lack of economic development). I tried Outsourced and I know a lot of people who liked it, but I just couldn't get past my own prejudice. 

 

In my list I'd like to throw in Ringer, which I really enjoyed and The Crazy Ones (though sadly I guess it's just as well). For the former, I think it had a great cast, intriguing stories and interesting characters. The Crazy Ones just made me happy. It made me as happy as Parks and Recreation so I was sorry to hear it cancelled. 

[manbearpig]

It still bugs me that the twins on Ringer never met up in the present day part of the show. One confrontation was all I wanted. I enjoyed the hell out of Ringer, and that penultimate episode was batshit crazy in the best way. I hope they release a DVD one day so I can watch that episode again. I was mostly only watching because I was happy to see Sarah Michelle Gellar back on television.

[Ohwell]

Profit.  Adrian Pasdar was genius, and the show was utterly, amazingly bizarre.

Hot, sexy, disturbed guy climbing out of a box.  I loved that show.

[juno]

I always wonder about two shows. One being the West Wing and I know it ran for many seasons, but I liked Jimmy Smits and wondered how he would do as the President with Bradley Whitford as the Chief of Staff. The other being Everwood, such a great show that had that perfect happy ending. But I wondered if it would have still survived with another season.

[turnitwayup]

 

I hope they release a DVD one day so I can watch that episode again.

 

Ringer is on netflix streaming if you have an account. I did love the nickname of Agent Guyliner on TWoP when I watched that show.

[DittyDotDot]

It's funny how "[insert character job] Guyliner" seems to follow Nestor Carbonell from show to show. He's currently being called Sheriff Guyliner in the Bates Motel threads, too. I wonder if he'll ever escape that moniker?

[janie jones]

Only after he stops looking like he's wearing eyeliner.

Edited October 24, 2014 by janie jones

[Aquarius]

Only after he stop looking like he's wearing eyeliner.

He's just got extremely thick lashes, dontchaknow.

[janie jones]

That make him look like he's wearing eyeliner.  It happens.

[annzeepark914]

Here's an oldie: Frank's Place starring Tim Reid.  It only ran one season (1987-88) which was a crime IMO.  It had wonderful character actors, very creative, witty (and hilarious) dialogue, and was interesting for those of us who knew nothing about inner New Orleans, its people and traditions in the African-American community. Tim's wife, Daphne Maxwell (?) was also featured in this show.  I remember reading how disappointed they were when the show was not picked up for a second season.  They then formed a theater company in Virginia, I think.  What a waste of talent...this show could be shown today and be credible (and funny and wonderful). I sometimes wonder whatever happened to all those articulate, smart, witty writers for TV shows and/or where are their equally creative replacements today.

[Ohwell]

Yes, I think Frank's Place was mentioned earlier.  I really liked that show and even now, I still don't watch many shows on CBS because of that.

[ChickenLatte99]

I miss The Life and Times of Tim and Home Movies. Both shows were animated but way before their time.

[Wax Lion]

I learned about the paper bag test from Frank's Place.

[UYI]

I haven't seen the whole thread yet, but this weird phenomenon has to be addressed:

 

In 1991, three different period shows premiered, one on each of the Big Three networks. All three were cancelled after two seasons in 1993. ABC had Homefront, CBS had Brooklyn Bridge.

 

But NBC had the one I watched: I'll Fly Away. I'm only old enough to watch the tapes my mom recorded back then, but what a BRILLIANT show. To this day, I think of Sam Waterston being on that show more than anything else.

Edited November 4, 2014 by UYI

[MyAimIsTrue]

In 1991, three different period shows premiered, one on each of the Big Three networks. All three were cancelled after two seasons in 1993. ABC had Homefront, CBS had Brooklyn Bridge.

 

I loved both of those shows and figured I was the cause of their cancellation since I'm apparently the place where quality programming goes to die.

[turbogirlnyc]

I absolutely loved the MTV series Fear. Was I the only person on the planet that watched this show? I figured this might fall under "ahead of its time" due to the pleathora of ghost hunting/investigation shows over the last couple of years. This show scared the crap out of me. I was fairly young when the show aired so that might have something to do with the fright factor.

 

I'm posting this here because I have no clue where else to put it. Please feel free to move this post or suggest another thread if this is off topic.

[Jeebus Cripes]

In the Dead Before It's Time category: Rush. What the hell, USA? I really liked that show, you dirty bastards.