Shows cancelled without notifying the cast

[stdjsb25]

The Jeffersons was in the bottom 10 in early '85, yet the cast still assumed they would be doing another season. Marla Gibbs likely would not have returned since she had 227 premiering in the fall.

Reportedly, 227 had not been scheduled to premiere until 1986, as it was thought that "Jeffersons" would go on for one more year. Then it was unexpectedly cancelled and NBC put it into production in Fall 1985.

 

[firepoint525]

The Jeffersons was in the bottom 10 in early '85, yet the cast still assumed they would be doing another season. Marla Gibbs likely would not have returned since she had 227 premiering in the fall.

Reportedly, 227 had not been scheduled to premiere until 1986, as it was thought that "Jeffersons" would go on for one more year. Then it was unexpectedly cancelled and NBC put it into production in Fall 1985.

Was The Jeffersons the longest-lasting All in the Family spinoff? I'm thinking that Archie Bunker's Place lasted to about 1983. I also remember that The Jeffersons was moved by CBS from Sunday night to Tuesday night in an attempt to kill it off. It apparently worked.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I remember reading an article a few years ago featuring Anne Lockhart (Lt. Sheba) who starred in the original Battlestar Galactica that aired on ABC in 1979.

According to Lockhart when the first season ended the cast and crew were under the impression that ABC would renew the show for a second season.

While on hiatus Lockhart said that she learned the network not only canceled Battlestar, but then because of public outcry, replaced the original show with that god-awful Galactica 1980.

Lockhart and the majority of the original cast members (except Loren Green and Herbert Jefferson Jr.) were never ask to participate in Galactica 1980.

Considering how bad that remake was, network brass did Lockhart and the others a favor.

 

[flashback]

I remember reading an article a few years ago featuring Anne Lockhart (Lt. Sheba) who starred in the original Battlestar Galactica that aired on ABC in 1979.

According to Lockhart when the first season ended the cast and crew were under the impression that ABC would renew the show for a second season.

While on hiatus Lockhart said that she learned the network not only canceled Battlestar, but then because of public outcry, replaced the original show with that god-awful Galactica 1980.

Lockhart and the majority of the original cast members (except Loren Green and Herbert Jefferson Jr.) were never ask to participate in Galactica 1980.

Considering how bad that remake was, network brass did Lockhart and the others a favor.

yes and no. they did her and them a favor by not having them in galactia 1980.by canceling a show that was drawning good ratings they did not do them a favor.the reason they canceled battlestar galactia was a third place network show would make more money then a first place battlestar galactia because it cost so much to make.

by canceling battle star galactia they did the cast and fans a major wrong because the show was so good and the fans loved it.also it was a good job by the cast and crew bringing about a network show with real good ratings.so their reward was being fired.

there was a backlash and the network purposly did a bad show to kill the backlash.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Regarding 'What's My Line?', while I've read that Bennett Cerf heard about the cancellation from somewhere other than the network, at least that announcement was made ahead of time, so that (eventually) all the cast were informed, and they could do an official 'last show'. The host, John Daly, was the final 'Mystery Guest'.

The entire final show is on YouTube (albeit a B/W kinescope, rather than the original color broadcast). They brought back all of the contestants from the very first WML, and Daly's mystery guest appearance is a hoot.

 

[Ultimajock]

I would say that the virtual disappearance of the CBS years of the Skelton show after the show's cancellation was a missed opportunity for rediscovery. Doesn't it make you wish it would've been available for syndication? What would've happened if the Red Skelton sketches from his long stint at CBS had been released for syndication?

...I'd suspect the Skelton show would have done roughly the same as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Dean Martin Show did when they were offered in syndication -- flopping badly. Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw kept producing new shows when they went into syndication; every variety series that sent reruns into the syndication market (including The Carol Burnett Show, This is Tom Jones, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and even Johnny Carson's comedy segments) had all flopped badly...

 

[LKellerIII]

I would say that the virtual disappearance of the CBS years of the Skelton show after the show's cancellation was a missed opportunity for rediscovery. Doesn't it make you wish it would've been available for syndication? What would've happened if the Red Skelton sketches from his long stint at CBS had been released for syndication?

