It was a mid-season summer replacement, and only had six episodes, IIRC.
I really enjoyed it, though, as an example of heroes that used brains instead of their brawn to solve problems. IIRC, Isaac Asimov was involved with the production of the series (Writer? Consultant?), and there was a bit of a flap in one episode where Stevenson’s character mentioned on prime-time TV that he had proven there was no Santa Claus (“I rigged a motion-sensor to a camera. Caught my Dad in the act.”)
I also have vague memories of regularly watching Tenspeed and Brownshoe and Hardcastle and McCormick, but I’d be danged if I can recall a single episode from either of those shows.
And I thought the premise of Nowhere Man was brilliant, but the plot got twistier and twistier and I dropped off somewhere after a dozen episodes.
I’m pretty sure there was a sitcom called Punky Brewster in the mid-80s but none of my friends seem to recall it. IIRC it was about this little girl who was abandoned by her mom at a car park of a shopping mall and was adopted by a kindly old gentleman.
Of course, I’m a fan of obscure British TV. Anybody else yearning for a DVD release of Kinvig? The Omega Factor? The Nightmare Man? (I mean, come on … The One Game got a region 2 release last year, so why shouldn’t those? )
Close. It was called United States, it ran in 1980, and it starred Beau Bridges and Helen Shaver. But you say it was on at 8:30? What I remember, although of course I could be wrong, was that it was on at 10, because the network thought it was too hard-hitting for family viewing :smack:. At any rate, because of that time slot (I’m pretty sure) and because it was supposed to be so forthright (I am sure about that) my parents refused to let me watch it.
Skeezix: The post-apocalyptic show was called Woops!. I saw half an episode once: it was Thanksgiving time, and the ensemble had found a giant, mutated turkey they wanted to roast. I actually thought it was a pretty good effort at dark comedy, but at the time, I didn’t care much for TV in general (only watched because my roommate wanted to check it out).
Now, do any Americans here remember the writers’ strike of the 1980-81 season? During that time, the networks had to fill in with a lot of six-episode tryouts that hadn’t made it to air, so we could all see why they hadn’t been greenlighted. I saw one show called Phyl and Mikhi about a female Olympic athlete married to a Russian immigrant, and another called Me and Maxx, about a 12 y/o girl (Maxx) who had to live with her grandfather or some elderly male relative, because he was the only person in her family who was a suitable guardian. Well, I only saw one episode of that, but even at age 10, I could see how bad it was. Maxx wanted to have her guy friend (not boyfriend, just friend) sleep over, and grandpa wouldn’t hear of it. But the acting styles totally did not mesh: one of them was doing comedy, the other drama. One of the few times I’ve honestly found something so bad it was painful to watch.
“Tenspeed and Brownshoe”–I will catch anything with Ben Vereen in it! I actually saw “Grind” on Broadway.
“Something Wilder”–a very short lived show starring Gene Wilder as the father of two year old twins. One episode had Alice Cooper and, when Gene went over to complain about Alice’s loud music, Alice complained about Gene’s, and started singing the Barney theme song. I will remember that if I live to be a million.
I think it was on Channel 6, WPSD. I might be wrong, though. Like I said, it’s been years and years ago.
More specifically, I was about 15 minutes north of Poplar Bluff, near Wapapello; and I was going to Twin Rivers school. I did spend one year going to Puxico’s school. Do I know you?
2 Hip 4 TV, a show which featured the always annoying Colin Quinn. During the brief period during which it aired, I was frequently watching it through a hangover.
UFO apparently was pretty popular in the UK, but my brother and I seem to have been the only people in the US who ever watched a whole episode. I don’t remember it as being very good.
Make a Wish starring Tom Chapin. Used to see this on Sundays after getting home from church. It was really trippy. Nobody seems to remember it, though.
Quark & It’s About Time & Herman’s Head-watcher here!
I totally loved The Charmings till they replaced Snow White’s actress with someone not as Disneyfied.
I think the post-nuclear bomb-shelter survivors show was WHOOPS!
