# Tell us about your favorite failed TV shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743 "2015-12-30T18:04:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/121 "2015-12-31T21:20:21Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > I thought of that, but I’m pretty sure that [Day Break](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_Break) was never intended to last more than a single season of 13 episodes. Only 6 episodes were aired but the rest were available on the ABC website shortly after the cancellation, so I didn’t feel cheated. > > I thought of another. [James at 15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_at_15). I was pretty young when it first aired, but I seem to recall that it was good. I don’t think it has ever been released on DVD Loved _James At Fifteen_…but that was due to my then-unrecognized crush on Lance Kerwin… ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/122 "2015-12-31T21:25:10Z")
My husband and I enjoyed _Ringer_ from a few years ago. It should have been made more as a mini-series with a definite end. And _Priest_ was awesome but pulled to its no so controversial for 2012 plot…the Sheepies couldn’t handle an Episcopal Priest with a gay son and a female bishop…I loved it cause I actually know people in much the same situations in our very liberal Episcopalian diocese. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/123 "2015-12-31T21:44:23Z")
Your mention of a 2012 series called Priest sounds like the 2006 NBC series [The Book of Daniel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Daniel_%28TV_series%29), with a drug-abusing Episcopal priest, alcoholic wife, older gay son, drug-using daughter, adopted younger son, female bishop, and in probably the most controversial bit, the main character is regularly visited by Jesus Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/124 "2015-12-31T21:50:35Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I swear Quimby’s post wasn’t there when I started mine… That’s kind of weird how the same show popped into our heads at the same time. At least you remembered the title 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/125 "2015-12-31T22:58:43Z")
John from Cincinnati. It was on HBO in 2007. I recall that I liked it a great deal, there was surfing, Garret Dillahunt one of my fav actors and I forget what else. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip another Aaron Sorkin show Joe Doe starring Dominic Purcell as the protagonist with amnesia Many of my favorites have already been mentioned. Molly Dodd, Tru Calling, Doll House, Awake, The Unusuals, Journeyman, Carnivale, Kings, Life, Life on Mars ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/126 "2015-12-31T23:05:02Z")
Mr Sunshine starring Allison Janney ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/127 "2015-12-31T23:05:17Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I don’t know if it fits in here, but there was a show on HBO and later on cable (cleaned up) starring Brian BenBen and Wendy Malick - ‘Dream On’ - which had clips of old movies inserted for fantasizing, it was so so hilarious. I loved “Dream On”—I watched the boobie version on HBO—but I don’t think you can call it a show that was cancelled early. It ended with its story arc completed after six seasons and 120 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/128 "2016-01-01T00:44:49Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > [Terriers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1493239/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). A great PI show set in San Diego starring Donal Logue. Sadly only lasted one season. > [@CatastrophicFailure](#): > > I’ll nominate two poorly named shows, _Terriers_ … > > _Terriers_ was about two private investigators in San Diego. Good cast, good chemistry, good writing, good reviews, but lousy ratings. > > … > [@ExTank](#): > > Another nod for **Terriers** ; a fantastic show with good laughs, a few cries, compelling cast and characters, great reviews, a solidly loyal (if tiny) fan base, and crap ratings. I’ll add my name to _Terriers_. The first and only season was great and it had at least one more season in it. I’m not sure if the concept could have carried it any further though. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > The third season airs in 2017. Still, it ended too soon in its original run. I loved the first season of _Twin Peaks_, but by the end of the run, it was clear that David Lynch was no longer interested in the show, and likely had no long-term plan for it in the first place. I don’t think any more seasons would have produced anything watchable. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > And what’s the deal with Sherlock (Cumberbatch and Freeman)? It fails after three episodes, then they bring it back for another try and it fails after three episodes AGAIN. And then it comes back a THIRD time, and AGAIN only lasts for three episodes. > > And now I hear they’re going to be bringing it back for a FOURTH try? > > WTF, Brits? It’s an awesome show; just keep it on the air, all right? Heh 😃 > [@Acsenray](#): > > Family Tree This was a great Christopher Guest-led show with Chris O’Dowd, Michael McKean, Ed Begley Jr., and a whole bunch of other fantastic members of Guest’s improv troupe. It was really perfectly done. There was a brilliant sub-plot in which Chris O’Dowd’s sister had a sock puppet that everyone treated as a real person. I don’t know if a second season would have produced anything more brilliant than the first season, but this one season deserved a lot more attention than it got. It was fantastic. There’s one scene that still makes me laugh when I think of it. O’Dowd’s character visits an English farm hoping to meet distant relatives, and the cousin who runs the farm has a weirdly upper-class accent and hazes him like a public school boy. O’Dowd concludes that he wouldn’t like being a farmer because they “seem too posh.” > [@](#): > > Hello Ladies This is the Stephen Merchant sitcom spinoff of his _Hello Ladies_ standup special. Most of the time, it’s absolutely bloody perfect with Merchant as a successful tech geek in Los Angeles who still can’t land a hot chick. Merchant’s character is just so perfectly shallow and despicable, but it’s played just right and you have just enough sympathy for him. And Merchant is a genius at using pop music in the soundtrack. It really is a pleasure. The final episode and the “movie” that closed off the series after it didn’t get renewed majorly fell down in character honesty though. > [@](#): > > Cavemen Based on the Geico Caveman commercials. This was a victim of unfair criticism, ridicule, and the writers’ strike. The show really was a brilliant sitcom lampooning racial tensions. And the acting—especially by Nick Kroll as a perpetual grad student and Julie White as a kind-of-racist apartment manager—was top notch. > [@](#): > > Undeclared > Freaks and Geeks I don’t known how much more can be said about these two shows. They really deserved more than they got. > [@](#): > > Grosse Pointe This was also an unfairly neglected show of its time. A brilliant show-within-a-show parody of a _Beverly Hills 90210_-type teen soap production. This show got only one season while the horrible _Nikki_ got a second season. (Probably because of [boobs](http://www.adrants.com/images/ncbk_066.jpg). Come to think of it, that’s not the worst reason in the world.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/129 "2016-01-01T01:37:40Z")