...I'd suspect the Skelton show would have done roughly the same as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Dean Martin Show did when they were offered in syndication -- flopping badly. Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw kept producing new shows when they went into syndication; every variety series that sent reruns into the syndication market (including The Carol Burnett Show, This is Tom Jones, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and even Johnny Carson's comedy segments) had all flopped badly...

You're correct in general, but if I don't think you can say the Carol Burnett syndicated reruns "flopped badly." I remember the show was retitled Carol Burnett and Friends, and consisted of only the comedy bits re-edited to a 30 minute format. It ran 5 days a week for a few years where I lived. Seinfeld or Friends it wasn't - but hardly a flop.

 

[Ultimajock]

I would say that the virtual disappearance of the CBS years of the Skelton show after the show's cancellation was a missed opportunity for rediscovery. Doesn't it make you wish it would've been available for syndication? What would've happened if the Red Skelton sketches from his long stint at CBS had been released for syndication?

...I'd suspect the Skelton show would have done roughly the same as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Dean Martin Show did when they were offered in syndication -- flopping badly. Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw kept producing new shows when they went into syndication; every variety series that sent reruns into the syndication market (including The Carol Burnett Show, This is Tom Jones, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and even Johnny Carson's comedy segments) had all flopped badly...

You're correct in general, but if I don't think you can say the Carol Burnett syndicated reruns "flopped badly." I remember the show was retitled Carol Burnett and Friends, and consisted of only the comedy bits re-edited to a 30 minute format. It ran 5 days a week for a few years where I lived. Seinfeld or Friends it wasn't - but hardly a flop.

...if I recall correctly, Burnett's company, C.B. Distribution, insisted on unusually long-term contracts with stations that only allowed them to burn the deals off by airing the show somewhere on the station's schedule for the entire term. That was specifically because every other variety series that had offered reruns in syndication previously had stiffed, and Burnett wanted to be the first to buck that trend. Indeed, Burnett was so popular personally that the stations were more than willing to go along. But ratings-wise, Carol Burnett and Friends never caught on, and only Benny Hill and Dave Allen were able to have any kind of decade-long success with syndicated variety reruns...

 

[BobbyNBC10]

Both WTCG/WTBS 17 Atlanta and WGN TV Chicago Television 9 had Carol Burnett & Friends.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I only remember seeing Carol Burnett and Friends once in Nashville on a trip there in the 80's or early 90's, and then for a short run on TV Land. I don't remember a Memphs or Jackson, TN area station ever carrying it.

 

[wbhist]

...if I recall correctly, Burnett's company, C.B. Distribution, insisted on unusually long-term contracts with stations that only allowed them to burn the deals off by airing the show somewhere on the station's schedule for the entire term. That was specifically because every other variety series that had offered reruns in syndication previously had stiffed, and Burnett wanted to be the first to buck that trend. Indeed, Burnett was so popular personally that the stations were more than willing to go along. But ratings-wise, Carol Burnett and Friends never caught on, and only Benny Hill and Dave Allen were able to have any kind of decade-long success with syndicated variety reruns...

And when it was first syndicated, only seasons 6-10 were edited for this package; seasons 1-5 were and still are co-owned by Bob Banner (per the terms of her 10-year CBS contract which ran from 1962 to 1972) which is the key reason why sketches like the "dentist sketch" with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway from 1969, or her parodies of such films as Rita Hayworth's Gilda and the Ryan O'Neal/Ali MacGraw Love Story were never included; and when the package was first prepared season 11 wasn't even produced yet (I remember the syndicated CB&F first ran in fall 1977, the same year Dick Van you-know-who's ill-fated tenure on the show commenced). I think the only time any edited episodes from season 11 ran was when WTBS aired them.

I wonder how many markets (besides New York circa 1986-87, on WOR/WWOR after Burnett's show had been on WNEW for years) had a station that aired both the Benny Hill repeats and CB&F, and if so were they run back-to-back? I also know that for a time in 1979, Hill's show was run back-to-back with the failed half-hour edits of Jackie Gleason's 1962-66 American Scene Magazine. And Hill, on some occasions, had invited comparisons to both Gleason and Burnett in different ways (not to mention Red Skelton).

