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Forgotten Sitcoms

Started by roadman65, March 19, 2022, 11:48:08 AM

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Rothman

Quote from: triplemultiplex on March 20, 2022, 03:08:43 PM
I remember watching the premiere of the Dana Carvey Show.  A sketch show and not a sitcom, but still somewhat legendary for how hard it got cancelled by ABC/Disney despite a murders row of writing and comedic acting talent.  I genuinely didn't see what the BFD was regarding their supposedly 'controversial' content.  Just seemed like another, "Oh the grown-ups have ruined something again.  Too bad."
I watched that, too.  Went off the air very quickly.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.


CtrlAltDel

Quote from: cabiness42 on March 20, 2022, 11:49:27 AM
Anybody else watch "Head of the Class"? The redhead on there was my first childhood crush.

Khyrstyne Haje?
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NWI_Irish96

Quote from: CtrlAltDel on March 20, 2022, 03:48:37 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on March 20, 2022, 11:49:27 AM
Anybody else watch "Head of the Class"? The redhead on there was my first childhood crush.

Khyrstyne Haje?

Yes, her.
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abefroman329

Quote from: Rothman on March 20, 2022, 03:26:17 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on March 20, 2022, 03:08:43 PM
I remember watching the premiere of the Dana Carvey Show.  A sketch show and not a sitcom, but still somewhat legendary for how hard it got cancelled by ABC/Disney despite a murders row of writing and comedic acting talent.  I genuinely didn't see what the BFD was regarding their supposedly 'controversial' content.  Just seemed like another, "Oh the grown-ups have ruined something again.  Too bad."
I watched that, too.  Went off the air very quickly.
There's a documentary about it on Hulu called Too Funny To Fail that's well-worth your time.

And the streaming service Crackle has a delightful assortment of crap sitcoms. I started watching The Gregory Hines Show, which was completely unremarkable other than the fact that it also starred a pre-The Wire Wendell Pierce.

Takumi

The late Norm Macdonald had two short-lived sitcoms. Norm/The Norm Show was somewhat known around the turn of the century, but his second one, A Minute With Stan Hooper, was cancelled after the first few episodes.

John Mulaney's sitcom, Mulaney, was a ripoff of Seinfeld and I think John himself even prefers it not be brought up.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

gonealookin

I liked "Buffalo Bill", a Dabney Coleman vehicle in which he played a TV talk show host in Buffalo.  It looks like it ran on NBC as a summer fill-in in 1983 and then had a brief regular run in the 1983-1984 season.  One of the minor players was a young and very cute Geena Davis in one of her first roles, as a production assistant on the talk show.

golden eagle

Quote from: roadman65 on March 19, 2022, 11:48:08 AM
I remember a short lived two season sitcom, called Carter Country. It starred Victor French, Kene Holiday, and Richard Paul.  It was a parody on the movie In The Heat of the Night before Dean Hargrove created the one hour weekly drama ten years later.

It took place in a fictional Georgia town called Clinton Corners with Victor French playing Chief Roy Mobey, Chief of Police of the Town with a small force for a small rural community with Kene Holiday playing Sergeant Curtis Baker, a well educated officer forced to be hired by the town, to help improve the department in many ways, and Richard Paul playing Mayor Teddy Burnside, the quirky town mayor.  Also included was a great array of supporting characters, all creating a great chemistry to create comic antics.

It was forgotten as no company ever printed DVDs for it and most of all no one this day and age talks too much about.

Any others you missed and would like to share.

I do remember Carter Country. It played in syndication in the 80s and maybe the early 90s. Kene Holiday eventually went on to play on Matlock.

golden eagle

Quote from: Big John on March 20, 2022, 11:17:14 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on March 20, 2022, 09:53:41 AM
Anyone remember 'Amen'?
with the George Jefferson character playing a Philadelphia lawyer.

