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TV shows you LOVED that were NOT popular......

M

mleach

Last October I started a thread about TV shows that you hated even though just about everyone else it seemed loved them. Now its the reverse. Are there any shows that you enjoyed watching even though it seemed you were the only one?

Back in 1986 I was a big fan of the Linda Ellerbee/Ray Gandolf ABC show "Our World". Looking back now I think it is a safe bet to say that I was the only one ( at least among those I knew back then ) who actually admitted to liking this show as just about everyone else back then was into NBC and The Cosby Show. Come to think of it I can recall one night in early 1987 when a bunch of us were heading to a Billy Idol concert. I had to stop by my house to make sure my VCR was ready to tape that night's Our World. I remember a buddy of mine asking me what show I was taping. When I said "Our World"..he paused for a few seconds and he said to me "why in the hell would you tape THAT? What are you? An old fart or something? "

....and so it goes ;D

OK I admit it..I was a fan of Hello, Larry. Yes I have heard about the so-called McLean Stevenson "curse" but still I thought this show was funny. Besides who didn't back in those days did NOT have a crush on either Kim Richards or Donna Wilkes ( do you remember Donna in the film "Angel"? Schoolgirl during the day...hooker at night ) ? I still believe to this day had Hello, Larry been on either CBS or ABC and not poor NBC back then...I really believe that show would had lasted much longer than it did.
 
Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Had a cult following that didn't translate into ratings on the lowly WB network.
 
mleach said:
Back in 1986 I was a big fan of the Linda Ellerbee/Ray Gandolf ABC show "Our World".

OK I admit it..I was a fan of Hello, Larry.
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Same thing here on both of those. Always watched Linda Ellerbee back then. And I watched Hello Larry religiously ONLY for Kim Richards.

Also, in no particular order:

-Shazam!
-Isis
-Holmes and Yoyo
-Charles in Charge (can you guess why? ;D )


I'm sure there's lots more I will think of after posting this response.
 
mleach said:
OK I admit it..I was a fan of Hello, Larry. Yes I have heard about the so-called McLean Stevenson "curse" but still I thought this show was funny. Besides who didn't back in those days did NOT have a crush on either Kim Richards or Donna Wilkes ( do you remember Donna in the film "Angel"? Schoolgirl during the day...hooker at night ) ? I still believe to this day had Hello, Larry been on either CBS or ABC and not poor NBC back then...I really believe that show would had lasted much longer than it did.
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Not necessarily . . . just prior to Hello, Larry, Mr. Stevenson starred in a CBS sitcom called In the Beginning that was very short-lived.
 
I cant say I was the only one that liked this show, but I liked the 1975-76 NBC Mystery Drama "Ellery Queen" with Jim Hutton and David Wayne. It only lasted a season, but I thought it was good enough to last at least a couple more..I loved the 1940's New York setting and being able to solve tne mystery as you go..Also, good guest stars and the use of Old Time Radio Performers in some shows..Some unaired scripts were used as the basis for some "Murder She Wrote" episodes, since the producers were Richard Levenson and William Link. Also, John Hillerman (pre-Magnum) played a smug "Radio Detective" trying to outsmart Ellery..Ellery Queen is currently being shown Late Saturday Night at 1AM on Retro Television Network..
 
Tim L said:
I cant say I was the only one that liked this show, but I liked the 1975-76 NBC Mystery Drama "Ellery Queen" with Jim Hutton and David Wayne. It only lasted a season, but I thought it was good enough to last at least a couple more..I loved the 1940's New York setting and being able to solve tne mystery as you go..Also, good guest stars and the use of Old Time Radio Performers in some shows..Some unaired scripts were used as the basis for some "Murder She Wrote" episodes, since the producers were Richard Levenson and William Link. Also, John Hillerman (pre-Magnum) played a smug "Radio Detective" trying to outsmart Ellery..Ellery Queen is currently being shown Late Saturday Night at 1AM on Retro Television Network..
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And one episode of Ellery Queen used a TV newscast of the mid-1940s to solve a crime -- One cast member said TV News at 10 o'clock? Who wants to watch the news before they go to bed?

As for shows I liked that weren't popular -- Taxi. Never did well in the ratings -- but look at the all-star cast, the scripts, Andy Kaufman...And a Fox cartoon The Critic--one of those 8:30PM Sunday night shows that ran after the Simpsons for maybe half a season. I thought it was hilarious -- starring the voice of Jon Lovitz.
 
