TV series that were never on the rails to begin with

[Colibri]

@terentii

The Prisoner might have been an “acid-fueled fever dream,” but it was a GREAT acid-fueled fever dream!

Yeah. You say “acid fueled fever dream” like it’s a bad thing.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@Gatopescado

I nominate The Prisoner, Hogan’s Heros and to a lesser extent Teletubbies. Two acid-fueled fever dreams and a comedy about a Nazi prison camp.

Let’s add BooBah, too.

Damn! I’d like to see that! Korman is fucking hilarious.

Any disparaging words directed at Po or Laa-Laa and IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!

BIG HUG!

[Yllaria]

@kferr

An American version of Red Dwarf was attempted. Never got beyond the pilot episode.

Deservedly.

I seem to remember a season in which two networks each aired an odd cop show with a robot cop. (Googling) 1976-77. Holms and Yo-Yo got a 13 show season in, but was #33 on TV Guides list of the 50 worst shows ever. ** Future Cop had 7 episodes, then was re-piloted as Cops and Robin **for one more episode in 1978.

In both cases, only the robot’s partner was supposed to know he was a robot, so that a lot of the comedy came from the human partner trying to keep everyone else from seeing the whacky robotisms or trying to explain them away.

[ftg]

@Guinastasia

-Nearly Departed

I was going to post this one myself. How can you screw up a Topper rip-off? Well, don’t actually do Topper for one thing.

[CaptMurdock]

The late eighties War of the Worlds TV series. A premise so stupid that I could not get past it:

**The events depicted in the 1953 movie happened as shown…only over the last thirty-odd years…most of the world forgot it ever happened. **

Really.
:smack:

A catastrophe that makes World War II look like a paid vacation…and people have forgotten that it happened.

---

By comparison, Space: Above and Beyond (or as I called it, “Space: 90210”) was merely pedantic, manipulative and just plain awful. I got about halfway through the pilot movie before switching off in disgust.

[Apocalypso]

@nearwildheaven

In other words, shows that for whatever reason were so bad, they didn’t last very long no matter how much the critics loved them (occasionally). You know - the kind of show that has one wondering, “Did anyone actually watch this before putting it on TV?”

Here are a few that come to mind:

Cop Rock (probably the best example)

**Action (a short-lived series ca. 2000 about some TV producers. Perfectly dreadful)
**
The series based on the Geico cavemen that lasted 2 or 3 episodes

Disagree on Action, which had Jay Mohr as movie producer Peter Dragon. Ok, it wasn’t perfectly written and had some plot holes, inconsistencies, and a few bits of dialogue that seemed ad-libed (badly). But I thought it was a hilarious yet insightful look at the film industry. It also gave me a much better understanding of what a movie/television producer actually does.

[Skywatcher]

Other failed attempts at transitioning popular movies to the small screen include:

Animal House (“Delta House”, 13 episodes)

Blazing Saddles (“Black Bart”, pilot only)

Mother, Jugs & Speed (“Mother, Juggs & Speed”, pilot only)

[Rick_Kitchen]

@Morgenstern

Wasn’t there a series called Ferris Bueller? A spinoff of the movie Ferris Bueller’s Days Off. The movie was pretty good, the series, not so much.

The series’ biggest problem was that it came out the same time as Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, which had a very similar theme but was a better show, all-around.

I liked Cop Rock. I also liked Viva Laughlin, starring Hugh Jackman.

[Rick_Kitchen]

I nominate Black Tie Affair, a dark comedy about a private detective investigating a rich guy’s murder, starring Bradley Whitford, Kate Capshaw, and Bruce McGill. I thought it was hilarious. They filmed 13 shows and only aired 8.

I used to use quotes from the show as my email tags for years.

[Skywatcher]

In 1979, ABC had the bright idea of genderflipping Fonzie to carry a brand new series. “Katmandu” never got past the pilot.

[BrotherCadfael]

@terentii

I’d have tuned in to watch Ann Jillian peel [del]potatoes[/del]! :o

FIFY

[CaptMurdock]

@Skywatcher

Other failed attempts at transitioning popular movies to the small screen include:

Animal House (“Delta House”, 13 episodes)
…

Delta House was ABC’s attempt at small-screening Animal House. It at least had the general setting (Faber College 1962) and some of the actors reprising the movie roles (Flounder, Hoover, D-Day, Neidermeyer). It lasted longer than the other networks’ attempts:

[ul]
[li]NBC: Brothers & Sisters, eight episodes, IIRC.[/li][li]CBS: Co-Ed Fever, one episode[/li][/ul]

[terentii]

@BrotherCadfael

FIFY

Oh, yes, please! :o :o :o

[dropzone]

@Gatopescado

Damn! I’d like to see that! Korman is fucking hilarious.

Not here, he wasn’t. Just a refilming of a Fawlty Towers script. Doomed from the start.

[nearwildheaven]

“Boohbah” and “Teletubbies” were aimed at preschoolers.

Heck, I kind of liked watching the Teletubbies, when I was in the right mood. :o

[Guinastasia]

My personal theory is that some of these shows, like Small Wonder lasted because they appealed to kids. I was about, oh, seven or eight when that show as on and I loved it. Now I realize how horrible it was, but not then.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Gatopescado

I nominate The Prisoner, Hogan’s Heros and to a lesser extent Teletubbies. Two acid-fueled fever dreams and a comedy about a Nazi prison camp.

Well, that explains the rarely-seen tubbie, SigHiley.

[bump]

@nearwildheaven

“Boohbah” and “Teletubbies” were aimed at preschoolers.

Heck, I kind of liked watching the Teletubbies, when I was in the right mood. :o

Teletubbies is squarely in the center of what toddlers dig- bright colors, silly creatures usually being nice to each other, laughing, playing, dancing, etc… It and “Barney” weren’t made for adults, or even older children- they’re aimed at very small children, without any of the tongue-in-cheek for parents stuff of shows aimed at older children, like say… SpongeBob.

So my vote is “very ON the rails” for Teletubbies, but it’s a narrow-gauge railway for toddlers, not adults.

[Skywatcher]

@Guinastasia

My personal theory is that some of these shows, like Small Wonder lasted because they appealed to kids. I was about, oh, seven or eight when that show as on and I loved it. Now I realize how horrible it was, but not then.

I say the same thing about “Silver Spoons”.

[Yllaria]

@Guinastasia

My personal theory is that some of these shows, like Small Wonder lasted because they appealed to kids. I was about, oh, seven or eight when that show as on and I loved it. Now I realize how horrible it was, but not then.

That would probably be my reaction to My Mother the Car, if I ever saw it as an adult.