From one-season wonders to longer-running shows that simply fell off many viewers' radars, these hidden gems of TV history are absolutely worth revisiting.
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00:00:00From one-season wonders to long-running shows that simply fell off many viewers' radars,
00:00:05these hidden gems of TV history are absolutely worth revisiting.
00:00:09When SyFy rebranded itself in 2009, the cable network added a number of new shows to its
00:00:14already impressive roster. Some did well, others didn't, and Alphas definitely fell
00:00:20into the latter category. Co-created by The Incredible Hulk and X-Men The Last Stand screenwriter
00:00:25Zach Penn and starring David Strathairn, this series redeveloped the superhero concept
00:00:30into something a bit like NBC's Heroes, albeit with a procedural edge.
00:00:35The story follows a team of superhumans working for the CIA who investigate cases involving
00:00:40other so-called Alphas. In a clever twist on the superhero concept, each of the show's
00:00:45lead characters suffers a downside to their unique abilities. The man with super strength
00:00:50puts too much strain on his heart as a result. The woman who can control people's minds
00:00:54gradually loses her sanity. The marine with hyperkinesis has a tumor growing in his head.
00:00:59And so on. If you're sick of superhero stories filled with overpowered characters, then Alphas
00:01:05is for you. Still, despite being SyFy's most-watched debut in years, ratings for the
00:01:11show progressively dropped, and Alphas was cancelled after its second season.
00:01:16Back when networks were still hesitant to greenlight superhero shows, some were still
00:01:19open to the idea of less traditional comic book adaptations. In 2010, Human Target premiered
00:01:25on Fox, bringing the DC Comics character Christopher Chance to life on the small screen with Mark
00:01:29Valli in the title role. The show follows Chance and his team as they protect their
00:01:33clients from malicious forces, with Chance integrating himself into their personal lives
00:01:38to become something of a human target.
00:01:40Are you crazy?
00:01:42Am I crazy? I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question.
00:01:47Blending action, suspense, and comedy, Human Target was quite unlike many of the other
00:01:52action-based procedurals that audiences were used to. And with shorter ten-episode seasons,
00:01:57the show could afford to do things a bit differently. Human Target only improved in its second season,
00:02:03but despite a positive response from both critics and fans, Fox deemed the show to be
00:02:07a mid-season flop and cancelled it after season two.
00:02:10Nowadays, westerns are all the rage. And if you loved Paramount's Yellowstone prequel
00:02:151923, you'd be remiss not to try out Netflix's short-lived depression western Damnation.
00:02:20A co-production between the streaming giant and Universal, the series was described by
00:02:24its creator Tony Toast as a mix of Clint Eastwood, John Steinbeck, and James Elroy. He told the
00:02:30Fayetteville Flyer,
00:02:31It takes some characters you'd normally see in a tough western, plops them in the world
00:02:35of Grapes of Wrath, and places them in the sort of pulpy, paranoid narrative you see
00:02:38in Elroy's novels.
00:02:40The show stars Cillian Scott as Seth, a Marxist revolutionary living in hiding. Logan Marshall
00:02:45Green, meanwhile, plays Creeley Turner, who turns out to be Seth's estranged brother
00:02:50and a merciless strikebreaker.
00:02:52Damnation was a powerful period drama about the labor wars in America that didn't quite
00:02:56do it for audiences, and the show was promptly cancelled. Unfortunately, like many streaming
00:03:01shows that suffered similar fates, the first and only season of Damnation was quickly and
00:03:06quietly removed from Netflix.
00:03:09Another DC comic series that sadly didn't go anywhere was SyFy's Krypton. After TV
00:03:14execs realized there was real money in straight-up superhero content, it seemed like nothing
00:03:18could stop the great wave of comic book madness. Krypton 2 rode that wave, but what started
00:03:23as a run-of-the-mill Superman prequel soon turned into something far more compelling.
00:03:28Following the grandfather of Superman, Seg L, Krypton doubled as a prequel and a time-travel
00:03:33story about saving Superman from his greatest enemies.
00:03:36Taking inspiration from Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and the original DC comics, Krypton
00:03:41quickly made a name for itself in the Superman canon, and it also gave us arguably the best
00:03:45adaptations of villains such as Brainiac, Doomsday, and Lobo.
00:03:57More than that, Krypton enjoyed incredible long-term potential… before it was unceremoniously
00:04:03canceled after a massive cliffhanger, that is. Thankfully, we all know how the Krypton
00:04:08story ends, but this was still a show that could have done so much more with just a little
00:04:13more time.
00:04:14Developed by Tyrant co-creator Gideon Raff and Heroes creator Tim Kring, Dig is an apocalyptic
00:04:19mystery thriller that revolves around a global conspiracy. Jason Isaacs stars as FBI Special
00:04:25Agent Peter Connolly, a man trying to solve an American murder in Jerusalem, only to stumble
00:04:30upon something else entirely.
00:04:32In many ways, Dig was ahead of its time. Even when it first aired on the USA Network, the
00:04:37series stoked controversy for its depiction of the Israel-Palestine conflict. But Isaacs
00:04:42and his co-stars did a sterling job with their parts, while Raff and Kring tackled religious,
00:04:47political, and social issues in a way few dared at that time.
00:04:51In the end, low ratings killed any chance of a second season for Dig, but thankfully,
00:04:55the first season works pretty well as a standalone miniseries. Following the finale, Jason Isaacs
00:05:00told Variety,
00:05:01"...the only reason to do it again would be if someone came up with a magnificent story.
00:05:06But it'll be fine not to do it. I won't feel like we didn't get to finish."
00:05:10Who would have thought that a show about sick and dying teenagers could be so funny, energetic,
00:05:14and delightful? Well, that's exactly what happened with Red Band Society.
00:05:19Developed by Margaret Nagel and produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television brand,
00:05:23the series was sadly axed by Fox before its first season was even through, airing the
00:05:27rest of the episodes later on.
00:05:29The self-titled Red Band Society is probably the best part of the show, too. Sure, hormones
00:05:34get in the way at times, but for the most part, these kids stick together, and their
00:05:38doctors and nurses do the same. The way the show ends with an emphatic rendition of The
00:05:42Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want, performed by the young cast, is
00:05:46a beautiful tribute to a show gone too soon and reflects the camaraderie of these incredibly
00:05:51lovable characters.
00:05:53Red Band Society is one of the few cancelled shows that can be enjoyed just as is. Although
00:05:58it had untapped potential, the 13 episodes we got worked just as well by themselves.
00:06:03Taking cues from Blade Runner, Terminator, and basically every other sci-fi franchise
00:06:08that deals with the relationship between man and machines, Almost Human was created by
00:06:12French showrunner J.H. Wyman, with J.J. Abrams serving as an executive producer.
00:06:17The show takes place in 2048 and follows a detective, John Kennex, and his new synthetic
00:06:22partner Dorian as they patrol the streets of their futuristic city. This cyberpunk series
00:06:27is a cop drama at heart, but one with enough robotic flair to keep sci-fi fans interested
00:06:32too. Kennex and Dorian were a great pair to watch operate alongside one another week after
00:06:44week, and their journey towards accepting each other made a compelling arc in the lead-up
00:06:49and series finale. Sadly, audiences didn't seem to take a shine to this show, and Almost
00:06:55Human was unplugged after a serious decline in viewership. Too bad too, this one could
00:06:59have easily gone on a few more years.
00:07:02After creating Supernatural, Eric Kripke partnered with J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau to develop
00:07:07a post-apocalyptic series for NBC called Revolution. The show's ratings fared well at first,
00:07:13though the story itself got off to a rocky start. Telling the tale of a world that loses
00:07:17electricity due to a nanite virus, by the time Revolution decided what sort of show
00:07:21it wanted to be, it had already lost a good chunk of its audience. But NBC believed in
00:07:26the show and renewed it for a full sophomore season. For a moment, it seemed like Revolution
00:07:31might survive after all. While the show struggled to find its footing, it featured a number
00:07:35of excellent characters portrayed by some of TV's finest luminaries, making the show
00:07:40fun to watch if nothing else. While uneven ratings ultimately killed Revolution, fan
00:07:45outcry led the show's creators to partner with DC Comics for a four-part finale comic
00:07:49that wrapped up the story.
