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One Episode Wonders

M

Mark Giardina

Anyone remember the Tim Conway debacle that aired just once on ABC?

Then there was the Jackie Gleason game show, “You’re In the Picture” that was so bad Gleason apologized the following week and personally dumped the show.

In 1960 the folks who gave us “The Adventures of Superman” tried desperately to save that franchise by first offering Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen) his own show that included clips of the late George Reeves. Larson, much to his credit, turned down the offer. So someone came up with the pilot “The Adventures of Superboy.” Only one episode ever aired (I believe) and then it disappeared into TV oblivion.

If you remember any other shows that fit into this category, please feel free to add them.
 
There was "Co-Ed Fever", CBS entry into the frat house sitcoms that all three networks tried after the success of "National Lampoon's Animal House" at the theaters. Debuted after the network television premier of "Rocky" and lost more than 70% of "Rocky"s viewers and was cancelled just a day or two later.

Then there was a show from the makers' of "Miami Vice" on NBC, that starred Glen Frey of the Eagles, among others that was pretty much cancelled while the show was still on airing. Can't remember the name of the show but NBC really promoted it for several weeks before it even debuted.
 
What I would LOVE to see is the apology show Gleason did the week after "You're In The Picture", and the interview shows he used to fill the time slot for the rest of the season.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
What I would LOVE to see is the apology show Gleason did the week after "You're In The Picture", and the interview shows he used to fill the time slot for the rest of the season.
Click to expand...
That "apology" show at one time was on YouTube..Doubt it is now..
Quick check reveals it's probably gone..
 
onairb said:
That was 'South of Sunset', on CBS(heavily promoted during the 1993 World Series).
Click to expand...
After I posted my original post, I realized that it was on CBS, not NBC. It was a movie that Glenn Frey was in that was made by Michael Mann, creator of "Miami Vice", in the mid 80s that was heavily promoted on NBC and MTV, that pretty much bombed after it's debut.
 
This could be a stretch, but the TV "movie" Us, Michael Landon's final project, intended as a pilot for a possible TV series, or at least that's what I remember. Work began on this heartbreaking drama shortly before Landon's death in '91. The plot: a falsely accused man released from prison after serving 18-years.
 
Didn't a Midwest ABC affiliate actually pull "Turn-On" during the mid-show commercial break and run an old film instead for the rest oft he half-hour??
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
I think "The Adventures of Superboy" was a pilot that never became a series.
Click to expand...

But it did eventually become a series, albeit by 1988, as a half-hour first-run syndicated program.
 
jwk1979 said:
There was "Co-Ed Fever", CBS entry into the frat house sitcoms that all three networks tried after the success of "National Lampoon's Animal House" at the theaters. Debuted after the network television premier of "Rocky" and lost more than 70% of "Rocky"s viewers and was cancelled just a day or two later.
Click to expand...

Worst yet, it aired after Rocky as a "special preview", never having made it in its regular Monday night time slot. Instead, a short lived comedy starring Steve Guttenberg, "Billy", aired in its slot instead. Interestingly, the only part of "Co-Ed Fever" that did survive was its dorm room set, which was recycled for the first season of "The Facts of Life".
 
How about that wonderful Brian Bosworth series on Fox, "Lawless"? ;D
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Didn't a Midwest ABC affiliate actually pull "Turn-On" during the mid-show commercial break and run an old film instead for the rest oft he half-hour??
Click to expand...
...Tim Conway claims that WEWS/5 Cleveland did exactly that...
 
Ultimajock said:
Joseph_Gallant said:
Didn't a Midwest ABC affiliate actually pull "Turn-On" during the mid-show commercial break and run an old film instead for the rest oft he half-hour??
Click to expand...
...Tim Conway claims that WEWS/5 Cleveland did exactly that...
Click to expand...

This doesn't clearly answer the question, but it's obvious the Cleveland affiliate was pretty PO'ed. Here is the first paragraph of an article about the show in the Cleveland Plain Dealer the day after the show aired:

"WEWS-TV Channel 5, last night notified the ABC television network that it was cancelling the new ABC show, "Turn-On," which had its debut only minutes before the cancellation."

BTW, Conway grew up in the Cleveland area.
 
Here's another one-and done show:

"Emily's Reasons Why Not," an ABC sitcom with Heather Graham that premiered in January 2006 and was
pulled the next week. Anyone recall that one?
 
RyanHoward said:
Here's another one-and done show:

"Emily's Reasons Why Not," an ABC sitcom with Heather Graham that premiered in January 2006 and was
pulled the next week. Anyone recall that one?
Click to expand...

Sadly, it did catch my attention. Of course, it was probably because Heather Graham's name was attached to it. :D
 
BD Sullivan said:
Ultimajock said:
Joseph_Gallant said:
Didn't a Midwest ABC affiliate actually pull "Turn-On" during the mid-show commercial break and run an old film instead for the rest oft he half-hour??
Click to expand...
...Tim Conway claims that WEWS/5 Cleveland did exactly that...
Click to expand...

This doesn't clearly answer the question, but it's obvious the Cleveland affiliate was pretty PO'ed. Here is the first paragraph of an article about the show in the Cleveland Plain Dealer the day after the show aired:

"WEWS-TV Channel 5, last night notified the ABC television network that it was cancelling the new ABC show, "Turn-On," which had its debut only minutes before the cancellation."

BTW, Conway grew up in the Cleveland area.
Click to expand...
...and Conway had earlier worked for both KYW-TV/3 and WJW-TV/8, WEWS' main competitors...
 
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