It wasn’t the funniest ever comedy but I did like Bakersfield P.D. - the story of a big city black police officer who transferred to the inevitable small town full of eccentrics. It lasted one season.
Starred ‘Gus’ from Breaking Bad.
TCMF-2L
Not sure if **The Tick **(the animated series) would qualify, since it did run for 3 seasons. But I thought it ended far too soon, and would have loved at least another 3.
[QUOTE=Bayard]
My only familiarity with The Tick is the 2001 live action series starring Patrick Warburton, which lasted 9 episodes. ISTR that fans of the comic book and animated series were mostly unhappy with the live action series. But I thought the series was fucking hilarious. One of my buddies and I watched every episode and laughed till we cried. I don’t want to re-watch them, because in my memory they are the funniest thing ever, and I don’t want to disturb that little bit of joy. The appearance of Christopher Lloyd in the first episode is a stroke of genius. “And now the poor bastard needs a machine…to poop!”
God, that show was funny.
[/QUOTE]
I did like the live action version, although I think the animated series was much funnier. Also the Tick was played by David Puddy. Every time I looked at him I expected Elaine and Jerry to pop up and make fun of him.
Anyhow you might be pleased to know they are doing another live action The Tick.
My other nominee is a one season HBO show called** Action **, starring Jay Mohr as movie producer Peter Dragon. I just happed to catch this on comedy central one day while channel surfing, and eventually tracked it down and bought the dvd. I’ve no idea why it wasn’t renewed, it was one of the funniest shows I’d seen in a long time, and next to Firefly is the biggest ‘one season and cancelled’ disappointment I have.
I would have liked Men of a Certain Age (cable series from six or seven years ago, starring Andre Brauer, Ray Romano, and Scott Bakula) to have lasted more than two seasons.
It was meant to be that way, by McGoohan’s own design. The stories got more bizarre as the series progressed, so that finally the viewer would finally be going “WTF?!?”
IIRC, he didn’t want to commit to a full season (at the time, 24–26 episodes, though some shows still went longer), and one episode (the Western) was foisted upon him against his will.
Seventeen episodes were sufficient to tell Number Six’s story.
Reading this thread, there are so many good ones, I can’t list them all. I couple I haven’t seen listed though:
Titus With Christopher Titus and Stacey Keach. (Stacey made that show)
Mr. Pickles Cartoon about a demon dog and the clueless family that “owns” him.
Masters of Science Fiction Basically, a modern version of The Outer Limits. Such an excellent format that would have gave exposure to many talented sci-fi writers, and maybe would have inspired some of its viewers to pick up a damn book and read. SMH.
Private Eye was a noir-type detective series set in the '50s. IIRC, it followed Crime Story on NBC on Friday nights in 1987–88. Ran only seven episodes, probably because the network gave it a lousy time slot.
Yes, yes, and yes. These are the shows I think were undeservedly cancelled during a time when ratings were transitioning from a known quantity to an internet-adjusted befuddlement. I’m sure in retrospect it is clear their fate was prematurely enacted upon.
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.
I still have a few episodes of ‘Days and Nights of Molly Dodd’ I taped on a VHS tape, it was an enchanting show I still remember fondly. Never did make it to DVD - music rights? I also loved ‘Jericho’ (which was picked up an extra season due to viewer demand) - I love after-the-apocalypse stories. Now I have ‘The Walking Dead’ to fill that gap…I loved ‘Wonderfalls’ for the episodes I did see.
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 was just reminded there was a show with a guy who would jump between two parallel universes: in one his wife died and in the other his son died. He would fall asleep in one and wake up in the other. That show was really interesting but got canceled.
There was a show on NBC a few years ago called “Awake”. A police detective is in a car accident with his wife and son, at which point his reality splits into two timelines: one where his wife died in the crash, the other where his son dies. When he falls asleep in one timeline he wakes up in the other. Cancelled in the first season, but with enough time for them to resolve the story.
That would be Awake. We watched it, not a bad show when it stayed away from the Big Conspiracy story line.
I liked the different approaches the shrinks took.
They got a head’s up about the cancellation so they crammed a “resolution” into the last episode. Did … not … work.
Here’s one: The Good Guys with Bradley Whitford and mini-Hanks. One season.
Just give Whitford a blank check and let him make any TV show he wants.
I swear Quimby’s post wasn’t there when I started mine…
A quick search shows that no one has mentioned Frank’s Place, a late 80’s comedy produced by the same folks who did WKRP In Cincinnati. It starred Tim Reid as a New York guy who inherited a restaurant in New Orleans, and his attempts to become a restaurateur. It had no laugh track, IIRC, and it was funny as hell.
It lasted one season.
All’s Fair, one season, '76-'77, got my attention because it had Bernadette Peters in it. Her red headed hotness was at a peak then, IMHO.
I came here to mention that one, and also another show starring John Ritter as a cop: Hooperman, which came on either right before or right after Frank’s Place. Both were notable for having no laugh track, which was rare, if not unknown, for a half-hour comedy show at that time.
Another favorite of mine was The Family Tree (not to be confused with Family), a drama about a blended family which lasted only six episodes in 1983, starring a young James Spader, a young Melora Hardin, and with Frank Converse and Anne Archer as divorced parents who marry each other.
More recently, Vince Gilligan’s Battle Creek from 2015 starring Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters as police detectives in Battle Creek, Michigan. I loved the opening credits and the show was entertaining.
Also +1 to Pushing Daisies, Better Off Ted, Sports Night, Molly Dodd, and Hot L Baltimore.
Greg the Bunny
Sledge Hammer
Millenium.
Loved all of those. Also a few that were already mentioned. Brimstone, The Tick, John Doe. Another got about three seasons but not enough IMO The First Wave
The one I immediately thought of was “Clone High”, but “Police Squad” and “The Oblongs” are two others I agree on.
This was an immensely popular show in China, because it was one of the first western programs shown on Chinese TV.
Max Headroom - loved this show as a teen, all 14 episodes, and was really disappointed when it was cancelled. Maybe the first time I experienced that.
“We can sing and dance, and we don’t need pants!” Ah, I’d forgotten this one. It was a lot of fun.