00:07:51After the success of Glee, other networks jumped on the idea of a comedy-drama series
00:07:55led primarily by music. The short-lived Smash, for example, was an obvious rip-off, but the
00:08:01most imaginative of the post-Glee musical shows was undoubtedly Galavant. A marriage
00:08:06of fantasy and comedy with a musical twist made Galavant something unique to network
00:08:11television. Following Joshua Sass as the titular knight and Timothy Amundsen as the
00:08:16petulant King Richard, it really doesn't get more outlandish than this. A strange mix
00:08:23of Monty Python and the Princess Bride, Galavant was never afraid to push the envelope, and
00:08:27the show itself was better for it. After an eight-episode first season, Galavant was given
00:08:32ten episodes for its second. Sadly, that would be all as ABC cut loose the seven realms for
00:08:38low ratings, but never fear, Galavant fans, this one ended with a genuine happily-ever-after,
00:08:44meaning you won't be left with any frustrating cliffhangers or season two setups.
00:08:49Continuum might not be well-known to most TV fans, but this Canadian sci-fi series deserved
00:08:54a lot better than what it got. Centering on a cop named Keira Cameron who travels from
00:08:592077 back to 2012 after a terrorist group plans to destroy their future, Continuum covers
00:09:05everything from the butterfly effect in corporate crime to the development of new technologies
00:09:10in the effects of social media. This time-travel series is one of a kind, and yet, despite
00:09:15airing for four seasons and 42 episodes in total, it was never really considered a hit.
00:09:21Creator Simon Barry had major plans for the thrilling cop drama turned hard sci-fi series,
00:09:26but Continuum didn't get enough traction in either Canada or the US. After a fourth
00:09:31and final season was ordered, that was it for the show. At the time, star Rachel Nichols
00:09:36said,
00:09:37All great stories deserve an end. I'm excited and grateful to finish Continuum with the
00:09:41riveting conclusion it deserves.
00:09:44Movies becoming television shows was a recurring theme in the 2010s. From Fargo to Limitless
00:09:49to Minority Report, many of these shows remained on familiar ground and didn't stray too
00:09:54far from what made their cinematic counterparts so iconic. Meanwhile, Fox's Exorcist series
00:10:00continued the story of the 1973 film into the 21st century. Forgetting about the other
00:10:11Exorcist sequels entirely, the Fox series picks up decades later and follows priests
00:10:15Tomás Ortega and Marcus Kean as they deal with the return of a dark demon from the franchise's
00:10:21past. This serialized take on the Exorcist story takes some serious turns from the original,
00:10:26but remains an excellent sequel nevertheless. Both the supernatural and psychological horror
00:10:32show, the Exorcist leans into everything that worked about the original film while adding
00:10:37extra layers of character depth and lore.
00:10:40With two 10-episode seasons, the show remains a favorite to many, with some considering
00:10:45it the best-ever sequel to the original Exorcist. While the show's ratings slipped during its
00:10:50second season, leading to its ultimate cancellation, 2023's critically panned Exorcist reboot
00:10:56led many fans and critics to reappraise Fox's TV series. Based on the historical figure
00:11:01of the same name, Marco Polo seemed like it would be an instant success for Netflix. The
00:11:06streaming giant had only a few original series by the time Marco Polo debuted, but House
00:11:10of Cards and Orange is the New Black proved to be critical, award, and audience hits.
00:11:16So this original historical drama, which the streamer brought from its original home at
00:11:21made perfect sense as a way to capture the Game of Thrones crowd. Starring Lorenzo Ricalmi
00:11:26as the titular hero and Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan, the show is rich in character drama,
00:11:31epic battle sequences, and more than enough adventure to get your blood pumping. Wong
00:11:36especially is phenomenal in Marco Polo. While the immense scale of the series is nothing
00:11:41short of staggering, it was actually one of TV's most expensive shows at the time.
00:11:46Unfortunately, the whole thing was a wash for Netflix. Instead of continuing for a third
00:11:51season, Marco Polo was canned by the streamer, and just as things were getting exciting too.
00:11:56But the choice was justified by insiders who claimed that Marco Polo had been directly
00:12:00responsible for a loss of $200 million.
00:12:03Originally an underground indie comic book from writer-artist Ben Edlunds published in
00:12:081988, The Tick is all about a colorful and somewhat delusional superhero patterned after
00:12:12the blood-sucking insect of the same name. It became a Saturday morning cartoon in the
00:12:22mid-90s, where The Tick and his sidekick Arthur protect the city from colorful criminals like
00:12:26Chair-Face Chippendale and Multiple Santa. The cartoon lasted three seasons, and thanks
00:12:30to the success of late 90s superhero movies, it became a live-action series on Fox in 2001.
00:12:36Seinfeld actor Patrick Warburton snagged the title role, perfectly portraying the blue-hued
00:12:40hero's goofy charm, bombastic attitude, and childlike innocence. David Burke plays
00:12:50Arthur, and Liz Vassi from CSI appears as Captain Liberty. Lost alumnus Nestor Carbonell
00:12:55played Batman Well, and future Hellboy actor Ron Perlman took the role of flamethrowing
00:13:00hero Fiery Blaze.
00:13:02Co-written by Edlund and produced by Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld, the show
00:13:05was flashy, funny, and a pitch-perfect send-up of superhero tropes. But maybe it was a little
00:13:10too ahead of its time, since the show didn't last beyond its first season despite rave
00:13:14reviews. But thanks to the show's cult following, The Tick has never quite been forgotten. In
00:13:202016, the series was rebooted by Amazon, with Peter Serafinowicz taking over the role from
00:13:24Warburton, and both Edlund and Sonnenfeld also involved. Once again, the well-received
00:13:29series was cancelled after just two seasons, but for many, nothing quite beats the 2001
00:13:36Mixing fantasy with other genres is a tried-and-true formula, but it wasn't as common in the 2000s,
00:13:41which may be why the sci-fi channels The Dresden Files failed to take off.
00:13:45The series was adapted from a series of novels by Jim Butcher, and developed for TV by Star
00:13:49Trek Deep Space Nine producers Hans Bindler and Robert Hewitt Wolff. The series starred
00:13:53Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden, a wizard-turned-private detective who occasionally lends a hand to
00:13:58the police. He's often partnered with Chicago PD officer Connie Murphy, played by Valerie
00:14:02Cruz, and is accompanied by an ancient spirit who acts as both his advisor and confidant.
00:14:07The series exposes a secret world of wizards run by the High Council, a draconian authority
00:14:12that is constantly at odds with Dresden for recklessly flouting the rules. An intriguing
00:14:16blend of cop drama and fantasy, The Dresden Files might be seen as a more grown-up version
00:14:21of Harry Potter. While it has its weak spots and is far from perfect, it's also so much
00:14:25more than a copycat. It's a gritty, clever police procedural that's better than critics
00:14:30gave it credit for at the time.
00:14:32Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot is a family-friendly adventure comic created by living legend Frank
00:14:37Miller and illustrated by Jeff Darrow in the early 90s. By 1999, it was a Saturday morning
00:14:42cartoon, debuting its first six-episode season on Fox. It returned in 2001 for a full second
00:14:48season, which would be its last. It's one of the 2000s' most underrated cartoons, featuring
00:14:54excellent animation and a strong voice cast that included Jim Hanks as Dwayne Hunter,
00:14:59the pilot of the Big Guy robot suit, and King of the Hill voice actor Pamela Adlon
00:15:03as the childlike android Rusty. During each episode, the pair would fend off all manner
00:15:07of alien threats and monstrous villains. The central conceit of the show is that nobody
00:15:11knows that Big Guy has a human pilot, not even Rusty, the robot boy who idolizes him.
00:15:24The two become fast friends and hero partners. It's more than worth a watch.
00:15:28Firefly might be the quintessential TV flop of the 2000s that should never have ended
00:15:32so abruptly. It was a wildly inventive, first-rate science fiction adventure with a superstar
00:15:37creator in Joss Whedon in one of the finest casts the genre had ever seen. For those unfamiliar,
00:15:46the 2002 series focuses on a band of interstellar outlaws in what's basically an old-fashioned
00:15:51western in outer space. Set in the 26th century, Firefly follows Captain Malcolm Reynolds and
00:15:56the crew of the starship Serenity, many of whom are survivors of a devastating cosmic
00:16:00civil war won by the Alliance. In the series' opener, they're hired to escort the mysterious
00:16:04River Tam out of Alliance-controlled space. Despite an overwhelmingly positive response
00:16:09from fans, Firefly was cancelled by Fox after airing just 11 episodes. It's been the focus
00:16:15of revival talk ever since, but the closest we got was a feature film follow-up, 2005's
00:16:20Serenity, that did its best to give closure to the story.
