# The Graveyard of Television Crib-Death **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394 "2015-01-31T01:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/81 "2015-02-01T03:30:05Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > All time best one-season show: [**Frank’s Place**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092354/). So good it’s not even on DVD so it lives on as perfection in my mind. This is what I came into the thread to mention. It’s not on DVD? Crap. I loved that show, and so did everyone I knew who remembered and loved _WKRP_. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/82 "2015-02-01T03:51:42Z")
“[Dusty’s Trail](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069577/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)” Exact copy of “Gilligan’s Island,” even stars Bob Denver. 26 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/83 "2015-02-01T04:23:18Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > There was a show on in the 90s, though I don’t remember exactly when or who or anything other than the guy didn’t need a job because he could go get lottery tickets (scratchers) and win a few bucks any time he needed it. Ring a bell for anyone? I really liked it, though it’s been out of my head for a long time. My husband found it for me. “Strange Luck.” We’re watching an incredibly bad recording of it from youtube. Watch it with automatic captions and you’ll laugh. A lot. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/84 "2015-02-01T04:31:56Z")
“[The Magician](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069606/?ref_=nv_sr_4)” Bill Bixby helps people via magic tricks. Love the theme song. 22 episodes. “[Then Came Bronson](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063955/?ref_=nv_sr_1)” 27 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![dream-scraper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@dream-scraper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dream-scraper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/85 "2015-02-01T04:42:12Z")
It was really a shame the way Fox handled ‘Firefly’ by showing the episodes out of order & not really giving it a chance from the start. The cast was wonderful, especially Nathan Fillion, & the writing was good (enjoyed the banter between the characters). ---
**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:** [February 1, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/86 "2015-02-01T05:09:59Z")
“[Rafferty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075562/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20)” Patrick McGoohan doctor series. 13 episodes. “[Bronk](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072481/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)” Jack Palance detective show. 25 episodes. “[E/R](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086704/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1)” Elliott Gould comedy hospital show. Early George Clooney. 22 episodes. “[Kolchak: The Night Stalker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071003/?ref_=nv_sr_1)” If you don’t know this one, shame on you. Darren McGavin stars. Watch the two made-for-TV films, instead. 20 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/87 "2015-02-01T05:12:25Z")
I laughed like an idiot through all nine episodes of the 2001-02 live action version of “The Tick”. Apparently not enough other people did. I vaguely recall liking a 1990-91 Robert Ulrich show called " American Dreamer", probably largely because I thought Robert Ulrich was awesome. But I don’t remember much of it these days. > **[American Dreamer (TV series)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dreamer_%28TV_series%29)** > > American Dreamer is an American sitcom television series created by Susan Seeger, which aired on NBC from September 20, 1990, until June 22, 1991, as part of its 1990-91 lineup. > American Dreamer stars Robert Urich as fictional character Tom Nash, formerly a high-powered network correspondent who was forced to reassess his priorities following the death of his wife. He decided to give up his career in order to spend more time with his children. To do this, he moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/88 "2015-02-01T05:31:37Z")
Am I the only one who remembers **Johnny Bago** from 1993? Peter Dobson plays a New Jersey mobster who’s set up and has to go on the lam from both the mob and his parole officer/ex-wife. So he hits the road in an RV, meeting unusual characters along the way; including, once, Elvis. I found this description in an episode guide: > [@](#): > > Looking for food, Johnny wanders onto a farm. The “farmer,” Kurt, tells him to take a chicken and go away. Then Kurt goes back in the house and talks to Nella, and the two of them go to a hidden elevator, taking them down into the underground control center of a nuclear missile silo, relieving the two officers whose shift has just ended. This is their last day guarding the silo, as it’s about to be closed, since the cold war had ended. Kurt and Nella will be leaving the Air Force, and they’re planning on getting married. Nella wants to work with Kurt operating Tilt-A-Whirls. But Kurt admits he had dinner with his ex-wife the other night, and she had talked him into selling jewelry she would be making. This sends Nella into a jealous fit… Meanwhile, Johnny is back in his 'bago trying to work up the courage to kill the chicken, when it gets away from him. So he starts chasing it through the corn field. Nella decides to launch the missile, but it requires two people, and Kurt won’t comply. Johnny follows the chicken down the open launch doors into the silo, and Nella gets him to help enter the launch sequence. Then Kurt tells him the missile could land anywhere, even New York, which Johnny doesn’t want to happen, because his mother lives there. So he tries to persuade Nella to provide the abort code. They talk, they play strip Go Fish, they slow dance to an Edith Piaf song. Then Beverly shows up looking for Johnny. She doesn’t much care about the missile, but just tries to get Nella to let him take Johnny. Until it turns out the launch doors haven’t opened all the way, meaning the missile will go off in the silo. Then she tries to get Nella to stop it, but to no avail. Believing they have a few minutes to live, Beverly and Johnny make up. Then Kurt and Nella make up, Kurt agrees to the Tilt-A-Whirl plan, and the crisis is averted. At this point, Beverly once again wants to take Johnny into custody, but she’s stopped by the chicken, Nella and Kurt, and Johnny gets away. I’d watch that. I remember the show having a surreal goofiness to it. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/89 "2015-02-01T07:34:33Z")
I very much enjoyed [Earth 2,](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108758/?ref_=nv_sr_1) and own it on DVD. Ended on a cliffhanger, and there was no follow-up movie (TV or otherwise) to resolve it the way some other series have ended. ---