(I also must add that while Dave Allen ran for many years on some U.S. stations [notably Chicago public TV outlet WTTW], in New York he'd flopped ignominiously; first on WPIX in 1975, and then on WOR in 1980. A shame really, as I saw his show on both occasions when it was run.)

Speaking of Gleason, and in keeping with the original intent of this thread, a few things: a) Milton Berle had learned that Buick had bolted him for Gleason (and the ultimately one-season "Classic 39" Honeymooners) in 1955 due to passing by a newsstand and seeing a headline in weekly Variety; and b) Gleason himself, when his own show was finally cancelled in 1970, learned about it by reading it in the newspaper.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

I do remember when WGN-TV had reruns of the color Honeymooners that aired on The Jackie Gleason SHow from 1966-70 with Gleason, Art Carney, Sheila MacRae,whose daughter Meredith started playing Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and Jane Kean. The eps. were mostly when the Kramdens and Nortons won a trip to Europe and their adventures there. Many people say that these were not as funny as the original black & white Honeymooners. Later in the 1970's,Gleason,Carney,Audrey Meadows and Jane Kean reunited for some specials on ABC, and the Great One had one on NBC in 1985, in which he introduced the lost episodes that afterwards aired on Showtime and then in syndication with the classic 39.

 

[firepoint525]

And when it was first syndicated, only seasons 6-10 were edited for this package; seasons 1-5 were and still are co-owned by Bob Banner (per the terms of her 10-year CBS contract which ran from 1962 to 1972) which is the key reason why sketches like the "dentist sketch" with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway from 1969, or her parodies of such films as Rita Hayworth's Gilda and the Ryan O'Neal/Ali MacGraw Love Story were never included; and when the package was first prepared season 11 wasn't even produced yet (I remember the syndicated CB&F first ran in fall 1977, the same year Dick Van Dyke's ill-fated tenure on the show commenced). I think the only time any edited episodes from season 11 ran was when WTBS aired them.

See, no need to do that anymore! ;D

 

[wbhist]

I do remember when WGN-TV had reruns of the color Honeymooners that aired on The Jackie Gleason SHow from 1966-70 with Gleason, Art Carney, Sheila MacRae,whose daughter Meredith started playing Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and Jane Kean. The eps. were mostly when the Kramdens and Nortons won a trip to Europe and their adventures there. Many people say that these were not as funny as the original black & white Honeymooners. Later in the 1970's,Gleason,Carney,Audrey Meadows and Jane Kean reunited for some specials on ABC, and the Great One had one on NBC in 1985, in which he introduced the lost episodes that afterwards aired on Showtime and then in syndication with the classic 39.

Those color Honeymooners "Trip to Europe" episodes, from what I've gathered, were initially syndicated by Metromedia Producers Corporation in 1977; in New York, they were aired on WNEW-TV. There were two key reasons why this package flopped flat on its face: one being what you said about their not being as funny as the "Classic 39" - and the other, that in terms of the syndicated market, interest in The Honeymooners was at a rather low ebb, with the show in danger of totally disappearing from local stations altogether in the late 1970's/early '80's period, until the founding of the "RALPH" (Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of The Honeymooners fan club) led to a resurgence of "Honeymoonermania" starting in the mid-1980's.

Color Honeymooners episodes didn't return to TV until the mid-2000's when Paul Brownstein Productions syndicated them - and AmericanLife (formerly GoodLife) ran them.

 

[Wright County Guy]

I wonder how many markets (besides New York circa 1986-87, on WOR/WWOR after Burnett's show had been on WNEW for years) had a station that aired both the Benny Hill repeats and CB&F, and if so were they run back-to-back?.

Not quite back to back, but WCCO (CBS, Minneapolis) ran CB&F after the late news weeknights and Benny Hill on weekends.

 

[LKellerIII]

I do remember when WGN-TV had reruns of the color Honeymooners that aired on The Jackie Gleason SHow from 1966-70 with Gleason, Art Carney, Sheila MacRae,whose daughter Meredith started playing Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and Jane Kean. The eps. were mostly when the Kramdens and Nortons won a trip to Europe and their adventures there. Many people say that these were not as funny as the original black & white Honeymooners. Later in the 1970's,Gleason,Carney,Audrey Meadows and Jane Kean reunited for some specials on ABC, and the Great One had one on NBC in 1985, in which he introduced the lost episodes that afterwards aired on Showtime and then in syndication with the classic 39.