00:16:24The 2000s were awash in failed movie-based TV spin-offs, and one of the best that didn't
00:16:28survive was Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. By the time it debuted in 2008, the franchise
00:16:34had been dead for five years following the critical dud Rise of the Machines. And while
00:16:38some may have expected that the lack of Arnold Schwarzenegger left audiences little to cling
00:16:42to, this series proved that it could succeed with thrilling stories in a bold new direction
00:16:46that didn't rely on a formulaic premise. Squarely centered on Sarah Connor, the Fox
00:16:51Network series starred Lena Headey in the title role. Sarah must protect her teenage
00:16:55son John, played by Thomas Decker, to ensure he'll grow into a revolutionary future leader
00:16:59and guardian of humankind. Summer Glau of Firefly stars as Cameron, a female Terminator
00:17:04reprogrammed by John in the future and sent back in time to protect him and his mother.
00:17:08Garrett Dillahunt played a T-888 Terminator, while rocker-turned-actor Shirley Manson played
00:17:13a shape-shifting Terminator who took on the guise of a powerful tech mogul. A thrilling
00:17:16sci-fi adventure that explored far more of the world of the Terminator than the films
00:17:21ever did, it's better than most of the movies in the franchise. While low ratings were blamed
00:17:26for its cancellation after its second season, the failure of 2009's Terminator Salvation
00:17:30certainly didn't help. Producer, writer, and director Brian Fowler remains one of the
00:17:36most highly regarded creators in TV, with cult favorites like American Gods and Hannibal
00:17:40under his belt. But he had mixed success when he was first starting out. His short-lived
00:17:44shows like Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me are definitely worth a watch, but the one-season
00:17:49Wonderfalls is a standout. As a creator with avant-garde tendencies, Fowler tells the story
00:17:54of Jay Tyler, a student philosopher working in a gift shop at Niagara Falls, who talks
00:17:59to various inanimate animal toys and trinkets. Are these conversations just in her head,
00:18:03or is she somehow talking to another magical world? It doesn't really matter, because her
00:18:07talks with them push her to become a better person and help those in need.
00:18:12Weird and quirky in all the right ways, Wonderfalls is also inspiring and hopeful. Pushing Daisies
00:18:19star Leigh Pace is exceptional as Erin Tyler, Jay's brother who helps her with her mystifying
00:18:24connection to the toy animals in her shop. Loved by critics and audiences who praised
00:18:28it for its deadpan humor, it sadly didn't earn more than 13 episodes, beginning and
00:18:33ending in 2004.
00:18:35There's plenty of adult animated fare from the 2000s that deserved a longer run, but
00:18:39none quite as good as MTV's Clone High, a series created by then-unknown writers Phil
00:18:44Lord and Chris Miller. The duo went on to find success at the movies with several Lego
00:18:48films and a pair of Spider-Man animated adventures. But their first creation was 2002's Clone
00:18:53High, which introduced us to a high school where the entire student body is made up of
00:18:57clones of famous historical figures. How many shows have a main cast that includes the likes
00:19:01of Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, JFK, and Gandhi? Not many, we'd wager. Each week,
00:19:08popular figures from the past would pop up in the halls, be it Paul Revere, Genghis Khan,
00:19:13or Martin Luther King Jr. Hilarious, surreal, and downright bizarre, the stylized animation
00:19:18only made Clone High better. But thanks perhaps in part to a controversy over its treatment
00:19:23of Gandhi, as well as some lackluster early reviews, the show failed to catch on. Clone
00:19:36High has since become something of a cult favorite, and in 2023 it returned to HBO Max
00:19:41with a long-awaited second season, with much of the original cast returning, just not Gandhi.
00:19:47Producer Noah Hawley created the Emmy award-winning FX show Fargo in 2014, and a few years later
00:19:53had a critical hit with the Marvel Comics-based series Legion. But before them all, Hawley
00:19:57created the short-lived ABC crime drama The Unusuals, which has been all but forgotten
00:20:02today. The show starred future Avengers stalwart Jeremy Renner as New York City detective Jason
00:20:07Walsh, and lost star Harold Perrineau as fellow cop Leo Banks. But the series' main focus
00:20:12was NYPD newcomer Casey Schrager, played by Amber Tamplin, who is trying to escape the
00:20:16shadow of her socialite family and is assigned as Walsh's new partner. Together, the pair
00:20:20seek to solve the mystery of who killed Walsh's previous partner, who himself may have been
00:20:24deeply involved in police corruption. While the series had the potential to be just another
00:20:28run-of-the-mill cop drama, Hawley's strong scripts and his penchant for offbeat characters
00:20:33elevated it. Early reviews were good, with praise given to its quirkiness, but without
00:20:38the ratings to sustain it, the network chose to dump it rather than allow it time to find
00:20:42an audience.
00:20:43In 2007, filmmakers Paul Haggis and Robert Morisco, the duo responsible for the Best
00:20:48Picture-winning film Crash, came to television with The Black Donnellys. Most of its cast
00:20:53was lesser-known at the time, but today, we recognize many of its stars, including Olivia
00:20:57Wilde and Kirk Acevedo. The NBC series, which ran for just 13 episodes, was about four Irish-American
00:21:04brothers who get drawn into the Irish mob in New York City. Looking back, the show has
00:21:08a lot in common with the BBC's Peaky Blinders, but The Black Donnellys never achieved any
00:21:13of the success of that Cillian Murphy-led series. In fact, the show was pulled after
00:21:18just a handful of episodes had aired, with the remaining installments only viewable online.
00:21:22Coincidentally, the show had replaced the recently-cancelled Studio 60 on the Sunset
00:21:27Strip. While the show may not be among the best in the genre, it's still a satisfying
00:21:31story of a fallen family who get caught up in the allure of crime in New York's infamous
00:21:35Hell's Kitchen. As with many of the shows on this list, don't let the early cancellation
00:21:40and bad reviews fool you.
00:21:42Kid-centric horror was all the rage in the 90s, from Are You Afraid of the Dark? to Goosebumps
00:21:47and beyond. Given the popularity of the subgenre, it's pretty surprising that Eerie Indiana
00:21:51was only a single-season wonder, especially when it was probably the best of its kind
00:21:56to be released during that era. Perhaps it's because it was on NBC and had a primetime
00:22:00slot, so it needed to have major network primetime numbers to survive. Had it been an afternoon
00:22:05show or on a less discriminating network, it might have had the longevity it deserved.
00:22:10Starring Omri Katz, Eerie Indiana was about the titular town and all of the bizarre goings-on
00:22:14that seemed to always be happening there. Sometimes, the show tackled popular myths,
00:22:19like Elvis faking his own death to live a private life, while plenty of other episodes
00:22:22were built around entirely new, and often extremely inventive, scenarios. Critics often
00:22:28referenced creators like Stephen King and David Lynch in their praise of the show.
00:22:32Let's go bag a werewolf. When that's done, I'm taking aim at this Warren Commission thing.
00:22:37Yes!
00:22:38Sadly, good reviews alone don't keep a show on the air, and Eerie Indiana got only 19
00:22:43episodes before it was canceled in 1993.
00:22:46Another genre that was having a moment in the 90s was sci-fi. Not only did three different
00:22:51Star Trek series overlap during the decade, but shows like The X-Files, Babylon 5, Earth
00:22:56Final Conflict, and Sequest DSV all found an audience and brought their own unique spins
00:23:01to the genre. There was even an extremely successful sci-fi sitcom, Third Rock from
00:23:05the Sun, that proved to have surprising acclaim and longevity for a show with such a novelty-type
00:23:10premise.
00:23:11But there were plenty that didn't make it as well, even ones that deserved to. One hidden
00:23:15gem that got lost in the shuffle was Earth 2, another single-season NBC show that couldn't
00:23:20find the viewership it needed, despite strong reviews, even after earning three Emmy nominations
00:23:25and winning the award for visual effects.
00:23:28Taking place in the year 2192, the show imagined a future where Earth has become unlivable
00:23:33and what remains of mankind is forced to live on space stations, trying to reach a distant
00:23:37planet that seems to be inhabitable.
00:23:39Beyond the dated special effects, Earth 2 remains watchable today, even if its depiction
00:23:44of a future uninhabitable Earth feels even more uncomfortably close now than it did in
00:23:481995.