It was not the George Jefferson character; it was the actor who played George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley).

golden eagle

Anybody remember Living Dolls? It was Halle Berry's first big break and Leah Remini's breakthrough. The show only lasted one season.

abefroman329

Quote from: golden eagle on March 21, 2022, 08:46:44 AM
Anybody remember Living Dolls? It was Halle Berry's first big break and Leah Remini's breakthrough. The show only lasted one season.
One of two or three attempted spin-offs from Married...with Children.

golden eagle

Quote from: abefroman329 on March 21, 2022, 10:42:10 AM
Quote from: golden eagle on March 21, 2022, 08:46:44 AM
Anybody remember Living Dolls? It was Halle Berry's first big break and Leah Remini's breakthrough. The show only lasted one season.
One of two or three attempted spin-offs from Married...with Children.

A spin-off of Who's the Boss?.

Mr_Northside

#36
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 21, 2022, 10:42:10 AM
One of two or three attempted spin-offs from Married...with Children.

I do remember "Top of the Heap" . - which seemed to be about trying to out-crass Married With Children.  They weren't established characters, but simply an episode of Married With Children mostly focused on the new show's characters.
Two other early Fox sitcoms (not MWC spinoffs) I can at least recall the existence of was "Get a Life" - I remember liking that (but can only really remember the episode with "SPEWEY").   I also enjoyed "Herman's Head" - at the time it aired I mostly remembered it had Yeardley Smith "in person" (probably best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson) - and I thought it was an interesting premise.
I don't have opinions anymore. All I know is that no one is better than anyone else, and everyone is the best at everything

golden eagle

Quote from: Mr_Northside on March 21, 2022, 02:51:03 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 21, 2022, 10:42:10 AM
One of two or three attempted spin-offs from Married...with Children.

I do remember "Top of the Heap" . - which seemed to be about trying to out-crass Married With Children.  They weren't established characters, but simply an episode of Married With Children mostly focused on the new show's characters.
Two other early Fox sitcoms (not MWC spinoffs) I can at least recall the existence of was "Get a Life" - I remember liking that (but can only really remember the episode with "SPEWEY").   I also enjoyed "Herman's Head" - at the time it aired I mostly remembered it had Yeardley Smith "in person" (probably best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson) - and I thought it was an interesting premise.

Top Of the Heap had Matt Leblanc, who'd later go on to have much success on Friends. I also remember Herman's Head. Was Get A Life with Chris Elliott?

cwf1701

What about the 1990s version of Get Smart? this was more like "Get Smart: TNG" as the story focused on Max's son, who is now a spy at CONTROL. one episode referred to "The Love Boat" (Bernie Kopell was on both shows).

abefroman329

Quote from: golden eagle on March 21, 2022, 04:58:08 PMWas Get A Life with Chris Elliott?
Yes, and it's a wonder it stayed on the air as long as it did, considering (a) it would probably still be ahead of its time today and (b) at the time, Fox wasn't showing the most cerebral shows.

abefroman329

Quote from: golden eagle on March 21, 2022, 02:32:41 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 21, 2022, 10:42:10 AM
Quote from: golden eagle on March 21, 2022, 08:46:44 AM
Anybody remember Living Dolls? It was Halle Berry's first big break and Leah Remini's breakthrough. The show only lasted one season.
One of two or three attempted spin-offs from Married...with Children.

A spin-off of Who's the Boss?.
Oops, yeah, that's right.

roadman65

How about the Sanford Arms? It was supposed to be a continuation of Sanford and Son, with all the recurring characters from that show plus Theodore Flicker playing the main character who bought the Sanford and Son Junkyard and turned it into a hotel.  Apparently Red Foxx and Demond Wilson both didn't want to do a season seven of Sanford and Son, so they created a spin off sort of like Mayberry RFD for the Andy Griffith Show continuing that show for this show.


Unfortunately it never worked out like Mayberry, that lasted three full seasons until CBS created the Rural Purge cancelling all the rural sitcoms of the sixties and early seventies including Green Acres.

Another forgotten one was the Sanford and Son spin-off called Grady, where Grady moved out of Watts and moved to Westwood to be with his daughter and grandchildren. Like Sanford Arms, it bombed after a few episodes.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Henry

The Tortellis was a failed Cheers spinoff that focused on Rhea Perlman's character (Carla) and her extended family. It was basically a carbon copy of the far more successful Frasier (with Kelsey Grammer in the title role).
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

elsmere241

Fox threw a lot of stuff at the wall in its early days.  Maybe it still does, I don't really watch it anymore except for sports.  Some it stuck, some didn't.

