Cancelled TV Shows That Never Provided A Proper Ending

[LKellerIII]

Reed appeared on many radio shows, but most notably as
Pasquale on "Life With Luigi". In his autobiography, "That's
Not All, Folks," Mel Blanc said there was some animosity
between the two of them when they first started playing
Fred and Barney, related to the fact that Blanc had the more
successful radio career. But after Blanc's near-fatal 1961 auto
accident, when he was playing Barney from his bedroom, Reed
stayed after they finished recording one evening and expressed
his absolute awe that Blanc, in his condition, would continue working.
Blanc said that the two of them became better friends in real life than
Fred and Barney were. (Smiley not meant as a joke but as a happy
ending.)

Reed also had appeared in a 1962 episode of The Lucy Show. He was in the episode where Viv & Lu took a group of scouts to DC to meet President Kennedy. On the way Lucy had stopped by a coffee shop looking for sugar for her horse. The coffee shop employee? Alan Reed ! ! Using his Fred Flinstone voice.

It's probably more accurate to say that Fred used Alan Reed's voice. Shortly after the Flintsontes began, I recall seeing a re-run episode of Mr. Adams and Eve. Real life married couple Ida Lupino and Howard Duff played a Hollyood married acting couple. If I remember correctly, Reed played their agent.

He sounded exactly like Fred, and looked a lot like Fred too - big husky guy with dark hair. All he needed to be a live-action Fred was the orange suit.

Another voice actor along those same lines - Don Adams. Whether he was being Tennessee Tuxedo, Inspector Gadget, or whatever - he always sounded exactly like himself.

 

[Ultimajock]

It's probably more accurate to say that Fred used Alan Reed's voice. Shortly after the Flintsontes began, I recall seeing a re-run episode of Mr. Adams and Eve. Real life married couple Ida Lupino and Howard Duff played a Hollyood married acting couple. If I remember correctly, Reed played their agent.

He sounded exactly like Fred, and looked a lot like Fred too - big husky guy with dark hair. All he needed to be a live-action Fred was the orange suit.

...you may want to check out the final Fred Allen Show of the 1945-46 radio season -- http://www.archive.org/download/FredAllen--theFredAllenShow1945-1949/Fredallen-460526TheFredAllenShow-kingForADayguestJackBenny.mp3 is the mp3 link. In it, Alan Reed is the NBC tour guide who finds Jack Benny stowing away in it to save 30 cents. Exactly the same voice as Fred Flintstone 15 years later...

Another voice actor along those same lines - Don Adams. Whether he was being Tennessee Tuxedo, Inspector Gadget, or whatever - he always sounded exactly like himself.

...same goes for Gary Owens, whether he was on Roger Ramjet or Ren & Stimpy...

 

[Mark Giardina]

Space-Above and Beyond. Great show with a lot of potential. Unfortunately most of the original cast was killed off in the first season.

Run for Your Life: So did the guy end up dying or did he receive some medical cure that saved his life?

Lois & Clark: At least explain who was the baby they found in their house?

The Fugitive (2000 TV series) At least the network could have ended the show having Kimble found innocent of the crime. But considering how bad that show was, it's better just to end it the way they did. Besides no one was watching anyways.

 

[Bob1370]

"Run for Your Life: So did the guy end up dying or did he receive some medical cure that saved his life?"

We were never going to find out.

A few years ago I interviewed Ben Gazzara, mostly in connection with his work with John Cassavetes (which was subject of a retrospective at George Eastman House in Rochester) but the conversation came around to Run For Your Life, which happened to be a favorite of a lot of listeners/callers.

Turns out the show was on the bubble for renewal at the end of its third season on NBC, and it was literally a last minute cancellation, after the last episode of the season was already in the can. So there was no time to produce a finale even if the producers had wanted one.

But Gazzara told me that the fate of the main character he played, Paul Bryan, was never going to be settled, even if the show had gotten renewed for a fourth season or more. You see, the plan was always to let his fate remain unresolved--because that way, if the show ran long enough to get to 100 episodes needed for syndication, and did NOT tie everything up nicely in the end, it would still draw an audience in reruns and still be salable to stations and advertisers. As it is the production run fell 14 episodes short, but if it had gone extra seasons, the suits at Universal TV weren't ever going to do a finale, but keep Paul Bryan both alive and running.

Ben Gazzara, by the way, was fine with that--he enjoyed playing the character of Paul Bryan and thought it had a lot more potential to grow.

