Big Name Star Doesn't Translate To a Successful Show

[Mark Giardina]

Jimmy Stewart tried, twice I think, to establish himself on television but his programs didn’t last very long.

Didn’t Henry Fonda star on TV in a western that also had a short life span?

Lucy’s last show (before she passed away) didn’t even last a full season before executives at ABC pulled the plug. Several episodes that were taped never aired.

Walter Brennan’s ‘The Tycoon’ dropped like the stock market in 1929; lasting just one season. However his previous shows ‘The Real McCoys and ‘The Guns of Will Sonnett’ fared better in the ratings.

Jerry Lewis' two hour talk show didn't last one season on ABC. Then his later variety program on NBC was also cancelled. (Meanwhile ex partner Dean Martin's show was a huge hit, which must of bruised Lewis' ego).

Please feel free to add more names and shows.

 

[davalvideo]

Phyllis Diller had a variety show a while back which by her own admission was the worst thing ever on television. It lasted I Think one season.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Phyllis Diller had a variety show a while back which by her own admission was the worst thing ever on television. It lasted I Think one season.

I believe that Diller also starred in a show that was titled: 'The Pruitts of Southhampton.'

 

[Mark Giardina]

Forgot to add one more to my original list.

Don Knotts hosted a variety show that didn't last one season.

 

[KeithE4]

Phyllis Diller had a variety show a while back which by her own admission was the worst thing ever on television. It lasted I Think one season.

I believe that Diller also starred in a show that was titled: 'The Pruitts of Southhampton.'

It lasted one season (1966-67). Renamed The Beautiful Phillis Diller Show in January '67. Didn't help.

 

[Braves2005]

Mickey Rooney failed with 3 sitcoms of his own. "The Mickey Rooney Show" (mid 1950s), "Mickey" (1964-1965) and "One Of The Boys" (1982)

 

[landtuna]

Very few people have the talent to "star" in a namesake show for an extended time. It almost always takes an ensemble of other talented people to be successful. That might explain why successful movie stars don't translate well to ongoing TV appearances.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Julie Andrews was one of the biggest stars on the planet and her variety show tanked. Also, people forget that Bill Cosby had 2 short lived variety shows and a sitcom that only hung around for a couple years before "The Cosby Show" came along.

 

[bpatrick]

Actually, "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show" was her 1968
NBC variety show. Her 1966-67 ABC sitcom was originally
titled "The Pruitts Of Southampton," changing its name to
"The Phyllis Diller Show" in January 1967.

Henry Fonda did have a relatively-unsuccessful Western,
"The Deputy" (NBC, 1959-61) as well as an ABC sitcom about
the home life of a cop, "The Smith Family" (1971-72). In fact,
in the fall of 1971, ABC tried a block of shows with superstar
talent on Wednesday nights: "The Smith Family," "Shirley's World"
(Shirley MacLaine as a globetrotting photographer), and "The Man
And The City" (Anthony Quinn as the mayor of Albuquerque). All
flopped ("The Smith Family," I should add, had debuted in January 1971
and been renewed; it didn't make it back for the fall of '72).

The Smothers Brothers failed six times: their 1965-66 CBS sitcom with
Tommy as an angel, a summer show on ABC in 1970 and a midseason
replacement on NBC in 1975, "Tom Smothers' Organic Prime Time Space
Ride" (syndicated, 1971-72), "Fitz and Bones" (NBC, 1981), and a revival
of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS in 1988 and 1989.

Paul Lynde failed twice: "The Paul Lynde Show" (ABC, 1972-73) and the
second season of "Temperatures Rising" (1973). On the latter he replaced
James Whitmore, whose "The Law And Mr. Jones" tried and failed twice on
ABC, 1960-61 and again in 1962.

Raymond Burr had a failure to his credit: "Kingston: Confidential," where he
played a crime-busting newspaper editor (NBC, 1977).

 

[landtuna]

The network suits didn't apparently consider that TV audiences are demographically different than theater goers (and that has apparently changed again since the 60's).