It took me a while to realize Head of the Class was Welcome Back, Kotter but with the smart kids.


roadman65

Newhart was sort of like a remake of Green Acres two decades earlier. Same format, a man from New York moves to a rural town and has hard time fitting in with the locals.  Also in both sitcoms the townsfolks are all morons and have no clue about reality outside the boundaries of their communities.

Though Green Acres was more cartoonish and set in an unknown state, Newhart was at least set in a real state despite the town being fictional and more real.  Also in the former the lead character was not prosperous and made a living with no income, while in the latter he was prosperous making a living with means to support.

Then for the finale of Newhart, producers copied Dallas' Season Nine finale and made the entire run a dream just as Dallas producers made their ninth show production a dream.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

bandit957

Quote from: roadman65 on March 22, 2022, 11:34:57 AM
Then for the finale of Newhart, producers copied Dallas' Season Nine finale and made the entire run a dream just as Dallas producers made their ninth show production a dream.

'Dallas' was ruined after that. My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time, and I was in the room when my mom was watching the episode where they revealed the whole season was "a horrible dream." I think that was pretty much the end of 'Dallas' in our household.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

roadman65

Quote from: bandit957 on March 22, 2022, 11:37:54 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 22, 2022, 11:34:57 AM
Then for the finale of Newhart, producers copied Dallas' Season Nine finale and made the entire run a dream just as Dallas producers made their ninth show production a dream.

'Dallas' was ruined after that. My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time, and I was in the room when my mom was watching the episode where they revealed the whole season was "a horrible dream." I think that was pretty much the end of 'Dallas' in our household.

It was for me too. There were plenty of options available to bring Bobby back, but show brass want to stick it to Phillip Capice, the Season Nine Producer.   So what better way than to erase his hard work. Plus Hagman didn't help either as he fought big with Capice.

JR became a loser after that dream revelation and storylines became so ridiculous including the final season.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Rothman

Quote from: roadman65 on March 22, 2022, 11:34:57 AM
Newhart was sort of like a remake of Green Acres two decades earlier. Same format, a man from New York moves to a rural town and has hard time fitting in with the locals.  Also in both sitcoms the townsfolks are all morons and have no clue about reality outside the boundaries of their communities.

Though Green Acres was more cartoonish and set in an unknown state, Newhart was at least set in a real state despite the town being fictional and more real.  Also in the former the lead character was not prosperous and made a living with no income, while in the latter he was prosperous making a living with means to support.

Then for the finale of Newhart, producers copied Dallas' Season Nine finale and made the entire run a dream just as Dallas producers made their ninth show production a dream.
...referring to his original show...
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

triplemultiplex

Yeah, it's always sad when networks keep a show around too long to try and wring a few more bucks out of the IP while the quality takes a dive because major actors or writers have left.  We've had that thread already though, so no need to rehash examples.

Remember in the 90's when every network seemed to have like 18 sitcoms about attractive people working at a magazine in the big city?  Talk about beating an idea into the ground.  Just like how every other sitcom in the 80's was about some kind of adopted kid.  Such a copy cat industry.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

dlsterner

Quote from: roadman65 on March 22, 2022, 11:42:41 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on March 22, 2022, 11:37:54 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 22, 2022, 11:34:57 AM
Then for the finale of Newhart, producers copied Dallas' Season Nine finale and made the entire run a dream just as Dallas producers made their ninth show production a dream.

'Dallas' was ruined after that. My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time, and I was in the room when my mom was watching the episode where they revealed the whole season was "a horrible dream." I think that was pretty much the end of 'Dallas' in our household.

It was for me too. There were plenty of options available to bring Bobby back, but show brass want to stick it to Phillip Capice, the Season Nine Producer.   So what better way than to erase his hard work. Plus Hagman didn't help either as he fought big with Capice.

JR became a loser after that dream revelation and storylines became so ridiculous including the final season.
The "Deliverance"/"Cool Hand Luke" story line (when JR was lusting after Cally) was a prime example of the ridiculous.



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