# Good TV Sitcoms that only lasted a few episodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088 "2004-04-03T18:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/1 "2004-04-03T18:58:16Z")
In the Doper spirit of [shameless ripping](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=127836), what are some good sitcoms that for some reason got cancelled early in their running? Clerks: The Animated Series only lasted for two episodes. I rented the DVD awhile back and saw all the episodes (ones that weren’t aired), and enjoyed it alot. Reno 911 sadly only lasted it’s one season (or are they planning on bringing it back soon?) Undeclared, a Fox show about Freshmen college students, looked to be very promising but, as most good Fox shows do, got cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/2 "2004-04-03T19:50:15Z")
undeclared sorta had a short lifespan inherent to it… I mean would it work to run it for 14 years? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/3 "2004-04-03T19:53:38Z")
The Pitts. Man, something about it was great. But it was on Fox sooo… ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/4 "2004-04-03T19:56:54Z")
Actually, _Reno 911!_ is making all-new episodes to start in June. The troupe did a ‘Just Say No’ skit at the Aspen Comedy Festival that was a big hit. As for the OP, oh yeah, I’ve got a few. _It’s Your Move Action The Tick The Job Working it Out_, otherwise known as “the cute one with Stephen Collins Jane Curtin did between Kate and Allie and Third Rock” ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/5 "2004-04-03T19:58:57Z")
I loved “Greg the Bunny”. I was sad when it went away. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/6 "2004-04-03T20:24:36Z")
_The “Slap” Maxwell Story_, with a cast that included the excellent Dabney Coleman and babe-alicious Megan Gallagher, ran for just one season. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/7 "2004-04-03T20:27:31Z")
Hell yeah, Action! Columbia-Tristar is currently debating whether to release it on DVD, I’m crossing my fingers that they do. I never saw the appeal of Undeclared, but I know a lot of people loved it, not me though. And I take solace that The Job lasted as long as it did on ABC. I’m surprised we got two seasons. But The Pitts? Sure the daughter was drop dead gorgeous, but the show was brutal. But I’ll add FreakyLinks to the list. Sure it was an X-Files ripoff. But it was a funny X-Files ripoff. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/8 "2004-04-03T20:28:08Z")
_Freaks and Geeks_. I think the DVD with all the episodes just came out, but I don’t have the money to buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/9 "2004-04-03T20:46:46Z")
I think I’m the only one on the planet who remembers these shows, but if there are any other Dopers who do, please show yourselves! \*\*One of the Boys (1982), \*\* starring Mickey Rooney, Dana Carvey, Nathan Lane and Meg Ryan. No, I’m not kidding. I recall this show as being genuinely funny; it was gone after one season. \*\*Open All Night (1981), \*\* a sharply written and witty show about life in a 24-hr. convenience store. A then-unknown David Letterman made a cameo (as himself) in the last episode. Again, gone after 1 season. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/10 "2004-04-03T21:03:03Z")
Police Squad! ---
**Author:** ![skin2skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@skin2skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skin2skin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/11 "2004-04-04T02:18:09Z")
> [@Wumpus](#): > > Police Squad! YES! [ul][_]Police Squad[_]The Dana Carvey Show[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/12 "2004-04-04T03:07:32Z")
I loved a Norman Lear series called [Powers That Be](http://imdb.com/title/tt0103515/) that aired in 1992. It starred John Forsythe as a Democratic senator but the supporting cast were all standouts: Holland Taylor (always wonderful when she has a bitchy character) as his ice-queen “Democrat’s answer to Nancy Reagan” wife, Valerie Mahaffey (always wonderful when she has a just-inches-away-from-full-psychotic-meltdown character [most famously Eve from _Northern Exposure_) as their neurotic needy and evil daughter, David Hyde Pierce (always wonderful, period) as her husband (a suicidally depressed Jr. Congressman), Elizabeth Berridge (who works far too seldom) as their literally long-suffering maid Charlotte, and Peter MacNichol as Forsythe’s slimy office manager. It also had a completely unnecessary sideplot about Forsythe’s recently discovered illegitimate daughter (Robin Bartlett, best known as Paul Reiser’s sister on MAD ABOUT YOU). You knew this wasn’t going to be the usual “yuk yuk” sitcom when the first line was Holland Taylor addressing her maid: “Charlotte, I was just in the guest bathroom and there were dustbunnies on the towel” followed by a huge SLAP! across her face. “I’m sorry for that, but it’s the only way you seem to learn.” The show had several laugh-out-loud funny moments (Holland Taylor attempting to cover-up her son-in-law’s accidental shooting of her husband in the butt by shooting him again in a “more advantageous place” before the press arrived [she was going to claim it was an assassination attempt, David Hyde Pierce’s growing infatuation with the maid, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/13 "2004-04-04T03:34:16Z")
**[Now and Again](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212395/)** _Excellent_ show! Only lasted 10 episodes. The premise was questionable - middle-aged man (John Goodman) dies; brain placed in a younger bio-engineered body (Eric Close) - but a great cast of characters. If there was only one cancelled show I wish had been saved, it would have been this one. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/14 "2004-04-04T03:57:43Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > I loved “Greg the Bunny”. I was sad when it went away. That show kicked ass. I still randomly quote Count Blah…even though nobody ever gets it. ^o^ It occurs to me. The Simpsons and X-Files are the only good shows Fox has treated right in a looong time, and they both date back to when the station didn’t can the best shows out of the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/15 "2004-04-04T04:59:31Z")
I may be the only fan this show had, but I liked Tom Arnold’s first sit-com, _The Jackie Thomas Show_. Arnold played Thomas who was the self-centered star of a hit sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/16 "2004-04-04T05:35:11Z")
Definitely Flying Blind. Nothing compares to Tea Leoni in a different leather miniskirt every week. I really hope this show is released on DVD soon! ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/17 "2004-04-04T06:34:49Z")
Does anyone else remember _The Family Dog_? It was an animated series, which my foggy brain insists was made by Spielburg. I remember it as being hysterically funny, but this was years and years ago. It had to have been during the late 80’s. It only lasted for a few episodes, but my family _still_ comments on it occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Tremmie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Tremmie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tremmie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/18 "2004-04-04T06:44:49Z")
The Family dog was one of the stories on one of the Creepshow movies i believe. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/19 "2004-04-04T06:49:10Z")
_Family Dog_ was originally one of the episodes on _Amazing Stories_, an anthology show produced by Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088/20 "2004-04-04T07:31:03Z")
But Family Dog was a real show as well. It lasted two maybe three episodes after the premiere was delayed for years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-sitcoms-that-only-lasted-a-few-episodes/238088.md?page=2)