[“Sunshine”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072571/) Cliff DeYoung, Bill Mumy, Meg Foster. I believe this was considered the first “dramedy,” and I also believe it was the first sit-com without a laugh track. Based on a superb TV movie, which spawned a follow-up TV movie (“Sunshine Christmas”), it was way ahead of its time. Funny and touching. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/130 "2016-01-01T02:53:52Z")
I thought of even more short lived series I liked. Parenthood 1990 starring Ed Begley Jr, Thora Birch, David Arquette and Leonardo DiCaprio. Based on the movie of the same name this show sadly lasted only 12 episodes. It was far superior to the Parenthood 2010. “[The People Next Door](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_Next_Door_%28TV_series%29)” Starring Jeffrey Jones (Principal from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) as a man whose imagination gets the better of everyone. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/131 "2016-01-01T04:33:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “How often do I have to tell you not to play in the house?” “It was HIS idea.” > [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Lou Grant ran for five seasons. > > I’m not sure if it was cancelled by the network or if the producers decided to pull the plug after five seasons. \ “Lou Grant” was yanked by the network despite (IIRC) good ratings and its rep as a CBS “prestige show.” Asner was rather vocal about some IRL political issue (I don’t remember what) at the time and the network fixed his wagon. Then Mrs. Pynchon fired him. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/132 "2016-01-01T05:08:12Z")
Two of my favorites, **Battle Creek** and **Titus** , have been mentioned. So I’ll add: [Lucky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312271/) - a show about a gambler in Vegas. Good 30 minute show and casting Craig Robinson and Billy Gardell as the sidekicks was genius. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/133 "2016-01-01T08:46:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Asner was rather vocal about some IRL political issue (I don’t remember what) at the time and the network fixed his wagon. Reagan funding the Contras in Nicaragua, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/134 "2016-01-01T10:53:24Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Adventures of Brisco County Jr. 27 episodes total, completely fucked over scheduling wise, appeared and disappeared, moved day and time almost every other episode. > > Bruce Campbell as Brisco County Jr. > Julius Carry as Lord Bowler (loved that character) > John Astin as Professor Wickwire > > Billy Drago as the villain, John Bly > James Hong as a recurring character (4 of 27 episodes) > R. Lee Ermey in 3 appearances as Brisco County Sr. > > And Utah Johnny Montana. Who is from Idaho. > > Steampunk-ish. As a Western, I’m going to call it _ **Horse Punk** _. How could you possibly omit the delicious [Kelly Rutherford](https://www.google.com/search?q=kelly+rutherford&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=799&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd9qGcuYjKAhVX5mMKHe_PD6EQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=kelly+rutherford+brisco+county+jr&imgrc=SHIt21YtiAu6jM%3A) as Dixie Cousins? ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/135 "2016-01-01T20:31:53Z")
“Watching Ellie” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Like her in anything, but she was particularly appealing in this short-lived series. The clock counting down on-screen was a nice, unusual touch. She was always racing towards her singing gig, and the sometimes bizarre interferences made this show a delight. She’s a damn fine singer as well. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/136 "2016-01-01T20:51:25Z")
Another show that although it lasted three seasons, it was killed way too soon so it feels like it was short was Happy Endings. Great characters and funny writing. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/137 "2016-01-01T20:59:44Z")
[_On The Air_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Air_(TV_series)), by Mark Frost and David Lynch. Seven episodes were made, but only two were broadcast. I’m glad I bought the DVD before it became unavailable. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/138 "2016-01-01T23:38:04Z")
The 1987 British series [_Star Cops_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Cops) (a fairly hard sci-fi treatment of law enforcement in the near future, particularly among competing national and corporate interests in space exploration) had a somewhat stormy relationship with BBC2, leading to its cancellation after nine episodes. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/139 "2016-01-02T00:58:18Z")
Huge, huge fan of _ **Freaks and Geeks** _ here. Essentially nothing on TV has ever captured being a teenager like it did. But I think it would have gone downhill rapidly in a second season. The DVD set is really cool–the disks come in a yearbook. I agree that _ **Police Squad** _ and _ **The Tick** _ were robbed. I don’t know how long they could have kept up that kind of hilarity but I would have liked to have found out. I was ten years old when _ **No Soap, Radio** _ had its five episode run (“April 15, 1982 – May 13, 1982”) and I’ve never gone back to watch it again but it struck me as very odd by US television standards, and also very funny. Nominally set in a run-down Atlantic City hotel (Steve Guttenberg was the manager) it was stream-of-consciousness sketch-based comedy. Besides my brother, I have never met a single person who ever heard of the show. I don’t know if 33 episodes qualifies, but I liked _ **Brooklyn Bridge** _. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743/140 "2016-01-02T01:25:01Z")
> [@CT\_Damsel](#): > > John from Cincinnati. It was on HBO in 2007. I recall that I liked it a great deal, there was surfing, Garret Dillahunt one of my fav actors and I forget what else. This reminds me that I was really into his show “Leap Years.” I think it was on Showtime and lasted 1 season. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-favorite-failed-tv-shows/741743.md?page=8)