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Post by ECTO-1 on Jan 25, 2006 2:50:55 GMT -4
In this day and age, it's rare that TV strikes gold. But when that rare occasion arises...they cancel it. A lot of good shows have come and gone without being given a decent chance at life. Little promotion, time-slot jumping, only 3 episodes shown...
What are some of your favorites that were horribly cancelled before their time?
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Post by Miss Janine on Jan 25, 2006 3:00:32 GMT -4
I don't have any right now, but remember reading an interview with Dick Van d**e saying that in this age of ratings-driven TV, his classic show never would have made it. I believe the same was said about MASH, which didn't hit its stride until the second or third season. Network brass believed in shows back then and were willing to fight for them. In MASH's case, the head of CBS loved the show, and made it clear it was staying. Nowadays, unless its a SMASH from day one, it's gone. Although, to be fair, TV has a lot more competition these days, from cable, DVDs, the 'net, etc.
Question_ why did his name come up censored??? Come on, it's the man's NAME!
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Post by Kingpin on Jan 25, 2006 6:11:49 GMT -4
It's got to be down to the censored word lists.
Dyke gets censored for obvious reasons.
"You can't call them lesbians, you can't even call them dykes they're 'women in comfortable shoes'..."
Sadly his surname is spelt the same way.
You should be able to get around it with D yke.
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Post by Miss Janine on Jan 25, 2006 7:06:48 GMT -4
That's what I thought once I tried correcting it twice. Oh well. Back on topic now.
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Post by EGBFan on Jan 25, 2006 7:38:16 GMT -4
Ok, well, I understand God, the Devil and Bob was cancelled after like three shows in the US, but we got the entire series over here in the UK - it was really funny and very poignant. I can see why it might have offended some people, but, um, let's not get into that.
Point Pleasant was cancelled after quite a few episodes in America... I don't recall the exact number... more than ten. Over here they ran it through to the point where it got cancelled, then they showed it again, at a much earlier time, on a terrestrial channel, and cut all the best bits. ;D Then it stopped again. Then they moved it back to the other channel - E4, the cable channel - in the middle of the night, and managed to get through the entire series. I mean, talk about an unsatisfactory ending. I thought maybe it was cancelled for religious reasons, like God, the Devil and Bob (it might have been - the protagonist was the Anti-Christ), but according to the internet, it was just because everybody hated it.
Tru Calling - everybody hated that too. It got one season, and I see that the plot premise did get a little tired, but I enjoyed it while it was there.
Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars - mad, mad cartoon that I used to love when I was, like, seven. It has a small fan following still, and it was popular enough for the entire 13-ep series to be released on DVD (it was a Christmas present - only my brother would do that). People liked it, but, apparently, it couldn't be continued because it was "too complicated". I mean, ok, there were some levels to the plot, but I understood it aged seven. I mean, jeez, give us some credit!
And, of course, EGB only had one season. Why does this always happen to me? Do I have really bad taste or something?
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Dr. Kyle Peterson
Extreme Ghostbuster
"RELAX - What could *possibly* go wrong...?"
Posts: 14
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Post by Dr. Kyle Peterson on Jan 25, 2006 10:04:50 GMT -4
Vengeance Unlimited...Michael Madsen as Mr. Chapel, a man who apparently lost his famliy to crime (it was never told in detail). So now he goes around helping people for a fee of 1 million dollars...or a 'favor.' These favors usually come into play in calling people with certian skills in to help him. And the occasional million bucks helps finance him. He's like the Punisher, but he dosen't use guns and dosen't kill anyone...DIRECTLY. He DID leave a group of thugs to get thrown off an airplane at 30,000 feet in one ep!
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Post by Fritz on Jan 25, 2006 10:50:18 GMT -4
The Censored Word list can be a little overstrict: Dick Van Dyke's name has been removed from it.
I'm still pissed at Cartoon Network for never showing the ending of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
On the whole, you know how it goes: as a general rule, while there are exceptions, a show's success is inversely proportional to it's quality.
If it's intelligent and interesting, six people will watch it and it's cancelled.
If' it's a brain-dead reality show, the droids in the audience will love it.
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Yami Mirai
Doberman
dustn00b
Insane fangirl, at your service. :D
Posts: 120
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Post by Yami Mirai on Jan 25, 2006 10:55:07 GMT -4
Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars - mad, mad cartoon that I used to love when I was, like, seven. It has a small fan following still, and it was popular enough for the entire 13-ep series to be released on DVD (it was a Christmas present - only my brother would do that). People liked it, but, apparently, it couldn't be continued because it was "too complicated". I mean, ok, there were some levels to the plot, but I understood it aged seven. I mean, jeez, give us some credit! And, of course, EGB only had one season. Why does this always happen to me? Do I have really bad taste or something? Of course not! I admit, I never watched the other shows, but I loved Bucky O'Hare and EGB. I wish they were both back on the air. Heck, a friend of mine and I used to talk about Bucky O'Hare all the time. We certainly had no trouble figuring out what was going on in each episode. Complicated my butt! I can't think of any shows off the top of my head (I just woke up and I'm sick ) but if I do I'll be sure to post them.
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Post by ECTO-1 on Jan 25, 2006 11:02:57 GMT -4
Freakazoid! - Possibly one of the best cartoons WB ever put out. It was funny and fresh, but nixed after 2 seasons.
The Job - The network version of Rescue Me with the NYPD. Little promotion with a dumb mid-season hiatus. Show was never given a shot to draw in an audience.
