The new, I forget her title but it was something like the executive something or other in charge of programming or some such (basically she decided what shows stayed and what shows went) axed Futurama to make room for her personal pet project, Firefly.
That show has so much potential for a fast burn-out, it was a good thing they stopped while on top.
Nothing new here, just thought I’d add my vote for **Key West, Bakersfield PD, Strange Luck **, and best of them all, Lucky.
Nichols also employed one of the most audacious makeovers ever used on primetime TV. This sort of thing happens on soaps all the time, but as far as I know this was the first (and one of the few) times it was used at night.
I think Garner’s character was loosely based on his character from the film “Support Your Local Sheriff”. He was supposed to be smart, and wryly humorous, and brave when he had to be, but mostly he was supposed to be a nice guy who got put upon a lot. Maybe a little too much, because one of the strongest criticisms of the show at the time was that Nichols was just too much of a wimp.
So at the end of the episode that marked the middle of the season, Nichols gets… killed. Dead. Roll credits.
Next episode, a stranger come riding into town, looking for the man who killed Nichols. The stranger looks oddly familiar. Yep, it’s James Garner, playing Nichols’ twin brother, who of course is made of sterner stuff than the dearly departed.
I thought it took a lot of guts to air that. Wasn’t enough to save the show…
That’s the last show I remember also - that’s why I keep thinking it ran two seasons.
I remember him following the info trail, he found this house and kept doing things that the former occupant had: when he hid his negatives, he found others in the same place. Later, he runs into a man who knows all, but the man kills himself (I think, not sure). Then the video tapes show him being brainwashed - his life he remembered was not his life at all. Very good ending, and creepy. All you thought you knew, poof, gone in two minutes.
What? Where the hell did you hear that from? Unless you’ve got a cite of some sort, I’m going to have to call bullshit on that. First, Firefly and Futurama never aired on the same day. How does cancelling a half hour show on a Sunday free up room for an hour long show on a Friday? Second, if Futurama was cancelled because of Firefly, how is that the final episode of Firefly aired December 20th, 2002, while the final episode of Futurama aired August 10th, 2003? How can Firefly have caused the cancellation of a show that outlasted it by eight months?
As an aside, I loved both shows, but if I had to make a Sophie’s choice about which to keep and which to kill, I’d have kept Firefly and axed Futurama. I still wouldn’t have been happy about it, though.
Stingray, featuring Nick Mancuso
Combining elements of The Godfather, and The Equalizer, Nick tooled around in a black Corvette, helping out when good people found themselves in desperate binds. His tagline: “Yes, I’ll get you out of this mess. No, I don’t work for money. There’s just one requirement. Someday, somewhere, I will come to you and ask you for a favor. Whatever it is, you have to do it.” They were usually in a place where they would agree to anything.
One of the best parts of any episode was seeing how he would collect on an old debt in order to help the current victim.
Another I remember from the 80s that I loved: “Wizards and Warriors.”
Okay, so it had Jeff Conaway in it. It was still fun!
Julie
I sure do.
I vaguely remember Buffalo Bill, another good Dabney Coleman show that did not last.
Wizards and Warriors had Julia Duffy in it, and it was still fun.
Cliffhangers seems to be lurking at the back of my memory somewhere. Didn’t the Dark Empire story line involve using black and white for the old west sequences and color for the underground dark empire stuff?
I have to say that I had forgotten about a lot of these shows, and I really loved most of them. American Gothic was fantastic, and so was Now and Again. But no one mentioned Wolf Lake, or I just missed it totally. I liked that show and would have loved to see the storyline develop.
It doesn’t - it frees up the money to make the new show. Futurama was horribly expensive to make, even for an animated show.
Because - and this is a widely-known fact - Futurama was cancelled in May 2002. Fox fucked around with the show so much that it took more than a year to show the remaining episodes.
Greg the bunny
Clerks, the TV series. Personally, I loved the whole “The rest of the episode has been finished by the Korean animators.” segment.
I’ll throw in a vote for Firefly , Undeclared , and Freaks & Geeks , **Brisco County ** and **Beans Baxter ** (I can’t believe anyone else remembers that show! I loved it!) and add Probe, a show starring Parker Stevenson as an eccentric scientist who tries to shutdown a killer computer with his assistant.
So I’m not alone! I mentioned that one back on page 2 but figured I was the only Probe fan.
Julie
figured I was the only Probe fan.
Just me or does that sound very dirty 
Lets see:
Firefly
Haunted
Strange Luck
And though they ran more than one season:
Dark Angel
The Tick (cartoon) - at least put it out on dvd you bastards!
Norm
Boston Commons
:smack: I can’t believe I forgot one of my all-time favorite shows, even though it’s going pretty far back. Anyone else remember Voyagers! with Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce? I think this only lasted one year, one and a half, tops. But great show.
Don’t know how to post a link or I would, but does anyone else remember When Things Were Rotten? Created by Mel Brooks, it was a comedy (what else?) about Robin Hood. Extremely funny, and only lasted 3 months back in 1975. Hi-ho.