00:23:51This one is a lot more well-known than most of the other shows on this list, and has had
00:23:54plenty of recognition for what a great show it was — and still is. But that doesn't
00:23:58change the fact that Freaks and Geeks got a criminally short run of only 18 episodes
00:24:02after its September 1999 debut, before NBC pulled the plug.
00:24:07Meanwhile, critics were nearly unanimous in their love for the show, and two different
00:24:11episodes were nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series at the Emmys.
00:24:14The Emmy that Freaks and Geeks actually won, Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, shouldn't
00:24:24come as a surprise given that its ensemble included multiple soon-to-be A-listers.
00:24:29There are no shortage of coming-of-age shows that look back at a previous generation, but
00:24:32Freaks and Geeks stood out both for its honest depiction of the less popular crowd as well
00:24:36as paying tribute to its era without descending into parody. Oh, and its creator and executive
00:24:41producer? That would be Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, respectively, who would become some
00:24:45of the biggest comedic voices in Hollywood a short time later.
00:24:50Plenty of cartoons come and go. In fact, it's actually somewhat rare for a kid's cartoon
00:24:53to have more than a season or two, especially during the 90s, because that was usually all
00:24:58that was needed to rerun it for the next five-plus years. But there were still a few that got
00:25:02cut short yet stuck around long enough that they are still looked back upon — and still
00:25:06watched — with the same reverence as the likes of Animaniacs and Teenage Mutant Ninja
00:25:10Turtles. One of those shows is The Pirates of Dark Water. A Hanna-Barbera production
00:25:15that ran on the now-defunct Fox Kids programming block, Pirates hit that rare older kid's younger
00:25:20teen sweet spot flawlessly. A hybrid of old-school swashbuckling pirate adventure with hints
00:25:25of sci-fi and fantasy, the show started with an epic five-part miniseries that told a much
00:25:30bigger story than most cartoons at the time would have even attempted. Only the five-part
00:25:35Phoenix Saga from X-Men the Animated Series came close in terms of ambition and scope.
00:25:40But like so many kids' cartoons that tried to tell deeper, more complex stories with
00:25:43elaborate world-building — not to mention having a higher caliber of animation than
00:25:47was typically seen on TV at the time — The Pirates of Dark Water was not long for this
00:25:51world and got only a single full season and an extremely truncated second season before
00:25:56being sunk.
00:25:58"...and failure has only one reward."
00:26:01"...The Pit! The Pit! The Pit!"
00:26:04Cult film favorite Bruce Campbell has long been just as prolific on the small screen
00:26:08as he has in movies, most notably as a series regular for all seven seasons of the spy-based
00:26:132007-2013 action series Burn Notice. But the television role that's a lot more in line
00:26:19with what people expect from Campbell came nearly 15 years earlier, when he starred in
00:26:23the Western sci-fi comedy The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.
00:26:27In the show, Campbell played Briscoe County, a wise-cracking bounty hunter who doesn't
00:26:31seem particularly good at his job but somehow always seems to fumble his way out of trouble.
00:26:36Created by the writing team behind Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, the show definitely
00:26:40has elements of that film series, with clever writing and consistently satisfying action
00:26:44throughout.
00:26:46"...Where's Briscoe County? Find Briscoe. That's what I thought you'd say."
00:26:53So what went wrong? Well, it was perhaps a bit too subversive for the time, and Campbell
00:26:58wasn't quite the household name yet that he'd eventually become, with his loyal but still
00:27:02relatively niche fanbase not yet large enough to sustain a pricey network television action-adventure
00:27:07show.
00:27:08No one can deny the impact The X-Files had on the sci-fi genre and television as a whole.
00:27:13"...Yeah, that's a bleepin' dead alien body if I ever bleepin' saw one."
00:27:17The X-Files was a huge series throughout its run, and it had other networks, as well as
00:27:21Fox itself, trying to replicate the show's success.
00:27:25NBC took a crack at it with Dark Skies, which was dismissed by some critics as a mere clone
00:27:29of The X-Files due to just how similar the two series were.
00:27:33On the other side of the coin, there are some, particularly in retrospect, who have made
00:27:37the case that Dark Skies is actually the superior of the two shows.
00:27:41Ultimately, Dark Skies didn't have the ratings to grant it more than 20 episodes, causing
00:27:45it to suffer the same fate as most X-Files-inspired shows.
00:27:49But it was arguably the best, with a unique premise that saw it taking place in an alternate
00:27:53history 1960s in which aliens had been on Earth since the 40s, with the government having
00:27:58kept their existence a secret from the public.
00:28:01It also didn't shy away from depicting real people, including politicians, actors, musicians,
00:28:06and more.
00:28:08A lot of people probably dismissed this show outright based purely on the title, since
00:28:11by 1997, a lot of people had grown tired of the 90s marketing tactic of calling everything
00:28:16extreme.
00:28:17Plus, the Ghostbusters brand was languishing a bit at this point, years removed from the
00:28:25last movie or previous cartoon series.
00:28:28Basically, a lot seemed to be working against Extreme Ghostbusters, but the show itself
00:28:32was great, seemingly a kid's show but with enough depth and cleverness to the writing
00:28:36and the stories to appeal to adults as well.
00:28:39It was the perfect show for older fans of the franchise to watch with their children
00:28:43as a means of introducing it to them.
00:28:45Extreme Ghostbusters also did a fantastic job at introducing a new generation of characters
00:28:49while also including the old ones, and having them all coexist and be equally important
00:28:54to the plotlines.
00:29:02The show did get a commendable 40 episodes, but it never got a second season.
00:29:07Primetime sketch comedy on regular network television is something that rarely works,
00:29:11but that hasn't stopped many from trying it over the years, including a group of young
00:29:15up-and-comers in the early 90s that came together to write and star in The Ben Stiller Show.
00:29:28After getting it starred on MTV, the version of The Ben Stiller Show that people are generally
00:29:32more aware of is the one that ran on Fox for only 12 episodes, leaving an unaired episode
00:29:37that Comedy Central later added to its rerun package of the show.
00:29:40Like most sketch comedy, the scenes could be a bit hit-or-miss, but the talent and chemistry
00:29:44of the cast couldn't be denied.
00:29:47The writing was also worthy of an Emmy win, even though the show had already been cancelled
00:29:50by the time the crew took home their trophy.
00:29:53It's still worth looking back at these soon-to-be stars taking what is, for most of them, their
00:29:57first real crack at an on-screen career.
00:30:00Typically, Saturday Night Primetime is where networks put shows that the execs aren't sure
00:30:04about.
00:30:05The rare shows that do well on a late Saturday evening are usually aimed at older viewers.
00:30:09So when 1998's Cupid was launched in the 10 p.m. Saturday time slot by ABC, it was pretty
00:30:15clear the network didn't fully believe in it.
00:30:17The series followed a man named Trevor Hale who is convinced that he's the mythological
00:30:21god Cupid, but is institutionalized.
00:30:24But that does allow him to meet Claire, a psychologist who doesn't fully believe Trevor,
00:30:28but does decide to roll the dice and set him free to complete his mission to bring
00:30:31100 couples together, at which point he claims Zeus will reinstate his powers and let him
00:30:36return to Mount Olympus.
00:30:38We never learned if Trevor was telling the truth, as Cupid was cancelled after only 15
00:30:43episodes.
00:30:44Interestingly, Cupid was revived in 2009 with a similar premise but a new cast, and that
00:30:48one only got half the episodes of its predecessor.
00:30:51MTV's Liquid Television was a series that ran sporadically during the first half of
00:30:56the 1990s and would feature various clips of animated projects.
00:31:00Some would be one and done, while others became recurring segments on the show.
00:31:03And though the vast majority sadly died with the show, a few did wind up turning into full-fledged
00:31:07series of their own, most notably Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux.
00:31:12In the same year that Liquid Television signed off, MTV launched a series called Oddities,
00:31:16which expanded the Liquid Television format by giving each animated project an entire
00:31:20miniseries of full-length episodes.
00:31:23The first was the bizarre and ultimately forgettable The Head, but that was followed
00:31:27by the excellent and certainly before its time The Max.
00:31:31Based on the comic series of the same name, its main character was a homeless man looked
00:31:34after by a social worker named Julie in the real world, who also lived in an alternate
00:31:39reality where he was a powerful warrior tasked with protecting the Jungle Queen, who was
00:31:43that reality's version of Julie.
00:31:45He was aware of the two realities, while she was not.
00:31:52It was one of the few darker comic adaptations to exist at the time, predating HBO's Spawn
00:31:57series by several years.
