# What was the stupidest premise for a TV show ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303 "2005-03-07T03:22:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/161 "2005-03-09T14:15:35Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > I don’t know why this thread holds such a fascination for me, but I suddenly thought of a show I put out of my mind. > > The premise: A police dog, wrongly accused of turning on his master, wanders the country helping families and people as he goes. The hook, in moments of crisis, the dog has flashbacks to his training in order to remember how to deal with a given emergency. > > If you can remember this Saturday morning show, please post a name for it. > > It was sort of like, The Fugitive meets Kung Fu Meets Rin Tin Tin. > > I believe it was from the late 70’s or early 80’s. > > Now, that’s high concept. Okay, I couldn’t stand it and went out to find it myself. The show was called Run, Joe, Run and there’s little info about it. There’s a [picture](http://www.tvtome.com/images/shows/14/8/72-7032-sm.jpg). And a really amusing [synopsis](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071045/#comment). I was apparently wrong about the background – Joe, the dog, was a persecuted Vietnam Vet that is hunted as a terrible weapon by authorities, while helping people along the way. Really, wouldn’t you have loved to have heard that pitch? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/162 "2005-03-09T16:16:49Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Are you sure that was **Poochini?** The only entry IMDB turns up is for an [animated cartoon.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352090/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9b258ZmI9dXxwbj0xfHE9cG9vY2hpbml8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=20) Well, it never sold. That’s the first thing. I do remember the name was a mixture of “Pooch” and a Jewish last name. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/163 "2005-03-09T16:18:56Z")
Now that I think about it, “ini” is more of an Italian suffix, isn’t it? And speaking of Jews, I don’t think **Askance** pointed out the name of the Hitler show: _Heil Honey, I’m Home!_ ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/164 "2005-03-09T16:48:45Z")
Anyone remember the Scottish show [Super Gran](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134264/)? I watched that when I was a kid. The episodes weren’t much, but it had a killer theme song. From recollection it went something like: _Stand back Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin, too Don’t want to cause a ruckus, but BA Baracus, Have I got a match for you! She makes them look like a bunch of babies, She’s got more bottle than United Dairies Hang about! Watch out! It’s Super Gran!_ I notice on the IMDB that someone’s credited Billy Connolly with singing the theme song - well, that’d explain how they managed to rhyme ‘babies’ with ‘dairies’, I guess! 🙂 One series with an implausible premise that I just can’t take to, however, is Law & Order: Criminal Intent. A cop show where they spend 25 minutes thinking about evidence, realize they don’t have enough, but it never matters because they can always force a confession from the most hardened criminal by sympathising with their traumatic childhood and discovering that said criminal is just a poor wretch tortured by his bad upbringing. (Where’s a pukey smiley when you need one?) L&O:CI is on right before something I actually want to watch, so I frequently catch the last 10 mins or so, and it seems that they never really deviate from that single premise. Re: Manimal - I remember I loved that show when it came out. In my defence, I was a kid and what I really loved were the special effects (which were quite impressive for the time, although having done the man-to-panther thing once, they reused the same footage for every other time…) - plus, who doesn’t think that being able to turn into an animal is cool? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/165 "2005-03-09T16:53:45Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [Felicity Kendal](http://www.celebrity.ndo.co.uk/images/FelicityKendal/Felicitykendal0003.jpg) of _The Good Life_. Not quite work safe, maybe, but nothing showing. > > I’m wondering what’s not to like about the entire series. I kind of liked it. But, since I realise it’s all about opinions\*, I’m open to hear what made the premise for this delightful show (imho) bad or silly. I thought it was quite a neat idea. Esp for the era it aired in. > . Barbara poses naked! Thank you for shattering my last illusion :D. It was a great show, but you could make a case that it was the opposite of the ones mentioned here that are good premises poorly executed. That is, the idea of a guy leaving the rat race to persue self sufficency is a good premise, but anyone who did that would have sold their house and bought a farm somewhere. The idea of trying to farm in Surbiton is a bit silly. But of course if they had moved it wouldn’t have been funny. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/166 "2005-03-09T18:44:11Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Well, it never sold. That’s the first thing. I do remember the name was a mixture of “Pooch” and a Jewish last name. Poochinski > **[Poochinski (TV Short 1990) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422974/)** > > Poochinski: Directed by Will Mackenzie. With George Newbern, Amy Yasbeck, Frank McRae, Courtney Barilla. The talking bulldog at a policeman's feet turns out to be his late partner. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/167 "2005-03-09T20:26:51Z")
I give you **Salvage One** … Andy Griffith stars as a junkyard owner who builds a space ship from his scrap pile in order to retreive valuable parts left on the moon by American Astronauts. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/168 "2005-03-09T20:51:41Z")
