# Old-ish TV shows that have faded into obscurity. Or were just cancelled. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2000, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409 "2000-07-22T00:13:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mikehardware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mikehardware](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikehardware)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/61 "2000-07-24T18:47:24Z")
Does anyone remember the Mel Brooks spoof of Robin Hood, “When Things Were Rotten”? I think it lasted about half a season. If I remember correctly, part of the theme song went something like this: They laughed, they loved They fought, they drank, They jumped a lot of fences. They robbed the rich, Gave to the poor, Except what they kept for expenses. ---
**Author:** ![Welfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e56c9b/32.png) [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/62 "2000-07-24T19:06:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Alien Nation > Mr. Belvedere Though I never watched Alien Nation, I saw pieces of it in commercials. Those aliens gave me nightmares. There’s a hotel at Virginia Beach called the Belvadere that my family used to stay at every year. Anytime I think of that place I think of Mr. Belvadere. Is Red Green still in syndication? I watch it on Saturday nights on PBS, but I wasn’t sure if there were any new episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@Me\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Joe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/63 "2000-07-24T20:39:32Z")
Perhaps I shouldn’t admit to this, but I loved the prime-time “Dark Shadows” that was on very briefly about 10 years ago. Yes it was a little wooden at the start, but it seemed like it was just getting watcheable towards the end of its’ first year, then it was gone. I always thought this show should’ve been given more time to develop. It took two years for “Star Trek the Next Generation” to get good. The NBC network could have at least given DS a whole year. Another should’a-been-given-a-shot was the FOX “Dr. Who” series they were supposed to do. Yeah, the t.v. movie kind of sucked, but Paul McGann was pretty good as the Doc. ---
**Author:** ![Moleman9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Moleman9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moleman9)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/64 "2000-07-24T20:53:58Z")
Madhatter: Million Dollar Chance of a lifetime has made it here. It airs sometime around 1 or 2 on sunday mornings on a local channel. Also, Comedy Central has remade Don’t forget your toothbrush. ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/65 "2000-07-24T21:17:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > \*\*This show was mentioned in a thread a few months ago: > > Manimal > Anyone remember this one? It was about a man who could change into animals (I specifically remember a wolf and an eagle). I have no idea what further developments the plots had–what was he, a crime-fighter? Oh yeah, I recall this one. My sister and I would play “Manimal” everyday after watching the show. I clearly recall that he became a horse in one ep and seemed to become a blank panther quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/66 "2000-07-24T21:18:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rodd Hill \* > How about **Kolchak, the Night Stalker?** Talk about your proto- **X-Files!** Here’s a [Night Stalker](http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/klchkhom.htm) page. Chris Carter has admitted that X-Files is based in Night Stalker. In fact, I think the show is mentioned in one of teh XF episodes at one point. ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/67 "2000-07-24T21:28:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beakerxf \* > > Chris Carter has admitted that X-Files is based in Night Stalker. In fact, I think the show is mentioned in one of the XF episodes at one point. \*\* I remembered that wrong. XF is based on Night Stalker, but it’s the Magician that is mentioned in a key episode. The Night Stalker connection is that Chris Carter asked Darren McGavin to play the part of a retired agent who had first started the X-Files (a symbolic gesture to the Night Stalker origins of the show). ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/68 "2000-07-24T21:32:00Z")
I have very dim memories of a really lousy TV show that aired very early on Saturday mornings. It was produced by the US Army Signal Corps, and was called the Big Picture. I don’t remember what it was all about, except it was really boring-do videotapes of this show exist today? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/69 "2000-07-25T05:01:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Welfy \* > \*\*Though I never watched Alien Nation, I saw pieces of it in commercials. Those aliens gave me nightmares. > \*\* They looked freaky but they were actually pretty funny. The human character (I forget what the actors name is) had a surname that translated into “shithead” in the alien language so whenever he was introduced to aliens, they laughed. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/70 "2000-07-25T08:22:40Z")
**Tengu** said: > [@](#): > > Totally doesn’t fit the OP. B5 is far from obscure, and finishing out it’s planned 5 year run certainly doesn’t sound like being ‘just cancelled’ to me. As opposed to, say, _Taxi_ and \*Night Court,\*which have also been mentioned? I would also disagree on B-5’s obscurity level–it was only “far from obscure” to people who like TV sci fi. There are quite a few of them on this board, but it’s a definite minority in the general population. (Remember that B-5 almost didn’t make it for it’s fifth season.) > [@](#): > > Its excellent spin-off, Crusade, on the other hand, fits the bill. Indeed–I’ve never even come across it. I had forgotten all about _The Night Stalker._ I have no idea how–I have a lot of the episodes on tape. ---
**Author:** ![Mikedog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@Mikedog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikedog)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/71 "2000-07-27T09:04:56Z")
I second SCTV nomination. Canadians are funny. How about Fridays? Featuring Michael Richards and the hot Melanie Chartoff. Other include: 1. Benny Hill Show. I probably saw my first non-National Geographic boob on his show. 2. Palmerstown, USA. 3. Ben Stiller Show 4. Way out Wacky Games with Soupy Sales. Does anyone remember this? Saturday mornings on CBS before the Tarzan/Isis hour? I’m guessing. 5. MTV when they used to play music videos. I actually suffered through hours of Madonna’s True Blue “make my video” videos. Now I suffer through Britney Moore Aquilera Simpson videos. Martha Quinn, where are you? 6. ZOOM 7. Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine. 8. Wrestling at the Chase ( for those of you in the Midwest). Great Wrestling before it got really out of hand. 9. Matinee at the Bijou. PBS show featuring a newsreel, a short, cartoon, and feature movie just like they showed in the 1920s and '30s. Mike ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/72 "2000-07-27T11:34:28Z")
Yeah! When “Seinfeld” got so big, I was always surprised that no one (Comedy Central, maybe?) ever dusted off and re-ran “Fridays.” I sure thought it was funny – especially Michael Richards. He had two recurring bits that used to slay me. One, as an _extremely_ weird little kid playing with army men in his backyard, and the other, as the date from hell. Of course, I was in my late teens or early twenties when it was on, possibly someone _did_ dust it off, take a look and say, “Never mind…”. I also loved “Barney Miller,” a great show that hasn’t been re-ran nearly often enough, and “Homefront.” I was _so_ pissed when they cancelled “Homefront.” It was a genuinely good show and it only lasted, what? two seasons? And “Full House” ran 98 years or something. Go figure. Now that I live in a cable area with TVLand, I’ll be hoping to see these two old favorites again. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/73 "2000-07-27T11:53:08Z")
**Millennium Twin Peaks Max Headroom Northern Exposure** All fine series cancelled before their time (especially the first two). Finally… **On the Air** , David Lynch’s hilarious send-up of early television. Mel Ferrer, David Landers. ---
**Author:** ![alibey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alibey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alibey)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409/74 "2000-07-27T12:26:45Z")
The Red Green show is still comming out with new episodes. I am able to watch them on the local PBS station and on CJOH out of Kingston Ontario, Canada. It is on right after the Canadien Air Farce. Guess that is one advantage to being stationed at FT Drum, NY [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-ish-tv-shows-that-have-faded-into-obscurity-or-were-just-cancelled/26409.md?page=3)