00:31:59While it was technically only ever meant to be a limited series, had it been more popular,
00:32:03it might have earned a couple of full seasons.
00:32:05The Dana Carvey Show seemed like it had the potential to buck the curse of the primetime
00:32:09sketch comedy show.
00:32:11First and foremost, it was headlined by, you guessed it, Dana Carvey, who was only a few
00:32:16years off his award-winning run as one of the most popular performers in Saturday Night
00:32:20Live history.
00:32:21That should have given it a leg up over, say, The Ben Stiller Show, which was led by an
00:32:25actor that most of America hadn't heard of yet.
00:32:28But despite the clout and talent of Carvey, in addition to a cast that included both Steve
00:32:32Carell and Stephen Colbert, The Dana Carvey Show fell into the pit of failure like so
00:32:37many other primetime sketch comedies.
00:32:40Rather than play it safe and be an extension of his SNL work, though there was some of
00:32:44that, the show's humor was often abstract, weird, and often a little too gross for primetime
00:32:48audiences.
00:32:49It's the kind of thing that has often thrived on cable, but it was way too out there for
00:32:53the 90s sitcom crowd and only got eight episodes.
00:32:57The days are rushing by, children.
00:32:59It'll be over before you know it.
00:33:06In the wake of The Simpsons becoming not only a hit television show, but an entire pop culture
00:33:10behemoth, a whole new wave of primetime animation kicked off in a big way during the 90s.
00:33:15But for every South Park and King of the Hill, there were dozens of shows that came and went
00:33:19so quickly that barely anyone noticed or remembers them.
00:33:23To be honest, most of them weren't a huge loss, but there were some that deserved more
00:33:27success.
00:33:28The excellent Mission Hill got only a single season and 13 episodes to find its audience.
00:33:33It didn't bother to have kid characters or be about families, focusing instead on the
00:33:37lives of teens and young adults.
00:33:39It was also the unfortunate victim of airing on The WB, the now-defunct network that couldn't
00:33:44even reach its 12th birthday.
00:33:46Like many gone-too-soon animated shows, it saw increased visibility when reruns hit Adult
00:33:50Swim in 2002, but that wasn't enough to revive the show.
00:33:53Those original 13 episodes are all we'll ever have to enjoy.
00:33:58One of the biggest pioneers in the sketch comedy genre was The Carol Burnett Show, which
00:34:01ran from 1967 to 1978 and helped to establish many elements of the genre that are followed
00:34:07to this day, particularly the shows that are filmed in front of an audience.
00:34:11Burnett herself would be a trailblazer once again 12 years later with Carol & Company.
00:34:16What set Carol & Company apart from most sketch shows up to that point is that, rather than
00:34:20multiple short sketches within an episode, each episode was a single, extended sketch.
00:34:25Modern shows have certainly used the format, but this was one of the trailblazers.
00:34:30With two seasons and 33 episodes, Carol & Company lasted longer than most shows on this list,
00:34:35but it still wasn't as long as it deserved.
00:34:38Director Elmore Leonard saw a lot of screen adaptations of his works during his life,
00:34:42including popular films like 310 to Yuma, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown, and Get Shorty
00:34:46to name a few.
00:34:48But one adaptation that's been lost to time is 1998's Maximum Bob.
00:34:52The Bob in question is Judge Bob Gibbs, who earns his nickname via his tendency to always
00:34:57seek the maximum sentence for the defendants in the cases he presides over, no matter the
00:35:01crime.
00:35:03But this was no generic courtroom show.
00:35:12Maximum Bob was compared to more offbeat shows like Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure by critics
00:35:16at the time.
00:35:17That's because, in addition to Bob, there was also his wife, a former mermaid performer
00:35:22turned psychic.
00:35:23The cast of wacky characters goes on from there, all surrounding Bob and challenging
00:35:27his small-minded conservative sensibilities.
00:35:30We probably don't need to explain why this delightfully bizarre show didn't find the
00:35:33audience it needed to last more than seven episodes.
00:35:37Jay Moore starred as floundering Hollywood producer Peter Dragon in the subversive satire
00:35:41Action.
00:35:42An unflinching look at the movie business and the fickle nature of fame, Action was
00:35:46a network television series with cable ambitions, pushing the boundaries of what was typically
00:35:50seen and heard on one of the major networks.
00:35:53It would go down in history as the first Fox show to be rated TVMA, something that was
00:35:58unusual at the time for non-cable shows.
00:36:10Critics were generally positive on the show, and even many of the negative reviews praised
00:36:14the accuracy with which Action mocked its targets, but ultimately found it too mean
00:36:18to be enjoyable.
00:36:20Fox canceled Action after airing only eight of its thirteen filmed episodes.
00:36:24The unaired episodes, along with the original eight, would later run on cable channels like
00:36:28FX, Comedy Central, and IFC, all of which would have been a better home for the series
00:36:33in the first place.
00:36:34Nowadays, you'd be lucky to find the show anywhere.
00:36:37With a generic title, it's even tough to search for.
00:36:40Another great show that was the victim of the 90s was the 1995-96 sci-fi series Nowhere
00:36:45Man.
00:36:46Airing on UPN, Nowhere Man never really had a chance.
00:36:49The show followed a photographer named Thomas Vail who wakes up one day to find that none
00:36:53of his friends or family seem to know who he is, including his own wife, who now has
00:36:57a different husband.
00:37:05Thomas sets out to discover why his existence has essentially been erased, deducing that
00:37:09it may have something to do with a photo he's taken.
00:37:11Ratings started off well enough, but they dropped off sharply as the first season went
00:37:15on.
00:37:16That, combined with creative struggles behind the scenes, led to the show's demise after
00:37:19only twenty-five episodes.
00:37:21As long as you're okay with watching a series that doesn't have a resolution and never will,
00:37:26Nowhere Man is one of the most overlooked shows of its kind from that era.
00:37:30In Star-Graving Mad, which debuted in the fall of 1999, Tony Shalhoub is a quirky horror
00:37:35novelist and Neil Patrick Harris is his phobia-prone editor.
00:37:39The two being forced to find a way to make their partnership click is admittedly just
00:37:42another variation on the well-worn odd-couple theme.
00:37:45But it works, due in no small part to the talent of the two actors and their terrific
00:37:48chemistry together.
00:37:50But this was the era when Friends was in full swing and Seinfeld had just finished
00:37:53with a historic series finale.
00:37:56The bar was extremely high in terms of the ratings that were expected of a primetime
00:37:59network sitcom.
00:38:01On top of that, NBC put the show in direct competition with the first season of ABC's
00:38:05Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which of course was becoming a full-blown phenomenon at the
00:38:09time and was going to demolish pretty much anything that tried to take it on.
00:38:16Needless to say, Star-Graving Mad was canceled after one season.
00:38:20Another too-weird-for-primetime show was Fox's Get a Life, a surreal comedy starring and
00:38:24co-created by Chris Elliott.
00:38:27Elliott plays man-child Chris Peterson who, at 30, still lives at home, still has the
00:38:31same paper route he had as a kid, and still doesn't have a driver's license.
00:38:35While that might seem like the premise for a fairly standard sitcom, Get a Life was anything
00:38:40but with episodes about everything from finding a vomiting alien, which Chris barbecues and
00:38:45eats later in the episode, to Chris inexplicably discovering he can see a few seconds into
00:38:49the future.
00:38:50Oh, and Chris is also killed in 12 of the show's 35 episodes.
00:39:03Ratings were never great for the show, but Get a Life was actually given a second season.
00:39:07It's easy to see in hindsight how ahead of its time the show was, plus how influential
00:39:11it would be for the blossoming alt-comedy movement on TV, and it's a blast to watch
00:39:15today with that perspective.
00:39:17There was an embarrassment of riches in the 1990s for cartoon-watching comic book fans.
00:39:22In addition to the biggies like Batman the Animated Series, Spider-Man, and X-Men the
00:39:26Animated Series, there seemed to be a handful of animated comic adaptations on the air at
00:39:30any given time that were well worth watching.
00:39:33There were so many, in fact, that there just weren't enough viewers to keep them all afloat,
00:39:37and a few great ones slipped through the cracks.
00:39:40Running for only three months and 13 episodes in 1998, Silver Surfer wasn't just the best
00:39:45of the lesser-remembered comic book cartoons, but is one of the best of the era, period.
00:39:49Mimicking Jack Kirby's art style with a combination of hand-drawn and computer animation, the
00:39:54show already set itself apart with a look that was both retro and also futuristic at
00:39:59the same time.