 

[skippercollector]

It depends

Bette Midler, Bette, no
Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City, yes
Kyra Sedgwick, Talk to Me, no; The Closer, yes
Kevin Bacon, The Following, yes (although I personally can't stomach it)
Dustin Hoffman, Luck, no
Joan Cusack, What About Joan? and Saturday Night Live, (sort of)
Anjelica Huston, Smash (sort of)
Chevy Chase, Community, yes
Gary Sinise, CSI: New York, yes


I wouldn't be surprised if the following 50-plus(!) actors tried returning to television: Cher, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, Rob Reiner, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams. I don't know about Clint Eastwood, not because of his politics but because he just seems to be really aging in the past few years.
And the following who haven't done television regularly but I think ought to consider it: John Cusack, Robert DeNiro (how many TV commercials has he done?), Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Bernadette Peters, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Robert Redford

 

[Dave]

Robin Williams is returning to prime time network TV with "The Crazy Ones" on CBS.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Bing Crosby starred in a sitcom that lasted just one year in 1964-65.

 

[onairb]

Sammy Davis, Jr. didn't do very well in his only prime-time series, a self-titled NBC variety show in early 1966. The premiere telecast did well against tough competition('Hogan's Heroes' and 'Gomer Pyle'), but, due to a contractual non-compete clause, Sammy was unable to appear on the show for the next three weeks; this was because he'd committed to do an ABC special that aired in February. After three weeks of guest hosts(ironically, Johnny Carson was among them!), Sammy returned, but the show had no momemtum, and disappeared in 13 weeks.
A decade later came the syndicated 'Sammy and Company' talk show, which hung on for two years, but is known mostly for being the inspiration of the 'SCTV' "Sammy Maudlin" sketches.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Burt Reynolds at the end his career

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Julie Andrews was one of the biggest stars on the planet and her variety show tanked. Also, people forget that Bill Cosby had 2 short lived variety shows and a sitcom that only hung around for a couple years before "The Cosby Show" came along.

Didn't have much success after the Cosby Show

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Jenny McCarthy after she left MTV for NBC, she was big star on MTV at the time

 

[onairb]

Julie Andrews was one of the biggest stars on the planet and her variety show tanked. Also, people forget that Bill Cosby had 2 short lived variety shows and a sitcom that only hung around for a couple years before "The Cosby Show" came along.

Didn't have much success after the Cosby Show

CBS's 'Cosby' didn't measure up to the success of the NBC show, but it was by no means a flop.

 

[bpatrick]

Cosby flopped big time, though, with his attempt to revive "You Bet
Your Life," and "The Cosby Mysteries."

And is there anyone other than me who remembers "Saturday Night
Live With Howard Cosell"? That show, intended as the second coming
of "The Ed Sullivan Show," lasted a mere sixteen weeks in the fall of
1975 and was the joke of the industry, starting with the fact that Cosell
and Roone Arledge created it (what did two sports-oriented people know
about putting on a variety show, the cynics wondered). At any rate, at
the same time, a late-night satire show also debuted on NBC, and that was
the show, officially called "NBC's Saturday Night," that everyone started calling
"Saturday Night Live." When Cosell's show folded, NBC bought the rights to the
name "Saturday Night Live," and that's the show we think of today when we hear
that title.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Sammy Davis, Jr. didn't do very well in his only prime-time series, a self-titled NBC variety show in early 1966. The premiere telecast did well against tough competition('Hogan's Heroes' and 'Gomer Pyle'), but, due to a contractual non-compete clause, Sammy was unable to appear on the show for the next three weeks; this was because he'd committed to do an ABC special that aired in February. After three weeks of guest hosts(ironically, Johnny Carson was among them!), Sammy returned, but the show had no momemtum, and disappeared in 13 weeks.
A decade later came the syndicated 'Sammy and Company' talk show, which hung on for two years, but is known mostly for being the inspiration of the 'SCTV' "Sammy Maudlin" sketches.

Davis wasn't the official host of the half-season variety show flop from Fall 1973, "NBC Follies," but he and Mickey Rooney were in virtually episode.