 

[azumanga]

But Gazzara told me that the fate of the main character he played, Paul Bryan, was never going to be settled, even if the show had gotten renewed for a fourth season or more. You see, the plan was always to let his fate remain unresolved--because that way, if the show ran long enough to get to 100 episodes needed for syndication, and did NOT tie everything up nicely in the end, it would still draw an audience in reruns and still be salable to stations and advertisers. As it is the production run fell 14 episodes short, but if it had gone extra seasons, the suits at Universal TV weren't ever going to do a finale, but keep Paul Bryan both alive and running.

Of course, what if the show was on the air for 20 years or more, like "Gunsmoke" and "Law and Order" -- and Paul Bryan, who only had a year to live, was still alive and running?

 

[bpatrick]

Reed appeared on many radio shows, but most notably as
Pasquale on "Life With Luigi". In his autobiography, "That's
Not All, Folks," Mel Blanc said there was some animosity
between the two of them when they first started playing
Fred and Barney, related to the fact that Blanc had the more
successful radio career. But after Blanc's near-fatal 1961 auto
accident, when he was playing Barney from his bedroom, Reed
stayed after they finished recording one evening and expressed
his absolute awe that Blanc, in his condition, would continue working.
Blanc said that the two of them became better friends in real life than
Fred and Barney were. (Smiley not meant as a joke but as a happy
ending.)

Reed also had appeared in a 1962 episode of The Lucy Show. He was in the episode where Viv & Lu took a group of scouts to DC to meet President Kennedy. On the way Lucy had stopped by a coffee shop looking for sugar for her horse. The coffee shop employee? Alan Reed ! ! Using his Fred Flinstone voice.

It's probably more accurate to say that Fred used Alan Reed's voice. Shortly after the Flintsontes began, I recall seeing a re-run episode of Mr. Adams and Eve. Real life married couple Ida Lupino and Howard Duff played a Hollyood married acting couple. If I remember correctly, Reed played their agent.

He sounded exactly like Fred, and looked a lot like Fred too - big husky guy with dark hair. All he needed to be a live-action Fred was the orange suit.

Another voice actor along those same lines - Don Adams. Whether he was being Tennessee Tuxedo, Inspector Gadget, or whatever - he always sounded exactly like himself.

Anybody remember the two-part "Beverly Hillbillies" episode where Jed, Granny, and Elly May, believing the plot of a TV wrestling show, get in the ring thinking they're helping Rebecca of Donnybrook Farm save the farm? Alan Reed played the wrestling promoter; I remember asking my dad to identify the actor; he listened for about five seconds and said, "That's Fred Flintstone!"

I also recall George O'Hanlon, the voice of George Jetson, playing Charley Appleby in an episode of "I Love Lucy"; you couldn't
miss that voice either.

 

[mleach]

I also recall George O'Hanlon, the voice of George Jetson, playing Charley Appleby in an episode of "I Love Lucy"; you couldn't
miss that voice either.

Back in the days when AMC stood for American Movie Classics ( well bank in their Nick Clooney days anyway ) AMC would show those old Joe McDoakes/ Behind the 8 Ball shorts..starring O'Hanlon

..and like Reed looking like Fred Flinstone..O'Hanlon looked a bit like George Jetson too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McDoakes

 

[bpatrick]

To belabor a point, I've seen a picture of Alan Reed and
Jean Vander Pyl standing on either side of life-size drawings
of Fred and Wilma, and both actors resemble the characters.

 

[Bob1370]

"Of course, what if the show was on the air for 20 years or more, like "Gunsmoke" and "Law and Order" -- and Paul Bryan, who only had a year to live, was still alive and running?"

I probably should have asked him that, although by the late 60s adventure/action dramas tended not to go on that long in original production (seems like only police procedurals like Hawaii 5-0 or Law & Order are close to immortal these days). But we all know one thing Hollywood is good for...not letting logic or details of real life get in the way of a good continuing story. If the great god A.C. Nielsen had willed it, Paul Bryan would have kept on running into the 70s or even into the 80s every week on NBC, probably without any explanation offered, and as long as the stories were good every week, the viewers probably wouldn't mind...

 

[bpatrick]

"The Time Tunnel" should have come up with a way to bring
Tony (James Darren) and Doug (Robert Colbert) home. I think
what happened is that ABC had scheduled the show for a second
season, Wednesdays at 7:30 (ET), but Irwin Allen, who produced
both "Time Tunnel" and "Lost In Space", realized the two shows
would be head-to-head and he didn't want to compete against
himself. So ABC dropped "Time Tunnel". Still, a final wrap-things-up
episode would have been in order.