"The Last Precinct" a Friday evening sitcom on NBC in 1986 which aired before Miami Vice. Adam West starred as the police chief. Possibly inspred by the Police Academy movies..Had a lot of visual gags similar to that of Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Monkees.
 
My Mother the Car! Enough said!

Although, I do second the Ellery Queen series- I'm a sucker for period pieces, and this one was well done!
 
"Longstreet," where James Franciscus played a blind
New Orleans insurance investigator (also liked him in
his signature role, English teacher John Novak on "Mr.
Novak"). Great cast, great acting, Bruce Lee as Longstreet's
martial-arts teacher, what else could you want...except that
the show tended to spend a little too much time showing how
Longstreet coped with his new situation (he'd been blinded in
an explosion meant to kill him but killed his wife instead).
I'll always believe that Franciscus' career never reached its
potential because, to an extent, he lived in the shadow of
Richard Chamberlain, who could have passed for his brother.

As for "Our World," I wish I could get my hands on the episode
recounting Orson Welles' 1938 "War Of The Worlds" radio broadcast.
The set looked like something from 1938, and the program itself
was compelling.
 
Though it took place in 1973, the recent US version of Life On Mars. Except for the last 10 minutes of the series finale, this was a decent show. The UK version will finally be available on Region 1 DVD later this summer.
8) ::) :)
 
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, a Fox sitcom on it's initial 1987 lineup. Very silly and very campy.

It seemed at the time that just about everyone I knew absolutely HATED The Joker's Wild, but I was a big fan. I miss it today, and wish someone would revive it.

I've mentioned this before, but I totally loved Dead Like Me, a show that needlessly died after two seasons.

From the same creator of DLM, the recently canceled Pushing Daisies was becoming a favorite of mine when ABC pulled the plug.

ABC had a brilliant show in 2004 called Line of Fire, which was about a cat-and-mouse game between the FBI and an eastern crime boss. Too many pre-emptions, schedule changes, and not enough promotion killed this excellent show. It should have been a great one.
 
WMC2006 said:
I'm sure there's lots more I will think of after posting this response.
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I did think of a couple more:

-Nowhere Man, a UPN show in 1995-1996 starring Bruce Greenwood

-The Lazarus Man, from 1996. Starred Robert Urich. It was cancelled after Urich was diagnosed with cancer
 
1. Star Trek. This was the poster child for shows that were successful later, but didn't do very well in their original run.

2. Quark. I always thought that NBC should have picked this show up for a full-season run. It was a mid-season replacement (for Chico & the Man, IIRC) in early 1978 that ran for 8 episodes (including the pilot which aired in May '77). A very well done show but I think part of the problem was that NBC was in the toilet at the time. Check out the show's website here.

3. Carter Country. Sort of a comic version of In the Heat of the Night on ABC, 1977-79. Good cast, but the writing was a bit hokey. It was about as successful as the guy the show was named after, but I enjoyed the show.

4. Pink Lady & Jeff. JUST KIDDING! ;D
 
My World And Welcome To It - William Windom

Still trying to find DVD's of that show. And, it was popular but was canceled because the cartoon portion made it too expensive. A remarkable show.
 
landtuna said:
My World And Welcome To It - William Windom

Still trying to find DVD's of that show. And, it was popular but was canceled because the cartoon portion made it too expensive. A remarkable show.
Click to expand...

Haven't thought of one of my own yet, but want to compliment some on their great taste :) - Dear John was great, as was My World and Welcome to It, which included the cartoons of author James Thurber. Anybody who grew up in the 50s and 60s, and liked to thumb through their parent's copy of the New Yorker (just for the cartoons, of course), know Thurber's illustrations.
 
Harper Valley PTA with Barbara Eden: Loved this show when I was a kid when it aired in 1981-1982. Pretty funny show.

Private Benjamin (TV show): Also loved this show. Haven't seen this show in years since they were in reruns in the late 1980's.
 
I loved Jericho.

It would have also been a great mini-series. It could have been this generations "The Day After" or "Threads" if produced as a mini-series.
 
biggguy said:
My Mother the Car! Enough said!

Although, I do second the Ellery Queen series- I'm a sucker for period pieces, and this one was well done!
Click to expand...

My Mother the Car was hilarious--at least 2 people thought so.
 
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