Those color Honeymooners "Trip to Europe" episodes, from what I've gathered, were initially syndicated by Metromedia Producers Corporation in 1977; in New York, they were aired on WNEW-TV. There were two key reasons why this package flopped flat on its face: one being what you said about their not being as funny as the "Classic 39" - and the other, that in terms of the syndicated market, interest in The Honeymooners was at a rather low ebb, with the show in danger of totally disappearing from local stations altogether in the late 1970's/early '80's period, until the founding of the "RALPH" (Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of The Honeymooners fan club) led to a resurgence of "Honeymoonermania" starting in the mid-1980's.

Color Honeymooners episodes didn't return to TV until the mid-2000's when Paul Brownstein Productions syndicated them - and AmericanLife (formerly GoodLife) ran them.

'Honeymoonermania?" That's quite a tongue twister. The problem for me with those later episodes was that they weren't very funny. They seemed too long for one thing, though I guess they were probably no longer than the original 39. And who decided they should turn it into a musical, and have them sing? Sad.

 

[Ultimajock]

I wonder how many markets (besides New York circa 1986-87, on WOR/WWOR after Burnett's show had been on WNEW for years) had a station that aired both the Benny Hill repeats and CB&F, and if so were they run back-to-back?.

Not quite back to back, but WCCO (CBS, Minneapolis) ran CB&F after the late news weeknights and Benny Hill on weekends.

...I believe WVTV/18 Milwaukee had both packages as well, with Burnett appearing in middays and Hill in late nights...in fact, was there any market that had a station that dared to run Hill in daytime or early fringe?...

 

[azumanga]

I believe WVTV/18 Milwaukee had both packages as well, with Burnett appearing in middays and Hill in late nights...in fact, was there any market that had a station that dared to run Hill in daytime or early fringe?...

In the early-1980s, WTVT in Tampa (sister to WVTV) ran Benny Hill on Saturday nights at 7:30PM, after Dance Fever.

 

[Toledo Eleven]

Two stations in Toledo carried Benny Hill at either 7 or 7:30PM. Channel 24 had it in the late '70s-early '80's and Channel 36 had it in the mid-'80s at 7:30, right after The Best of Saturday Night Live.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I remember reading an article a few years ago featuring Anne Lockhart (Lt. Sheba) who starred in the original Battlestar Galactica that aired on ABC in 1979.

According to Lockhart when the first season ended the cast and crew were under the impression that ABC would renew the show for a second season.

While on hiatus Lockhart said that she learned the network not only canceled Battlestar, but then because of public outcry, replaced the original show with that god-awful Galactica 1980.

Lockhart and the majority of the original cast members (except Loren Green and Herbert Jefferson Jr.) were never ask to participate in Galactica 1980.

Considering how bad that remake was, network brass did Lockhart and the others a favor.

yes and no. they did her and them a favor by not having them in galactia 1980.by canceling a show that was drawning good ratings they did not do them a favor.the reason they canceled battlestar galactia was a third place network show would make more money then a first place battlestar galactia because it cost so much to make.

by canceling battle star galactia they did the cast and fans a major wrong because the show was so good and the fans loved it.also it was a good job by the cast and crew bringing about a network show with real good ratings.so their reward was being fired.

there was a backlash and the network purposly did a bad show to kill the backlash.

You are correct that ABC executives canceled the original Battlestar claiming the series cost too much money to produce. $1 million dollar an episode they claimed - yet it should be noted the special effects (which the network claimed was the bulk of the expense) were constantly reused until the series ended. So personally I don't see where airing the same space battles repeatedly costs anymore money.

Also you hit the nail on the head regarding Galactica 1980. That show was purposely designed to be 'bad' so that it would placate irate viewers who would then become so disgusted they would just go away. I'm just surprised that an actor of Loren Green's stature would have agreed to reprise his role; unless of course ABC handed him a lot of money.