00:40:00Though the Fantastic Four were disappointingly absent despite their connection to the character
00:40:04in the comics, the show did bring in classic characters like Galactus, Ego the Living Planet,
00:40:09and The Watcher.
00:40:10It was also a bit heavier than most of its peers and willing to address complex political
00:40:15and social issues, which most comics did, but much of which was lost when transforming
00:40:19the properties into kid-friendly cartoons.
00:40:22Frustratingly, it wasn't low ratings that led to the demise of Silver Surfer, but rather
00:40:26a rights dispute.
00:40:27Better to perish for what I believe in than endure forever as a traitor to life.
00:40:33Like Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life has been on so many lists of shows canceled too
00:40:37soon and has been rebroadcast so many times in so many different places since its initial
00:40:42run that it almost feels pointless to spotlight it here.
00:40:45But this list isn't only meant to highlight shows that people might have forgotten about
00:40:49or never knew existed.
00:40:50The key angle here is that these shows are still worth a watch, and boy, is My So-Called
00:40:55Life certainly still worth a watch.
00:40:57While its depiction of teen life circa the mid-90s might feel very much of its time,
00:41:01particularly when it comes to the music, the clothing, and the overall vibe, there is still
00:41:05a timeless quality to the angst depicted in the show.
00:41:08Every generation of current or former teenagers can find themselves in one of the show's characters.
00:41:13That's a big part of the reason why My So-Called Life has sustained such a lasting legacy for
00:41:17nearly 30 years since its cancellation after a run of only 19 episodes.
00:41:23Anthology series have made a comeback in the last decade or so thanks to shows like American
00:41:28Horror Story and Black Mirror.
00:41:29The format has a very rich history, including early iconic series like The Twilight Zone
00:41:34and The Outer Limits, and hits in the 80s and 90s like Tales from the Crypt and Fairy
00:41:39Tale Theatre.
00:41:40There were also a number of other attempts to capitalize on the genre which never got
00:41:43the opportunity to grow.
00:41:45Getting only seven episodes on ABC between November 1981 and January 1982, Darkroom usually
00:41:52took the thriller-horror route.
00:41:54Veteran actor James Coburn added serious gravitas as the show's narrator, and horror directors
00:41:59Rick Rosenthal and Paul Lynch contributed.
00:42:02In a retrospective, Decider declared that Darkroom still held up in 2020.
00:42:06High praise, given that TV horror tends to age poorly.
00:42:10"...goodnight."
00:42:11The 1984 sitcom It's Your Move shouldn't be lumped in with the almost countless number
00:42:17of failed sitcoms from the decade.
00:42:20Before striking sitcom gold for upstart network Fox two years later by creating Married…
00:42:25With Children, the duo of Ron Levitt and Michael G. Moye swung and missed with It's Your Move
00:42:30on NBC.
00:42:31The miss was only a commercial one, not a creative one.
00:42:34Starring a still-teenage Jason Bateman, Hussoff's recurring role on Silver Spoons, It's Your
00:42:39Move leaned a little edgier than most sitcoms of the era.
00:42:42There's a show about a teen con artist who's constantly trying to both scam his classmates
00:42:47and ruin his mom's relationship with her new boyfriend.
00:42:50It was probably a bit much for a network that leaned more towards the likes of Punky Brewster
00:42:55and The Facts of Life in its depiction of sitcom kids.
00:42:58The show was pretty well-received, but it just wasn't enough to best Dynasty, which
00:43:02aired in the same time slot on ABC.
00:43:05Jeff Goldblum's tenure as a series regular for two seasons of Law & Order Criminal Intent
00:43:10wasn't his first major non-guest spot on a television show.
00:43:13In an alternate universe, he might have become a TV star instead of a movie star, playing
00:43:17a detective in the 1980 police procedural comedy series 10 Speed and Brown Shoe.
00:43:23The series was created by Stephen J. Cannell of the A-Team and 21 Jump Street fame, with
00:43:27Goldblum playing Lionel Brownshewn Whitney opposite Ben Viren's EL 10 Speed Turner.
00:43:33The series focused on the mismatched pair of private detectives doing standard detective
00:43:37things.
00:43:38The pilot earned strong ratings, and its writing nabbed Cannell both an Emmy nomination and
00:43:42a WGA award.
00:43:44Unfortunately, ratings quickly plummeted, and the accolades weren't enough to convince
00:43:48ABC to give the show a second season.
00:43:51Still, Viren and Goldblum had excellent chemistry, which is still a treat to watch all these
00:43:56years later.
00:43:57A makeshift show would've lasted a lot longer.
00:43:59Not to be forgotten, Viren would go on to reprise the role of 10 Speed in Cannell's
00:44:03short-lived 1987 crime series, J.J.
00:44:06Starbuck.
00:44:07Also unforgettable?
00:44:08Jeff Goldblum's fighting noises.
00:44:16Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future was extremely ahead of its time, and not just
00:44:20because it took place in the 22nd century.
00:44:23Not only did it feature rudimentary computer animation years before that became a standard
00:44:28TV practice, but the Mattel-produced show also served as an interactive multimedia experience
00:44:33that included comics, video games, and toys.
00:44:37More than just being based on the show, the Captain Power toys were designed to interact
00:44:47with the show at specific points.
00:44:48It was all extremely forward-thinking and well-branded, probably a little too far ahead
00:44:53of its time.
00:44:54The world didn't really take to the show, which is actually pretty good.
00:44:57While it was limited in what it could do in terms of special effects, sets, and costumes
00:45:01given its budget, it did a lot with what it did have.
00:45:04When the toys failed to sell, investors lost interest in continuing to fund the entire
00:45:08endeavor.
00:45:09Captain Power clearly influenced both Babylon 5 and some very familiar designs predated
00:45:14Star Trek The Next Generation's Borg by a couple of years.
00:45:17If you can get past the rough edges, the show is a definite hidden gem of 80s-era sci-fi.
00:45:23An attempt to reboot the series was announced in 2016, but it never materialized.
00:45:28There aren't too many examples where a failed TV show is adapted into an entire trilogy
00:45:33of theatrical films, but that's just what happened with 1982's Police Squad, which transformed
00:45:39into the Make It Gun trilogy after bombing on the small screen.
00:45:42Both come from the same writing trio, and feature the same rapid-fire, absurdist humor
00:45:47from legendary Master of Deadpan Leslie Nielsen.
00:45:50"...Is this some kind of bust?"
00:45:52"...Yes, it's very impressive, but we'd just like to ask a few questions."
00:45:55While the Make It Gun movies revel in taking everything to a ridiculous extreme, there's
00:46:00a certain charm to the way Police Squad remains focused on just being a spoof of police procedurals
00:46:05— though plenty of other genres are poked fun at, too.
00:46:08One benefit to the show's cancellation after just six episodes is that it never needed
00:46:12to up the ante to stay interesting, as it's likely the series would have gone just as
00:46:16over-the-top as the films if it had gone on for multiple seasons.
00:46:19As it stands, Police Squad feels like six Naked Gun prequel mini-movies, and serves
00:46:24as the perfect companion to that film series rather than being replaced by it.
00:46:29After appearing in a few cult classic 80s movies, Jim Carrey became a series regular
00:46:33on the groundbreaking sketch comedy series In Living Color.
00:46:37But his back-and-forth between TV and movies went even farther back than his early film
00:46:41roles in Earth, Girls Are Easy and Once Bitten.
00:46:45In 1984, he was given a potential star vehicle in the form of the NBC sitcom The Duck Factory.
00:46:51The show starred Carrey as a fledgling cartoonist who lands a job working at an animation studio
00:46:56producing a cartoon called The Dippy Duck Show.
00:46:59It served as a great showcase for Carrey's manic energy and rubber-faced mugging, and
00:47:04reviews at the time saw that Carrey was a star in the making.
00:47:07The show probably needed another season to iron out some of its wrinkles, but it never
00:47:11got the chance.
00:47:12It's worth a watch today to see just how fully formed Carrey's shtick already was that early
00:47:17on in his career.
00:47:18Plus, it's easy to marvel at how good he could be in an ensemble, a talent that was mostly
00:47:22lost once he started headlining his own films.
00:47:26Animated shows no longer have the stigma of only being for young children.
00:47:30But in the days before 24-hour cable channels dedicated entirely to cartoons, it was tough
00:47:34for an animated show that wasn't specifically aimed at playground-age kids to find an audience.
