Wasn’tthat the guy from the Drew Carey show…Osawld, was it?
Shows in the UK tend to have shorter runs than in the US, as so many have noted… even so, I can think of a couple that met a premature end.
The Omega Factor. The British X-Files. Ran for ten episodes in, I think, 1980. Even the Daily Telegraph (no fan of genre fiction) approved slightly of this one (their review described it as “an uneven but worthwhile piece of occasional originality”. High praise from the Telegraph)
Star Cops. Nine episodes in 1988. Intelligent detective drama set in the space stations and lunar colonies of the early 21st century. ISTR a strike prevented completion of a full season’s run (=13 episodes - UK, remember?)
I have to second * Strange Luck*. I was really into that one, but then it just disappeared.
Also there’s Al Franken’s show, which lasted a month. What was it called? Lateline I think.
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned one of my favorite shows ever, that sadly only lasted about 6 episodes - “The Big Moment”. This was a gameshow that took normal people and gave them some sort of crazy task to learn in a weeks time. At the end of the week, they had to come on the show and perform the task they had been practicing all week long. If the did it correctly on the spot, the would win some sort of fabulous prize. Some of the stunts I remember are learning “fur elise” on the piano, memorizing pi to like the 100th digit, learning everything there was to know about the movie “ghost” which they were then quizzed on, and several others that escape me. This has to be one of my favorite shows of all time!
Secondly, who can forget The Mole. That was easily the best damned reality show on TV. The worst part about it is, that I never got to find out who the mole was from the second season!
A second vote for “Sports Night”–what a great show. I know Comedy Central has it, but it is on at some ridiculous hour, so I never get to see it. sigh
I liked Get A Life too. I think too many people tried to watch it as a straight-on sitcom, which it really wasn’t. It was making fun of the sitcom formula. Just the other day, I found out that Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, was one of the writers on the show. Which actually makes a lot of sense.
My television habits are- at best- sporadic, but a show that I truly loved was “Stark Raving Mad” … mostly because I know a man who is the Doogie Howser guy… I almost peed my pants every time he pulled out the hand sanitizer.
Like I said, my tv-watching isn’t very predictable, so it might still be on. If it is, could someone tell me when??? 
I liked Get A Life too. I think too many people tried to watch it as a straight-on sitcom, which it really wasn’t. It was making fun of the sitcom formula. Just the other day, I found out that Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, was one of the writers on the show. Which actually makes a lot of sense.
Thought of one more. The comedy central show created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone: “That’s My Bush!” I really miss that one. How can you not love a show that includes an episode that revolves around a misunderstanding of a cat needing to be euthanized and supposedly repulsive cunnilingus. I only wish I’d gotten them all on tape before the axe fell.
Blegh! There’s a reason that some of these got cancelled - and it aint mean TV executives! 
God, the Devil, and Bob is the worst show that’s ever been. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.
Another one that sucked, but I kind of liked was called Boston Common. I forget the lead’s name (Andy something) - but he was funny as hell. I still vaguely remember an episode where he was making fun of Oklahoma’s lame slogan by speculating what some of the suggestions were that they didn’t go with.
Let’s see, ‘Oklahoma, Trees are Made of Wood’…
and so on
Anybody catch Micheal Moore’s short-lived show on Fox? TV Nation I think it was called. Very biting social commentary.
How about, Eerie, Indiana? Sort of a twilight zone with kid protagonists.
How about Square One television? PBS show that taught kids math and damned if it wasn’t entertaining at the same time. One episode of ‘Mathnet’ (actually title, a takeoff on Dragnet) starred John Sayles as a robotic pitcher. Classic!!
Maybe Wild Palms, a stylish Oliver Stone series. It may have been a mini-series however.
All I can remember for now.
TV Nation was brilliant. Fans should definiteiyl check out Adventures in a TV Nation, the behind-the-scenes book that talks about the filming of many of those bits – especially the “International Health Care Olympics,” where the network insisted that the ending be edited so Cuba wouldn’t come out as the winner. :eek:
Here’s another title: Probe. Starring Parker Stevenson, with work by Isaac Asimov. Stevenson plays this super-brilliant genius who solves various crimes by applying his amazing powers of reasoning and observation. Almost like MacGuyver, but with less action. They also got into trouble once when Stevenson’s character mentioned on national TV that there was no Santa Claus (“I rigged a motion-sensing camera to the fireplace and didn’t catch anything”). Only lasted six episodes, IIRC.
You have the ENTIRE RUN of “Sledge Hammer!” on tape? We need to talk. I have a lot of blank tapes!
I’d like to second EZ Streets. Strange show (the unnamed city was not only in a severe depression, but seemed almost depopulated). I never really figured out who some of the characters were, but it had some flat-out amazing scenes, such as when the coke-addled mayor, standing in an abandoned, decaying shell of a factory, is giving the speech he gave years before as a city council candidate to the employees of that same factory, a stirring speech about drawing a line in the sand and not letting the factory be closed. And it introduced Joe Pantoliano as a truly scary mob boss named Jimmy Murtha.
A couple of years ago, a show called Wonderland, set in a psychiatric ward based on New York’s Bellevue, lasted exactly two episodes, even though the network must have spent some serious bucks on it. Great cast and writing; I think it was too intense for network tv and might have done well on HBO or Showtime.
In the first part of the show, a psychotic man, who believes he’s being contacted by the Titans of Greek mythology, goes on a shooting rampage, then in the hospital breaks loose and stabs a pregnant doctor in the stomach with a syringe. It was one of the most viscerally jolting scenes I’ve seen on tv.
Comedy Central has shown a number of shows that in my opinon they never should’ve gotten rid of – like Strangers with Candy, TV Funhouse, Upright Citizens’ Brigade, League of Gentlemen … all really twisted humor but great fun to watch.
Of course, I’m still mourning the loss of Invisible Man from the Sci-Fi channel … snif …
Greatest American Hero was my favorite show at the time.
And I loved Misfits of Science, I didn’t think anyone else evern remembered that show.
If it helps - he’s now found on “Yes Dear” on CBS.
Grapevine, the first incarnation. 6 episode summer replacement in the late 80s or early 90s. I had tapes, but someone else taped over them.
(They redid the show about a year ago and managed to take out everything that made the show interesting or funny.)
When I posted before, I forgot to mention the MTV sketch-comedy show, The State. I’m not sure how long it ran, but I only remember a handful of original episodes. I always thought it was funny, in an immature kind of way. Of course, I was in high school throughout the show’s entire run, so maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much.
“I wanna dip my balls in it!”
-Dirty
That was one half of Danger Theatre, with The Searcher. The other half was usually a squad of Hawaiian cops with Adam West and Peter Navy Tuiasosopo (from Necessary Roughness). When i first saw Drew Carey, i was like “Hey, it’s the Searcher!”
And Clerks, the Animated movie better get made!