And Punky Brewster lasted several seasons & was a big hit.
Now unmentioned shows I recall-
Best of the West.
Hot Hero Sandwich (a noontime early teen skit show that had
celebrities commenting on teen concerns- Denny Dillon was one of
the cast, I am sure I recall Leonard Nimoy talking about
discovering masturbation. VERY early-80s)
and God, The Devil & Bob, which dammit was opposite Buffy.
It wasn’t all that good but I liked it. It was about a scientist who discovered another species of Man living amongst us that was more intelligent, superior all around (but not by a huge margin) and also aggressive that felt destined to replace Homo Sapiens.
LIke I said, not great but for some reason I really liked it. It dies after just a few episodes (at least in my area).
I remember a show that I think was on Saturday or Sunday mornings called Ark II. It revolved around 2 or 3 characters who travelled around some sort of post-apocolyptic world in a scienced-up RV, bringing knowledge and understanding to the survivors.
None of these four were Jay Ward cartoons. These were produced by Total TV, although Ward’s business manager, Peter Piech, often combined Ward and Total characters. Look here for a list of cartoons done (and not done) by Ward Productions.
Mr. Bogus was certainly not a local show. I saw him here in New Jersey, and he used to live at Fox Family for a short while (that network changed its schedule more times than an incontinent person changes his underpants…or something). Indeed, I’m pretty sure there are approximately 0 animation studios in southern Missouri.
No more than a few years ago there was this brilliant British sitcom called Spaced on Channel Four. I’ve never met anyone who watched that, except the one person who was made to watch it by me. The press seemed to ignore it too. And it was absolutely hilarious.
P.s. I remember Duckman, but didn’t like him. I have vague recollections of Punky Brewster. I grew up in Holland and both of those were on telly when I was a kid.
Anyone remember Stressed Eric? Ran a few years back, for exactly 3 episodes. I think it was the last one (in which a horse exploded very messily) that put the final nail in the coffin.
Nobody I’ve met in person ever seems to recall that spate of really bad fantasy/science fiction that plagued television in the early 80’s. There were millions (well, not really) of series that lasted only a handful of episodes. “Mr. Merlin”, “Wizards and Warriors”, “The Powers of Matthew Star”, “Automan” all come to mind. I thought they were all great, but I was only 10 or so at the time…
Somewhere around the mid to late 80’s was a special called Funny. It was billed as a show about “what America thought was funny”, and featured various comedic acts. Ghallager and Louie Anderson were the only acts I remember.
But what made this so memorable was that Milton Berle (who had just come out of the hospital for some reason) was supposed to do his act at the end. Just as Uncle Milty started, the rest of the acts came out and began a big old celebration in honor of the old man. I think the USC Trojan marching band was out there too.
“Big deal” right?
Well, it pissed off Milton somethin’ fierce, but they didn’t stop filming! He wanted to do his act, and he was trying like hell to get everyone to stop. He was yelling and waving his arms around like a mad man, but the band and all the activity going around him drowned him out. Ghallager came up and put a crown on him but Berle immediately knocked it off. In order to hide what was happening, the editors overlayed the scene with pop-up windows of previously recorded films of various other entertainers wishing Uncle Milty the best, but you could still see Berle throwing a fit on stage. Personally, I wanted to see Berle’s act, not the stupid celebration, so I sided with Milton, but he was crazy with anger. The three hosts (Louie Anderson included) would crowd the camera so as to hide Berle’s tantrum, and Berle was trying to get between them to tell the camera to stop filming.
It was unbelieveable in the truest sense of the word. The next morning I scanned radio shows, asked co-workers and friends, but nobody else seemed to know about it. I almost questioned if I even saw it myself, but I know I did.
The remains one of the most unforgettable things I’ve ever seen on television, rivaled only by the 9-11 footage, but I don’t know anyone else who ever saw it.
I remember very slightly this gameshow hosted by Jackie Gleason. The next week in the same time slot Gleason came out and said the first episode was so awful we’re not having another one them.
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