00:47:40That was definitely the case for Galaxy High School, a 1986 animated series that had some
00:47:44impressive names behind it.
00:47:46The show was created by Harry Potter director Chris Columbus, and had a theme song composed
00:47:51by Eagles guitarist Don Felder.
00:47:53Ren & Stimpy creator John Kaye created the character designs, and it starred a pre-Simpsons
00:47:58Nancy Cartwright.
00:47:59The show centers on two human teenagers from Earth who attend an
00:48:10interstellar institution with students from various planets.
00:48:13Airing on CBS on Saturday mornings, it was assumed to be for the younger set, which is
00:48:18likely why it failed to find enough of an audience to earn a second season.
00:48:21It was a bit too mature for that crowd, but there really weren't many other avenues for
00:48:25cartoons during that time.
00:48:27Galaxy High School would have done better with the young adult audiences that later
00:48:31made shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe's beloved hits.
00:48:35A woman is in a sterile-looking grocery store.
00:48:38She picks up a can labeled meat, and asks the worker what kind of meat it actually is.
00:48:42What kind?
00:48:43What do you mean?
00:48:44It's just meat.
00:48:45It's one of those moments that gets permanently etched into people's brains, even if they
00:48:49don't know where it came from.
00:48:50In this case, the iconic scene is from an oft-forgotten sci-fi series from 1985 called
00:48:55Otherworld.
00:48:56It's a great representation of the show's dark humor and off-kilter vibe, a combination
00:49:01that mostly confused viewers at the time.
00:49:03It follows a family of five whose vacation to visit the pyramids in Egypt ends up transporting
00:49:08them to a parallel version of Earth.
00:49:10Like much sci-fi of the era, Otherworld has a general overarching plot, but most episodes
00:49:15are largely self-contained and often play with genre and format.
00:49:19Ratings didn't justify it getting more than eight episodes, which ended on a cliffhanger,
00:49:24but it would secure its place as a cult classic for decades to come.
00:49:28Every Generation seems to have an iconic show or two about teen angst for 90s kids.
00:49:33One show is My So-Called Life, which was rerunned so often and was praised enough after
00:49:37the fact that it's easy to forget it was actually a flop when it came out.
00:49:41The 80s had Square Pegs, which didn't have the benefit of MTV giving it a second chance
00:49:45in reruns, but it still very much fills that same TV teen angst role for 80s kids.
00:49:50It's easy to focus on future superstar Sarah Jessica Parker, but Square Pegs was very much
00:49:55an ensemble piece about a group of eight high school freshmen struggling to fit in.
00:49:59It stood out from other teen-based shows of its era by having actual teenagers playing
00:50:04the characters, as well as being contemporary, which critics at the time praised it for.
00:50:08It only got 20 episodes, but because the show was so good at being a snapshot of that moment
00:50:13in time, it still stands as a great picture of what it was like to be a teenager in the
00:50:17early 80s.
00:50:19Cray T. Nelson had been kicking around on television for over 15 years before landing
00:50:23the lead role on the beloved 1989 sports sitcom Coach.
00:50:28And though most of those small-screen roles were single-episode appearances, there was
00:50:31an ABC show he starred in during the 1984-85 television season that frequently shows up
00:50:38on lists of the best shows of the decade, even though most people have forgotten about
00:50:42him.
00:50:43Call to Glory begins during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
00:50:46Nelson plays an Air Force pilot, and the show follows his military service and the family
00:50:50waiting for him at home.
00:50:52ABC made it known to the press that it was proud of the show, and was trying its best
00:50:56to find a time slot where it would secure the audience it deserved.
00:51:00Despite the network's faith and strong praise from critics, Call to Glory didn't find that
00:51:04loyal audience, and the show was honorably discharged before it got a second season.
00:51:09Considering how many promising sci-fi entries failed to make an impact during the crowded
00:51:13television landscape of the 1980s, it's not hard to see why production companies got a
00:51:17little gun-shy about the genre.
00:51:20One of the most notable one-season sci-fi wonders of the decade was Misfits of Science,
00:51:25and not only because it featured an early role by future Friends superstar Courtney
00:51:29Cox.
00:51:30The show focuses on a group of outcasts whose only unifying quality is that most of them
00:51:34have superpowers.
00:51:35The only one who doesn't is the group's leader, Dr. Hayes, whose job is to keep the team on
00:51:39track and out of trouble, but seems more adept at doing the exact opposite.
00:51:43When the series debuted in 1985, live-action shows about superhero teams weren't yet a
00:51:48popular genre, so that alone made Misfits of Science stand out.
00:51:52The show lasted only five months, but what was there was solid and well worth seeking
00:51:56out for fans of today's lighter superhero TV show fare.
00:52:00The 1970s were filled with spinoffs.
00:52:02One of the least successful was Mrs. Columbo, an extension of the popular detective show
00:52:07Columbo.
00:52:08The original series often mentioned Columbo's wife, though she was never seen.
00:52:12But then Kate Mulgrew arrived to play her on her own show.
00:52:16Premiering in 1979, Mrs. Columbo sees intrepid news reporter Kate Columbo following in her
00:52:22husband's footsteps.
00:52:23She's a whip-smart amateur sleuth who can solve all sorts of crimes.
00:52:26It seems like audiences simply weren't interested.
00:52:29NBC gave the show another shot, despite dismal ratings in its first year, by retooling the
00:52:34show as Kate the Detective in its second and final season in 1980.
00:52:39While Mrs. Columbo couldn't quite match the quality of the original, there's still lots
00:52:43to love about it.
00:52:44Most notably, there's Mulgrew, who in her first leading role showed signs of the Emmy-nominated
00:52:49actor she would later become, even if audiences couldn't quite appreciate it at the time.
00:52:54Running just eight episodes, Hawkins was basically a series of sometimes monthly mini-movies.
00:53:00It starred one of the biggest names of yesteryear in the later days of his career, as Jimmy
00:53:05Stewart took on the title role of lawyer Billy Jim Hawkins.
00:53:08The show wasn't your typical hard-nosed legal drama, and that's largely thanks to Stewart.
00:53:13With his endless charisma, Billy Jim is a country bumpkin type who hides his craftiness
00:53:18under a thick layer of old-fashioned Southern charm.
00:53:29Each of the eight stories typically ran about 75 minutes.
00:53:33The series' biggest flaw was the rather straightforward nature of the plots, though it was elevated
00:53:37by its impressive cast.
00:53:39While ratings were never stellar, and it ended after less than a year, Hawkins was essentially
00:53:44the blueprint for Matlock, one of the biggest hits of the following decade.
00:53:48It may be best known today for the 2003 sci-fi channel series that it inspired, but the original
00:53:54Battlestar Galactica got its start back in 1978.
00:53:58Set in the far reaches of space, the series opens with the destruction of the twelve colonies
00:54:02of Kobol by a race of evil robots called Cylons.
00:54:06Led by the noble Commander Adama and hotshot pilots Apollo and Starbuck, the Battlestar
00:54:11Galactica takes command of the surviving civilian fleet.
00:54:15But the Cylons are hot on their tail as they set out on a mission to find the long-lost
00:54:19thirteenth colony, Earth.
00:54:21Alas, Battlestar Galactica failed to catch on with audiences.
00:54:25It did manage a second season of sorts, as it was reformatted as Galactica 1980.
00:54:30Still, it offered some of the best science fiction of the era, with thoughtful stories,
00:54:34social messages, and exciting space battles.
00:54:37Whether you're a fan of the reboot or not, the original BSG is a real treat that transcends
00:54:42its failure.
00:54:43A spin-off of the smash hit sitcom Barney Miller, Fish followed the adventures of Detective
00:54:49Phil Fish, played by the legendary Abe Vigoda.
00:54:52This was no police drama, but rather an otherwise ordinary sitcom about the home life of a New
00:54:57York cop and his wife Bernice.
00:54:59Phil and Bernice have become foster parents to a group of children in need.
00:55:03The family was also joined by Charlie, a child psychologist who helps the Fish clan
00:55:08from getting in over their heads.
00:55:09Alas, Fish couldn't quite survive in a crowded sitcom landscape.
00:55:13So when Vigoda demanded a raise, it was an easy decision to cancel the series, even though
00:55:18it was a solid show with a strong cast capable of delivering plenty of laughs.
00:55:29The 1970s saw the anthology format creep into spine-tingling horror, including the
00:55:34criminally underrated and dreadfully short-lived Ghost Story.
