glee, you are giving examples of what in the USA is called a “mini-series” - a story told over several evenings that has a definite end in view and is typically 4-5 1 or 2 hour episodes. In the USA, a television “series” would be an open-ended story, with a “new” mini-plot every week, that only ends when the ratings drop. Something like EastEnders except that a USA series usually has a much short lifespan than EastEnders.
Come to think of it, I suppose that The Time Tunnel, trumps all others.
And of course, there is Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine on the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.
But it wasn’t really concerned with history (of the Chinese in the US), except in the pilot. After that it became another enrty of the genre “Hero is on the run, which gives his life focus so he can solve the problems of the people he encounters,” along with The Fugitive, The Hulk, Branded and that one where Ben Gazzara had only six months to live, so he wanders around meeting people with screwed up lives.
There are also older tv programs like Zorro, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, etc.
So?
It fits what the OP asked for. Was it not set in “an historical era”? As well as being a bit off the beaten path. I do not disagree that it was a bit formulaic at times. But then, episodic television can hardly be otherwise.
Wasn’t Heil Honey, I’m Home a British series? And wasn’t it cancelled in the middle of it’s first episode?
There was the short-lived series Roar, set in Ireland during the Roman Empire.
Crikey, never heard of it. On a lighter note, British sitcom " 'Allo 'Allo" was very successful wordwide, even in Germany and France, even thought it took the unmerciless piss out of them both (and the Italians and the British) during World War II.
Well, I did mention it was British. It was cancelled after (not during) its first episode. And while we’re on the subject of shows about Nazis, Hogan’s Heroes hasn’t been mentioned yet.
Hanna-Barbera also had a short-lived series The Roman Holidays set in ancient Rome. (I was going to mention The Jetsons, but then I realized that takes place in the future, not the past.)
In 1976, there was The Quest, starring Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell: 2 brothers, one (Kurt Russell) raised by Indians, get together to find their missing sister, who was also kidnapped and raised by Indians, in the 1860s, I think. Memorable because Matheson and Russell were really cute, had strange first names (Quentin and Morgan), and Russell got to have shaggy hair and wear buckskin clothes and make fun of his brother for being such a white guy. It lasted about a season.
Back in the 1950s, American TV gave us Robin Hood and Ivanhoe. There have been at least two British series of Robin Hood, as well.
And even in American TV didn’t give us a Judge Dee series, there was a six-episode run on British TV in 1969.
Even Quantum Leap and Sliders?
Wow, I love Judge Dee. I just finished the book the movie was based on yesterday. I had no idea the movie existed.
There also the problem (at least in comedy or family shows) of making characters realistic and likable to a mass audience. Dr Quinn, Medicince Woman kept falling into this trap.
But at the time it was made, wasn’t it set in the then-“recent” past, much like the 70’s show mentioned in the OP?
American television has had a glut of shows set in the American past. There was a time when the vast majority of all shows on American T.V. were Westerns. If you eliminate the expansion of the Western frontier (which encompasses shows like Little House, Dr. Quinn, and Daniel Boone as well as the traditional cowboy Westerns) along with anything post WWII, all that’s left is the fifty years between 1890 and 1940.
The alternative would be shows set outside the U.S., which typically don’t do very well with Americans.
Unless of course they’re set off the planet as well (though most aliens will speak English with an American accent.)
Not for regular TV shows, that’s true. However, if we do take into account mini-series, Americans are more than happy to tune in to a “foreign” story, e.g., Shogun and The Thorn Birds. So where shall we draw a line - do we require that the story have aired for more than 6-8 hours, or is anything other than the typical Sunday night movie up for consideration here?
And during the closing credits of each episode, the little boy would say something like, “If you want to learn more about Napolean, Alexander the Great, and WWI, check out your local library.”
The basic series idea seems to put it in with other shows such as You Are There, but with more of an emphasis on Prime Time TV entertainment rather than authoritative historical re-enactment.