> [@Bites When Provoked](#): > > One series with an implausible premise that I just can’t take to, however, is Law & Order: Criminal Intent. A cop show where they spend 25 minutes thinking about evidence, realize they don’t have enough, but it never matters because they can always force a confession from the most hardened criminal by sympathising with their traumatic childhood and discovering that said criminal is just a poor wretch tortured by his bad upbringing. (Where’s a pukey smiley when you need one?) Well, it does star Vincent D’Onofrio, after all. I’m hoping in the last episode, the suspect will be played by R. Lee Ermey and when D’Onofrio gets to the part about alienation of parental affection (i.e. some variant on “What is your major malfunction, numbnuts? Didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?”), Ermey should grab a gun, shoot D’Onofrio and then himself. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/169 "2005-03-09T21:40:44Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > As for the worst idea of all time [Heil Honey I’m Home](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259776/) There is no way this is worse than [attempting to bring a bowdlerized _Blazing Saddles_ to the small screen](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121113/combined). Dear Og, that is painful to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/170 "2005-03-09T22:40:36Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > I give you > > **Salvage One** … > > Andy Griffith stars as a junkyard owner who builds a space ship from his scrap pile in order to retreive valuable parts left on the moon by American Astronauts. No, no, as a made-for-TV movie, it was fine. Where it _really_ began to suck was when they made a series out of it. I mean, you go to the freakin’ Moon, and _what_ do you do for an encore? You land on some island and are attacked by Bigfoot! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/171 "2005-03-09T23:41:00Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > And speaking of Jews, I don’t think **Askance** pointed out the name of the Hitler show: _Heil Honey, I’m Home!_ That’s because I was replying to a post that DID have the name, and a link to the IMDB entry. I just thought it needed a boost as it seemed a clear winner to me. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/172 "2005-03-09T23:44:10Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > There is no way this is worse than [attempting to bring a bowdlerized _Blazing Saddles_ to the small screen](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121113/combined). Dear Og, that is painful to watch. Maybe so, but the \*\*premise \*\*is not nearly as deranged as _HH,IH_. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/173 "2005-03-10T00:31:30Z")
Could I be the only one to remember _It’s About Time_, a silly Sherwood Schwartz comedy of the 60’s? Here’s a stupid premise for you: two astronauts in their capsule get entangled in some sort of space-time continuum dipsy-doodle and end up in prehistorical times. It starred, IIRC, Imogene Coca and Joe E. Ross as grotesque cavemen. Oy, what a stupid show. And I was ten years old at the time and _liked_ stupid shows! ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/174 "2005-03-10T00:46:02Z")
UK: Pets Win Prizes, and that was it, in a nutshell. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/175 "2005-03-10T00:50:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Could I be the only one to remember It’s About Time, a silly Sherwood Schwartz comedy of the 60’s? Here’s a stupid premise for you: two astronauts in their capsule get entangled in some sort of space-time continuum dipsy-doodle and end up in prehistorical times. It starred, IIRC, Imogene Coca and Joe E. Ross as grotesque cavemen. Oy, what a stupid show. And I was ten years old at the time and liked stupid shows! Certainly nt! Pepper and I remember it well. Mac and Hec, from “other side of Hill”, land in prehistoric times and enconter a hanful of cavemen, along with a few dinosaurs in clips stolen from the movie **Dinosaurus**. What _really_ was pathetic was when they realized the show wouldn’t make it, and switched to Mac and Hec bringing the cavemen back to modern-day Cape Canaveral. _It’s about Time It’s about Space! It’s about (your enemy’s name here) Ugly Face!_ Not the real lyrics, but cloe enough. I didn’t mention it because, although it is, in fact , monumentally stupid, it’s not even in the running against the shows listed here. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/176 "2005-03-10T00:53:17Z")
\*\*Giligan’s Planet. \*\* Apparently the Professor still can’t fix the hole in the damn boat, but he can build a rocket out of Bamboo…and Giligan gets them lost in space. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/177 "2005-03-10T02:10:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I disagree that game shows have a stupid premise. Their real premise is: in the US, there is a population of people so eager for fame that they will undergo any level of abasement and ridicule and insult to score money or the hot babe/guy. This premise appears to be right on. Hell, the money is lagniappe. They’ll go through all that **just to get on television.** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/178 "2005-03-10T02:15:01Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > **Doogie Howser, M.D.** a 16-year old doctor who isn’t just fully qualified, but fully qualified in EVERYTHING. Doogie Howser became a doctor at 14 – no such thing IRL, but Balamurali Ambati became a doctor at 17, in 1995. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balamurali\_Ambati](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balamurali_Ambati) Like Howser, he was not only a child prodigy but a doctor’s son. (That story could not, however, have inspired _Doogie Howser, M.D.,_ which ran 1989-93.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/179 "2005-03-10T02:33:10Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > So many contenders: > > \ > > [Starlost](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-4869/) > > \ > > It’s important to remember in this discussion that bad premises can make really good and successful shows and great premises can make terrible shows. Indeed. _Starlost_ was based on a **brilliant** premise. Its botched execution was one of the worst tragifarces in the history of TV and SF alike. You know, I’d like to see a network take another stab at it. If _Battlestar Galactica_ can be reconceived and remade, why not _Starlost?_ At least they couldn’t do it worse. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303/180 "2005-03-10T02:54:02Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > - DS9 and B5 were bad premisies imho because of the boring setting! {opinion} How many ways can I possibly state the same basic thought? I consider a static setting to be a bad premise for sci fi. I’ll take _Firefly_ any day over some silly space station. I remember when _DS9_ came out, the producers said they conceived of it as an SF version of a Western set in some frontier outpost in a lawless territory. Nothing boring about that, is there? I mean, living in a frontier town would probably be really boring IRL, but it’s not bad as an action-packed TV show premise. Most of the action on _Gunsmoke_ took place in Dodge City, most of the action on _Bonanza_ took place on or near the Ponderosa. But the public, on the evidence, did not find those shows boring. Same with HBO’s _Deadwood._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-stupidest-premise-for-a-tv-show-ever/293303.md?page=10)