00:55:38It was hosted by the character Winston Essex, played by Family Affair star Sebastian Cabot.
00:55:44He's the proprietor of a gothic mansion called the Mansfield House, who introduces stories
00:55:48of the supernatural.
00:55:50The 23 episodes ran the gamut of traditional horror stories, with tales of ghostly hauntings,
00:55:55demonic possession, bloodthirsty vampires, and sinister individuals with otherworldly
00:56:01powers.
00:56:02The show also featured plenty of popular guest stars, including Janet Leigh, Martin Sheen,
00:56:07and Angie Dickinson.
00:56:08Struggling in the ratings in 1972, Ghost Story was retitled Circle of Fear for the second
00:56:13half of its run.
00:56:14But that wasn't enough to save it.
00:56:16And that's too bad, because it remains among the best horror anthologies ever made.
00:56:21In 1978, the comedy magazine National Lampoon released its first successful movie, Animal
00:56:27House.
00:56:28After it lit up the box office, it came to TV the following year in the form of Delta
00:56:33House.
00:56:34Director John Landis and star John Belushi weren't involved, but several other original
00:56:38cast members returned.
00:56:40While the series lacked the bite of the movie due to the restrictions of network TV, it's
00:56:44still a laugh riot, with plots that see the gang involved in all kinds of antics, including
00:56:49an episode set during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
00:56:52But what makes Delta House even more compelling is the fact that it's some of the first work
00:56:56from writer-director John Hughes, who would go on to make beloved movies like 16 Candles
00:57:01and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
00:57:03And speaking of future stars, it also featured an early appearance from a young Michelle
00:57:07Pfeiffer.
00:57:09Before she achieved sitcom fame on Family Ties, Meredith Baxter starred opposite her
00:57:14future husband, David Birney, on Bridget Loves Birney, a CBS sitcom about a Catholic
00:57:19woman who marries a Jewish man.
00:57:21The show explored the problems and joys of an interfaith union, creating as much thoughtful
00:57:25discussion as it did comic mix-ups.
00:57:28This kind of mixed marriage was still controversial in some circles at the time, and sadly, that's
00:57:33precisely why the show failed.
00:57:34Despite good reviews, scandal erupted when religious groups tried to get the show to
00:57:39ditch its entire premise.
00:57:41Catholic executives scoffed at this idea, but then protests intensified, and the show
00:57:45was pulled from the air entirely.
00:57:48The remarkable thing about the cancellation of Bridget Loves Birney is that it's not
00:57:52quite a flop in the traditional sense.
00:57:54It enjoyed solid ratings, as it managed to be the fifth most-watched show of the season,
00:57:59and it absolutely deserved that popularity.
00:58:08Gerry Anderson is best known for the British kid's show, Thunderbirds, but that was just
00:58:13one in a long line of programs he created, and in the 1970s, several of them made their
00:58:18way to the United States.
00:58:19Unfortunately, though, they rarely found success.
00:58:22One of the best of these flops was UFO, which may have been a little too far ahead of its
00:58:26time to find success in America.
00:58:29Set in the far-off future of 1980, UFO centered on a clandestine organization called Shadow,
00:58:35which stood for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization.
00:58:39Composed of members from around the globe, their task was to monitor outer space and
00:58:43stop an evasion by a race of alien beings who have been secretly visiting Earth for
00:58:48years.
00:58:49Smartly written sci-fi stories and some impressive special effects for the era helped UFO become
00:58:54a favorite among both kids and adults.
00:58:57Over the years, it's become a bonafide cult classic, although the initial ratings were
00:59:02poor.
00:59:03For many viewers, it's as much of a classic as Doctor Who or the original Star Trek.
00:59:08When UFO ended its American syndication run, that wasn't the end of the franchise.
00:59:13Networks clearly liked the show, even if it wasn't enough of a hit to remain on the air.
00:59:17Creator Gerry Anderson had originally envisioned a new series to act as a direct sequel, but
00:59:22after UFO was cancelled, that sophomore season was retooled into something entirely different
00:59:28called Space 1999.
00:59:34The show was headlined by Mission Impossible stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, who
00:59:39were also married at the time.
00:59:40They played the leaders of Moonbase Alpha, a lunar research station that's thrown into
00:59:45chaos when a nuclear disaster sends Earth's biggest natural satellite spinning off into
00:59:50space.
00:59:51Like UFO, the show featured high-quality special effects, while its impressive cast helped
00:59:56elevate it beyond the ordinary sci-fi of the era.
00:59:59Despite all that, Space 1999 wasn't exactly a massive hit.
01:00:03To make matters worse, it was incredibly expensive to produce, and while a second season attempted
01:00:08to retool the show to better appeal to American audiences, it was ultimately canned after
01:00:1348 episodes.
01:00:15Hollywood is always trying to reinvent a classic with a modern twist, and that trend goes back
01:00:20further than you might expect.
01:00:22Case in point, the 1975 series The Invisible Man.
01:00:26Loosely based on the novel of the same name by H.G.
01:00:29Wells, the show revolved around the exploits of scientist Daniel Weston, whose latest experiments
01:00:34for the Clay Corporation involved teleportation.
01:00:36But when he inadvertently stumbles upon the secret to invisibility, he decides to test
01:00:41it on himself.
01:00:43Before Weston can convince the company about the practical applications of his invention,
01:00:47he learns that clay is actually being funded by the government, and that they'll use his
01:00:51research as a weapon.
01:00:53After destroying his own research, Weston mistakenly becomes permanently invisible and
01:00:57must use a series of lifelike masks to be seen.
01:01:01To fund the research needed to regain his visibility, he utilizes his newfound power
01:01:05to become an intelligence agent of sorts.
01:01:08A mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and espionage, The Invisible Man takes Wells' original concept
01:01:14in a bold and surprising new direction.
01:01:16While it's not quite as good as the shows it's clearly influenced by, it's still a fun little
01:01:20series that's worth a watch.
01:01:23Back in the 70s, it was much less common than it is today for TV shows to blend disparate
01:01:27genres like horror and crime fiction.
01:01:30But in 1974, ABC tried to pull that tricky formula off with the occult crime drama Kolchak
01:01:36the Night Stalker.
01:01:38It's centered on the exploits of mercurial investigator Karl Kolchak, whose cases involve
01:01:43otherworldly elements.
01:01:44The series kicked off with a pair of TV movies called The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler,
01:01:49both of which saw Kolchak tracking down supernatural killers.
01:01:53Let me finish my lunch!
01:01:55Where you going?
01:01:57The two films were written by the legendary Richard Matheson, and the character was based
01:02:01on the novel by Jeff Rice, with TV icon Darren McGavin in the lead role.
01:02:06Across 20 episodes, Kolchak faced down everything from zombies and aliens to ancient spirits
01:02:12and devilish cults.
01:02:14While the initial two stories might have done well as primetime movies of the week, the
01:02:18show proved to be a bit too grim for a network series.
01:02:21It was never a hit, plummeting to 74th in the ratings in its first and only season.
01:02:26Kolchak was truly something fresh and new, but audiences simply may not have been ready
01:02:31for it.
01:02:32Eventually, though, it would garner a passionate fanbase, and X-Files creator Chris Carter
01:02:36has also acknowledged that he was heavily inspired by Kolchak.
01:02:40It was remade in 2005, with Stuart Townsend in the lead, but that version was even shorter
01:02:45lived.
01:02:46Pretty crime dramas were all the rage in the 70s, with movies like Serpico and The French
01:02:51Connection on the big screen, and plenty of police and detective dramas on TV.
01:02:56In 1974, CBS tried something a little bit different with the genre by airing a period
01:03:01piece set during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
01:03:05The Manhunter followed Dave Barrett, a former Marine from Idaho who returns home after fighting
01:03:10overseas and decides to take up a new role as a bounty hunter, a solid procedural that
01:03:15fits well alongside similar shows of the era.
01:03:18The Manhunter takes Barrett across the countryside as he tracks down bank robbers, killers, kidnappers,
01:03:24and extortionists.
01:03:25It was quite action-packed, as it boasted fast-paced car chases, guns-blazing shootouts,
01:03:31and bare-knuckle brawls.
01:03:32The problem with The Manhunter wasn't that it wasn't good, it just wasn't among the
01:03:36best of the very best.
01:03:38In a crowded field, it failed to stand out and was ultimately cut short after just one
01:03:43season.
01:03:44For 70s crime dramas, this should be right up your alley.