Every sport has a bunch of players that were supposed to be “The Next Big Thing” but it didn’t happen. Players like JaMarcus Russell (football), Kwame Brown (basketball), Alexandre Daigle (hockey), and Brien Taylor (baseball) come to mind.
My question is, in other fields what people were expected to be the next great “can’t-miss” star, that missed? I’m looking for actors, musicians, authors, politicians - whatever. Anyone but athletes.
Dana Carvey was the supposed to be *the * break out star from his class of SNL alums (which included, among others, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers and Jon Lovitz), and if you look at the press he was getting around the time he left the show you’d think was getting ready to obtain Jim Carrey-levels of movie stardom.
But then after a couple of box office flops and a failed variety show, he pretty much disappeared. I know he had some health issues in the late '90s, but his career appeared to sputtering even before then.
Alan Thicke was going to be the next Johnny Carson when his late night show was introduced. Plus he could sing! I know he has had some success as a sitcom actor, but he’s no Johnny Carson.
I am dating myself here, but back in the late 80s, there was a guy called Terence Trent D’Arby, who was getting built up as the most ground-breaking new performer since Prince. He had one album that was a big hit for not even five minutes. I don’t think he ever did anything else.
After them came “the La’s” - a band with a retro-60s sound, actually anticipating the 90s craze for ‘retro’ anything. They had one big hit “There She Goes” and a pretty decent debut album. Unfortunately, the debut album was also their last as it was barely released before they broke up.
Living Colour was a band in much the same vein as D’Arby, and was promoted as the next big rock & roll band (in the pre-Nirvana 90s.) I don’t think they went anywhere.
As far as SNL stars go, there was a story that during the ill-fated 1980 season (the woefully lame season following the departure of the original cast), a new cast member named Charles Rocket was strutting around as if he was destined to be the next Jim Belushi. He got fired half-way through the season for saying the “F” word on air and nobody at the show was sorry to see him go.
Mena Suvari, Thora Birch & Wes Bentley (all the kids from “American Beauty”) never did much after that movie.
A notorious recent case among industry types is the British pop singer Little Boots, who was hyped as a more credible, more “indie” version of Kylie Minogue. The buzz surrounding her was absolutely ridiculous in 2008, and then she topped the BBC Sound Of 2009, where they try and pick who will be the most successful new artist of the following year.
They waited way too long after that to release her first proper single, ‘New In Town’, which peaked at #13, respectable but below expectations. Her album was widely considered an easy number one but instead debuted at number five, and sank to number forty the next week.
She did end up getting a top ten hit with the single ‘Remedy’, peaking at number six, but the next single ‘Earthquake’ was a complete flop, going in at #84.
It might seem like she did pretty well - two top twenty singles and a top ten album - but the expectations around her were much bigger than that. The whole thing led to a lot of pointing fingers among fans and bloggers, and now her status with her record company is uncertain and a good artist might go to waste due to hype backlash and material that didn’t end up being as great as everyone thought it would be.
Brinsley Schwarz. They were massively hyped as the next big thing, but after a disastrous (almost literally) concert at the Fillmore East, they were savaged by critics and never recovered.
Michael Cimino was supposed to be the next great director after The Deer Hunter. Heaven’s Gate ended that talk, and though he made a few films afterwards, they were pretty much ignored.
Hollywood history is filled with hyped stars and starlets that never did anything to warrant it.
Like Gretchen Mol. As her wikipedia entry puts it:
She’s been in a few more things since then, like the US Life on Mars, but she never has been “the next big thing” as promised.
Not sure about the others, but the New York Times ran an article about Wes Bentley a few months ago, saying that his career had been sidelined when he got addicted to drugs.
The Dana Carvey Show was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. Imagine Carvey dressed as Bill Clinton breatfeeding a baby, several puppies and a cat from a bunch of fake nipples.
I honestly couldn’t believe they were showing that on TV.
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Not sure about the others, but the New York Times ran an article about Wes Bentley a few months ago, saying that his career had been sidelined when he got addicted to drugs.
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And Thora Birch had a nervous breakdown (more or less) after Ghost World finished filming.
They went further than you think. Plus, I wouldn’t call a band that was handpicked by the Stones to open dates on one of their stadium tours a band that “never went anywhere”.
This could otherwise be known as the Gretchen Mol thread.
OK, you said anyone but athletes, but do you remember the pre-launch hype over the Segway scooter? Someone wrote a book about its development called “Reinventing the Wheel”, Steve Jobs said that it was “as big a deal as the PC” and “maybe bigger than the Internet” per John Doerr. The inventor Dean Kamen suggested that cities would be redesigned around it.
But-but… you can take Segway tours at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center! That’s got to count for something!
That definitely qualifies. Good call!
Obligatory mention of The Knack.
Also Moby Grape.
This is going to get me seriously flamed, but I think the punk band ‘X’ merits a notice here. I remember when I was a kid in the early '80s and X was every critic’s darling. They were going to be THE future of rock music. They still have a decent following, but they never reached the heights they were predicted to scale.
ETA: Perhaps the Pixies took their niche space in the great rock ladder of evolution; I don’t know.
Since the OP mentioned politicians, I’ll throw in Gary Hart.
I think Gretchen Mol and Terence Trent D’Arby are more famous for being “next big things that weren’t” than they are for anything that they actually did.
Roxette - following in the tradition of Swedish pop rockers (Blue Swede and ABBA)
Al Gore - at least in his mind
Lisa Bonet - If your name isn’t part of the show’s title, they don’t need you…
Zune - Hey Microsoft, if your bread and butter (Windows) sucks, what makes you think you can make ither items better?