 

[FRR]

Sorta like the books that David Cassidy and Wolfman Jack wrote about themselves. Cousin Brucie Morrow wasn't exactly a fan of the latter nor his book.

...Bruce Morrow was a lousy disc jockey who lucked his way into a good job. If New York radio was all I had to put up with in the early '60s, I'd have kept my dial bouncing between Mitch Reed on WMCA and Murray the K on WINS and constantly passed Morrow by...

And Andrea, I agree with you. ( And not just because you sent me that MP3 by Odessey) Lol

Other than brief air-checks, and little sound bites of him in movies (Dirty Dancing, etc.), I only heard Cousin Brucie live on air once - on WCBS-FM about 1993. I was astonished. CBS let him ramble on and on (obviously because he was the great Morrow). He wasn't talking incoherently, or anything, but it was trivial, multiple-minutes long each time, and B-O-R-I-N-G. As a radio nerd who loves the great jocks of that era, I'm always upset that management doesn't let them talk more. But Brucie - at least on that night - was a great argument for "just shut up and play the music."

I was in NYC in 1999 and I heard Brucie on WCBS-FM and yeah..he seemed to be well..way into talking..a LOT.

Around the same time Barry Williams' book "Growing Up Brady" came out ( mid 90's ) Wolfman Jack's bio came out too and Brucie went off at some of the stuff in the book, pretty much calling the Wolfman a "liar". Then David Cassidy's book came out and some of his foes did the same. Then on top of that there was Bob Denver who did his own bio where he mentioned that one day on the set of Gilligan's Island, he couldn't get a nap in or something because Tina Louise was having loud sex in her dressing room which was near Denver's. Tina denied that. Anyway at the time a lot of people were starting to wonder exactly how much in those books were true or how much was made up to sell books. Cousin Brucie started that. Then again one could easily agrue that Christina Crawford got the ball started when she wrote the infamous "Mommie Dearest".

Hold on here, you guys, hold on -- I gotta put in my $.50 on this one - you guys are going negative on my boy Brucie, and as a NATIVE New Yorker, I have to defend him!!

With The Cuz, what you see is what you get - Bruce Morrow is as REAL and as HONEST and as TRUTHFUL as can be! He writes and speaks from his heart and from his life experiences and from the fact that he IS a NATIVE New Yorker! Brucie is a REAL PEOPLE communicator - he communicates to the people, to us...his gift is that even though he IS broadcasting to an audience of MILLIONS of people, when you listen to him, he makes you feel as if he is talking just to you...Let's give Brucie a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T, okay??

Andrea

 

[FRR]

Sorta like the books that David Cassidy and Wolfman Jack wrote about themselves. Cousin Brucie Morrow wasn't exactly a fan of the latter nor his book.

...Bruce Morrow was a lousy disc jockey who lucked his way into a good job. If New York radio was all I had to put up with in the early '60s, I'd have kept my dial bouncing between Mitch Reed on WMCA and Murray the K on WINS and constantly passed Morrow by...

Other than brief air-checks, and little sound bites of him in movies (Dirty Dancing, etc.), I only heard Cousin Brucie live on air once - on WCBS-FM about 1993. I was astonished. CBS let him ramble on and on (obviously because he was the great Morrow). He wasn't talking incoherently, or anything, but it was trivial, multiple-minutes long each time, and B-O-R-I-N-G. As a radio nerd who loves the great jocks of that era, I'm always upset that management doesn't let them talk more. But Brucie - at least on that night - was a great argument for "just shut up and play the music."

I was in NYC in 1999 and I heard Brucie on WCBS-FM and yeah..he seemed to be well..way into talking..a LOT.

Around the same time Barry Williams' book "Growing Up Brady" came out ( mid 90's ) Wolfman Jack's bio came out too and Brucie went off at some of the stuff in the book, pretty much calling the Wolfman a "liar". Then David Cassidy's book came out and some of his foes did the same. Then on top of that there was Bob Denver who did his own bio where he mentioned that one day on the set of Gilligan's Island, he couldn't get a nap in or something because Tina Louise was having loud sex in her dressing room which was near Denver's. Tina denied that. Anyway at the time a lot of people were starting to wonder exactly how much in those books were true or how much was made up to sell books. Cousin Brucie started that. Then again one could easily agrue that Christina Crawford got the ball started when she wrote the infamous "Mommie Dearest".

Hold on here, you guys, hold on -- I gotta put in my $.50 on this one - you guys are going negative on my boy Brucie, and as a NATIVE New Yorker, I have to defend him!!