**Author:** ![pseudograph](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pseudograph/32/19768_2.png) [@pseudograph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudograph)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/90 "2015-02-01T10:22:33Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > After the show ended, the producers resolved the cliffhanger in an interview. > > In Season 2 we would have found out that John Doe’s friend wasn’t the leader of the shadowy organization, it was just some random mook who got plastic surgery. And the secret for his knowledge would have been revealed as him dying and coming back to life after touching Heaven. > [@mage-girl](#): > > THANK YOU! I loved John Doe, and I always wondered how things would be resolved. I was a fan of John Doe as well, but reading that spoiler makes me regret its cancellation a lot less. A show that really deserved a better fate was Keen Eddie, another Fox casualty. Wonderfully quirky show about a “fish out of water” NYPD detective in London. Had tons of potential. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/91 "2015-02-01T11:15:14Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > I also love time-travel. \*Journeyman \*had real potential. > > All time best one-season show: [**Frank’s Place**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092354/). So good it’s not even on DVD so it lives on as perfection in my mind. Ditto on _Frank’s Place_. Fantastic show. > [@friedo](#): > > Not sure about that show, but it reminded me of another 90s show, _[Early Edition](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Edition)_. The hero mysteriously receives tomorrow’s newspaper today, and uses the headlines to avert disasters and change history. I could have sworn it ran only one season but according to Wikipedia is ran for four. And the arrival of the paper was always heralded by an orange cat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/92 "2015-02-01T11:44:04Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “[Holmes and Yo-Yo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074005/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)” The cases of a hard luck police detective and his android partner. John Schuck and Richard B. Shull. 13 episodes. How sad is it that, to this day, I can hear John Schuck in my head saying over and over, “The bunco squad, the bunco squad” when he had a glitch? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/93 "2015-02-01T12:28:20Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I very much enjoyed [Earth 2,](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108758/?ref_=nv_sr_1) and own it on DVD. Ended on a cliffhanger, and there was no follow-up movie (TV or otherwise) to resolve it the way some other series have ended. I liked it to, but even by the end of the first season they were kind of running out of ideas. To bad, as it was a cool setting. (also googling to see if there was even any follow up (there wasn’t) , the actress that played the young daughter in that show is already dead. Kinda depressing ). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/94 "2015-02-01T13:38:23Z")
[The Jackie Thomas Show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103450/) It starred Tom Arnold and was produced by his then wife Roseanne Barr. I don’t remember a whole lot about it other than I really liked it at the time and nobody else did. It was really dark for a sitcom as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/95 "2015-02-01T14:33:10Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It was because they had a clone of Gandhi and he got beat up. Apparently people in India take the portrayal of Gandhi pretty seriously. Right, that was it! Still pretty stupid reason. Don’t think its target audience was India. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “[The Magician](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069606/?ref_=nv_sr_4)” Bill Bixby helps people via magic tricks. Love the theme song. 22 episodes. Loved that show! Was Mulder’s (from The X-Files) favorite show! Made a point of saying at the beginning that all the magic tricks were done live, without any TV fakery. Another I remember (which actually lasted two seasons) was the 70s PI show [Petrocelli](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071032/?ref_=nv_sr_1). Had a neat gimmick where it would re-enact the crime three times, first the prosecution’s version, then the defendant’s, then finally in the court room Petrocelli’s, which would always reconcile the two and prove his client innocent. Also Barry Newman was a very likeable star. Shame he never did much else (other than the cult classic movie _Vanishing Point_)… ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/96 "2015-02-01T14:52:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Also Barry Newman was a very likeable star. Shame he never did much else (other than the cult classic movie Vanishing Point)… You appear, you STAR in a film like **Vanishing Point** and you don’t ever NEED to have done anything else. Your legend is complete. TCMF-2L ---
**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:** [February 1, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/97 "2015-02-01T15:09:25Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > You appear, you STAR in a film like **Vanishing Point** and you don’t ever NEED to have done anything else. Your legend is complete. > > TCMF-2L Good point. VP was re-made recently and all I heard was how much better the Barry Newman version was. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/98 "2015-02-01T15:26:18Z")
_Neighbors From Hell_–terrific premise. It’s failure had “meddling by assistant producers who didn’t get the concept” written all over it. _Tales From The Gold Monkey._–classic. _Bring Em Back Alive_ was way under-rated. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/99 "2015-02-01T15:29:22Z")
I have missed **Hello Larry!** for 35 years. McLean Stevenson and Kim Richards demonstrated their superb dramatic capabilities and exquisite comedic timing in every episode. It breaks my heart to see her in **Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.** if she hadn’t been screwed out of that great show, she could have been a huge film star. The writing was brilliant while the ensemble cast was sheer sit-com hilarity! I’ve seen some injustice in my lifetime; the Rodney King verdict, the assault of Nancy Kerrigan, 9/11; but if I live to be 100, nothing will outrage me more than the cancellation of **Hello Larry!** ---
**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:** [February 1, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394/100 "2015-02-01T15:40:04Z")
The problem with a thread like this is one show leads you to 5 more and you’re here all day. Case in point: “Petrocelli” made me think of… “[Delvecchio](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073979/?ref_=tt_rec_tt)” The investigations of LAPD detective Dominick Delvecchio (Judd Hirsch), who is also studying to become a lawyer. 20 episodes. Which leads to… “[George & Leo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118323/?ref_=tt_rec_tt)” George Stoody is a mild-mannered bookstore owner who encounters a hoodlum/magician named Leo Wagonman, the estranged father of his new daughter-in-law Casey. Leo, on the run from a mob intent on collecting the payoff money Leo stole from a Las Vegas casino, decides to stay in the spare room above George’s bookstore. Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch. 22 episodes. Which leads to… “[It’s Your Move](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086737/?ref_=tt_rec_tt)” Jason Bateman. 18 episodes. Which leads to… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-graveyard-of-television-crib-death/711394.md?page=6)