TV series with the most inexplicable longevity

[Charlie_Tan]

@jayjay

They only ever made 13 episodes (a half-season, by American standards). The fatal mistake for the show was being picked up by Fox Network, which is the literal Death of Good Television. They’re notorious for not giving any non-reality show a chance…if it doesn’t have an audience in two episodes, it gets pulled by the fourth. Of course, they give reality shows (and incredibly trashy ones, at that) fifty chances. Fox is the network that premiered “Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire”, after all…

Well, I know this is hyperbole, but to set the record straight -

Quickly cancelled shows:

Wonderfalls (as mentioned)
Firefly
Fastlane
Drive

Shows cancelled to dismay of fanbase

Futurama
Family Guy
Arrested Development

Shows that ran their course (and mybe a bit more than that)

House M.D.
Prisonbreak (returning this fall I think)
Bones
Terminator TSCC (also returning)
Malcolm in the Middle
BH 90210
Melrose Place
Ally McBeal
Married… With Children
That 70’s show
Party of Five
The OC
…
and course Simpsons.
Yes, they produce a lot of reality dreck. So do the other networks. I know there are many fans of Firefly and AD here and Fox acted shitty to those shows, but to say they never give dramas or sitcoms a fair chance is just wrong.
Not that most of their efforts in the so called scripted productions are all that, but still.

[Boyo_Jim]

Ooh, I remember one that really sucked, but had this noisy group of feminists that kept it alive because of… well , it must have been some kind of symbolism…

Cagney and Lacey

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

@Scissorjack

The English soap Coronation Street has been running uninterrupted in prime time since 1960. Watching it is like being forced to eat your grandmother’s musty old sofa bite by dusty suffocating bite, only to have it reappear whole, like Prometheus’ liver, every evening. They change the cushions ocasionally, but it’s still like gnawing on a fifty year old hard, lumpy, ill-sprung moth-eaten old monstrosity that smells faintly of boiled cabbage and old lady pee.

Possibly the funniest review I’ve ever read.

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

Please disregard, duplicate post

[Bosstone]

@Jayn_Newell

AFV is lackluster, but part of what makes it funny is the commentary they add to the videos, which you rarely see on YouTube–a lot of those videos wouldn’t be funny without it.

The best AFV video is one of a dog nosing a rock around a yard. Amusing, but nothing particularly funny about it, until Bob Saget added the commentary, “Through the magic of television, we can actually hear what’s going on inside this dog’s head: pushin’arockpushin’arockI’mpushin’arockpushin’arockpushin’arock…”

It’s been well over a decade and I still remember that, that’s how hard I laughed.

So this isn’t a total hijack, I’ll nominate Reno 911. I understand that some people find it funny, but I can’t wrap my head around the idea that enough people find it funny for them to make a movie out of it. Besides, there’s no way it can outdo Supertroopers.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Attack from the 3rd dimension

Possibly the funniest review I’ve ever read.

Interestingly, his review has the same problem as many of the shows cited in this thread. His second sentence:

@Scissorjack

Watching [the long-running English soap Coronation Street] is like being forced to eat your grandmother’s musty old sofa bite by dusty suffocating bite, only to have it reappear whole, like Prometheus’ liver, every evening.

…almost had me in tears, but the third:

@Scissorjack

They change the cushions ocasionally, but it’s still like gnawing on a fifty year old hard, lumpy, ill-sprung moth-eaten old monstrosity that smells faintly of boiled cabbage and old lady pee.

…kind of overstayed its welcome. Just like Austin Powers and Land of the Lost, it was one-third too long.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Bosstone

“Through the magic of television, we can actually hear what’s going on inside this dog’s head: pushin’arockpushin’arockI’mpushin’arockpushin’arockpushin’arock…”

“turnitaroundturnitaroundturnitaroundturnitaroundpushin’arockpushin’arock…”

[Cardinal]

@Student Driver

My nomination for inexplicable popularity: Entertainers with Byron Allen. A lightweight fluff celebrity interview program that’s been on for 10 or 15 years now, and looks like it was put together by a high school AV class. It’s cheap and syndicated, whch probably goes 90% of the way of explaining why it lasts (locally, it’s used to fill overnight slots when infomercials aren’t being run), but it’s not entertaining at all.

Wow, is that still on? That’s a horrible show, that doesn’t even try to hide that Allen just is part of the flunky entertainment press and has been given the same 15 minutes with the stars that Eddie from Channel 9 Des Moines was given.

For you defenders of shows like Full House, Family Matters, or Saved by the Bell, I guess those shows found their audience, but watch them as an adult, and you have to admit they’re really bad. I was too old for them, so I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of any of them.

[chorpler]

@Cardinal

For you defenders of shows like Full House, Family Matters, or Saved by the Bell, I guess those shows found their audience, but watch them as an adult, and you have to admit they’re really bad. I was too old for them, so I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of any of them.

I never cared for Saved by the Bell, but my wife and daughters are huge fans who constantly quote lines to me. Along with lines from Friends and How I Met Your Mother and That 70’s Show, all of which I do like, so I know they usually have taste like mine. But Saved by the Bell?! I just don’t get it.

Oh, and I’m convinced Family Matters would have died a well-deserved death after the first season if it weren’t for the bizarre popularity of Urkel.

[chorpler]

@Charlie Tan

Well, I know this is hyperbole, but to set the record straight -

Quickly cancelled shows:
<snip>

Shows cancelled to dismay of fanbase
<snip>

Shows that ran their course (and mybe a bit more than that)
<snip>

One of the quotes from Family Guy that I found most hilarious was the very first dialogue after they were brought back from cancellation:

Peter: Everybody I’ve got bad news. We’ve been cancelled.

Lois: Oh no Peter! How could they do that?

Peter: Well unfortunately Lois, there’s just no more room on the schedule. We just gotta accept the fact that FOX has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That 80’s Show, Wonder Falls, Fast Lane, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Skin, Girl’s Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freaky Links, Wanda At Large, Costello, The Lone Gunman, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddy, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric The Entertainer, The Tick, Louie, And Greg The Bunny…

Lois: Is there no hope?

Peter: Well I suppose if ALL those shows go down the tubes we might have a shot.