With The Cuz, what you see is what you get - Bruce Morrow is as REAL and as HONEST and as TRUTHFUL as can be! He writes and speaks from his heart and from his life experiences and from the fact that he IS a NATIVE New Yorker! Brucie is a REAL PEOPLE communicator - he communicates to the people, to us...his gift is that even though he IS broadcasting to an audience of MILLIONS of people, when you listen to him, he makes you feel as if he is talking just to you...Let's give Brucie a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T, okay??

Andrea

Andrea, I agree with you. (And not just because you sent me an MP3 of Odessey) Lol

 

[Ultimajock]

Hold on here, you guys, hold on -- I gotta put in my $.50 on this one - you guys are going negative on my boy Brucie, and as a NATIVE New Yorker, I have to defend him!!

With The Cuz, what you see is what you get - Bruce Morrow is as REAL and as HONEST and as TRUTHFUL as can be! He writes and speaks from his heart and from his life experiences and from the fact that he IS a NATIVE New Yorker! Brucie is a REAL PEOPLE communicator - he communicates to the people, to us...his gift is that even though he IS broadcasting to an audience of MILLIONS of people, when you listen to him, he makes you feel as if he is talking just to you...Let's give Brucie a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T, okay??

...in the years since this was originally posted, I've had the chance to hear Morrow on Sirius. He's even worse today than he was in '68. Give me an old Larry Lujack WCFL aircheck over Morrow's WABC/WNBC/WCBS-FM junk any day of the week!...

 

[CleveFan]

I can think of a few. There were three from 2001 that just ended without solving cliffhangers.

The WB's "Popular" ended with one of its leading characters about to hit by a car, but as the woman standing on the road screams, the show cuts right to the credits. In fact, here is the last part of the season two finale, which ended up being the series finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjlxra19-jc&feature=related

UPN's "Moesha" ended with a guy finding a pregnancy test and asked which of four girls was pregnant, while Moesha's brother was kidnapped. The show ended before anyone can find out who was pregnant and what happened with the brother. Here the second part of what ended up being the series finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy5WV1Nhdrk&feature=related

The third is NBC's "The Weber Show" in which Steven Weber's character proposes to Paula Marshall's character, but the show ended before she could say yes or no. No video footage. (The show was panned and had bad ratings)

 

[Mark Giardina]

Branded- with Chuck Connors.

No one every truly explained what happened at Bitter Creek and why Connor's character was booted out of the army for cowardice.

BTW back then (when the series took place in the late 1800's) and even later, cowardice; running away from a battle was not only a court martial offense, but one could be shot for desertion.

 

[LKellerIII]

Branded- with Chuck Connors.

No one every truly explained what happened at Bitter Creek and why Connor's character was booted out of the army for cowardice.

BTW back then (when the series took place in the late 1800's) and even later, cowardice; running away from a battle was not only a court martial offense, but one could be shot for desertion.

I liked Branded as a kid, and would liked to have known the same thing. I don't think Connors' character was drummed out of the military for cowardice - that would have repelled viewers in patriotic America at that time (1965-66), a bit before the Vietnam War protest era caught hold.

If I remember, the show had the misfortune to be scheduled in the NBC Sunday night black hole at 8:30 (against Ed Sullivan), which almost guaranteed failure.

Coincidentally, there's a thread on that subject here:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=183684.0

 

[LKellerIII]

I stand corrected on Branded. I should have checked You Tube.

According to the opening theme, he was charged with cowardice, because he was the only man to survive the battle of "Bitter Creek" - so they figured he had run away and refused to fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmJPnAGUJk

 

[MattParker]

I stand corrected on Branded. I should have checked You Tube.

According to the opening theme, he was charged with cowardice, because he was the only man to survive the battle of "Bitter Creek" - so they figured he had run away and refused to fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmJPnAGUJk

Actually, the charge was trumped up so Chuck Connors could go undercover.

 

[azumanga]

BTW back then (when the series took place in the late 1800's) and even later, cowardice; running away from a battle was not only a court martial offense, but one could be shot for desertion.

The most recent case being during WWII, when Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion in 1945. A 1974 TV movie was later produced, with Martin Sheen as Slovik.

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik

 

[bpatrick]

I stand corrected on Branded. I should have checked You Tube.

According to the opening theme, he was charged with cowardice, because he was the only man to survive the battle of "Bitter Creek" - so they figured he had run away and refused to fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmJPnAGUJk

Actually, the charge was trumped up so Chuck Connors could go undercover.

I seem to recall something about a friendly Indian pulling him to safety.