Farscape - I jumped on season 3, although 4 got a little weird for my tastes.
Just Legal - An interesting take on the lawyer show that had a lot of potential, but was taken off after THREE LOUSY EPISDOES. How in the hell does a network expect people to find a show that's only on for a second?
Adventures of Brisco County Jr. - Bruce Campbell as a cowboy! Sci-Fi elements! One-liners! This show had a great thing going, but the network squashed it after only a season. Must've been good 'cause it's still got a helluva 'net following.
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Post by Kingpin on Jan 25, 2006 11:51:09 GMT -4
My fav cancelled shows:
Firefly
Farscape (Just as it was getting good, too)
Angel (It suffered because they thought they were getting cancelled one series before they actually were, and so were able to write a successful season ending but then had to write another series in a rush).
Real Ghostbusters Duh
Seven Days (canned in 2001, only got to see the 1998/1999 series I think)
Synopsis: What would you do if you had the power to travel back in time? Meet Lt. Frank Parker, an ordinary man with a seemingly ordinary life. However, he is offered a choice, either spend a large chunk of his life behind bars or work for the government on a covert operation, Project Backstep.
With technology discovered from an alien source, the team are able to send a man seven days (the amount of time they could afford with the power available) into the past to correct a series of terrible disasters that could forever cripple the United States, the first being a suicide plane crash at the White House that leaves both the President and Vice President dead.
End synopsis
It was a fairly original time travel show... using a week instead of the projected 'ultimate time window', Frank would have a week, or less, to stop one of said incidents from happening, it't usually take nearly a full week to work out the specifics that led to the disaster, so the disaster prevention would usually happen within 48 hours of the event occuring, so little time could be spared in order to make sure that the event was stopped.
Best episode? Possible when a malfunction in the time machine causes two Franks to be created, one more toward evil, he kills his good 'twin' but when evil Frank Back Steps, a new twin is created from the same flaw, but with 'evil' Frank's memories, so the new twin is good.
Strange: A former priest becomes a paranormal investigator, following a series of events that whittle down the local priest community as well as other members of the public, all the while having to fight tooth and nail with his shadowy former Minister.
ReBoot: After breaking from ABC's heavily dictorial censorship (Which also caused RGB to suffer), ReBoot had the really good third series, which had the show becoming darker and onrunning plots and it all ended with a great finish. (It really should have ended here, as it was a perfect end point). However, a forth series was commishioned (Later released as a series of TV movies), and because of a argument between Mainframe and someone else, Series 4 ended on a cliffhanger with seemingly no chance of repreive... and the ReBoot writers have left the series since the argument happened... so it'e even less likely it'll ever see a final conclusion.
From what I remember of Bucky, it was a good show, and I wouldn't say it was too complicated.
Extreme Ghostbusters: It had some superbly well written episodes... if it had tried keep this high, as well as a decent broadcast period... and maybe fixed a few things... it might've lasted two/three seasons.
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Post by EGBFan on Jan 25, 2006 12:46:25 GMT -4
Angel (It suffered because they thought they were getting cancelled one series before they actually were, and so were able to write a successful season ending but then had to write another series in a rush). Ooh, ouch, the memory is so painful. Angel ended appallingly! What an awful ending! It was... it was... ARGH! And the irony is, for me, it was just picking up. Season 1 was, I feel, the strongest - I think it started to go downhill when they had long complicated drawn-out epic whole season long storylines instead of stand-alone eps. So then, as I understand it, they're told to revert to something closer to the original format for the final season. How many was it - five? So, they have some strong episodes, including Smile Time - which was absolutely hilarious! It was sooo funny! And then, immediately after this, the best episode ever... well, it seems they ran out of ideas, and came up with something truly terrible. The last three or four episodes were baaaaaaad! Surely RGB had enough seasons. The thing with EGB is, it had 36 great episodes (some stronger than others, obviously), two seriously rubbish ones, another very strong one and then a very good one - although the line it ended on was appalling. But anyway, it stopped there, before it got bad. I think most of us agree that the earlier seasons of RGB were the strongest...? Yes, ok, let's talk about reality TV. I hate it. I don't know whether Big Brother started it (Orwell must be spinning in his grave), but it's the first really big one I got wind of. I never watched it, except once, when I was seriously bored and I just couldn't be bothered to get up and fetch down a book. I thought, I'll see what's on TV. E4: Big Brother Live - oh, all right, let's see what all the fuss is about. It was about ten o'clock in the morning. It was footage of a line of beds, and people sleeping in them. I kid you not. They just had the camera running, all day, so anyone with no life could tune in and watch whatever was going on. And they were sleeping. I mean... I don't know what else to say. Except this: of course I turned it off straightaway. I probably went and found something to read - can't really remember. Does that sound smug? Anyway. I learnt all about this in my media studies class about four years ago, when I was 16 and still at school. The reason it's all reality TV these days is, besides that people seem to like it (nutters that they are), it's cheap. You can just pull people in off the streets (people will do anything to get on television - it's insane!), you don't need writers, or anything, really - just an annoying presenter with a loud voice, a cheap set, someone to operate the camera... Basically, if it saves money, it must be a good idea, seems to be the general concensus of opinion. Honetly, though, Big Brother. You could take Orwell's ideas and make something so poignant and thought-provoking from them. I mean, I've always said Bucky O'Hare was trying to warn us where we're headed. Komplex = Big Brother (and also the internet - we're well on the way), but - oh dear - it doesn't get recomissioned, because it utilises ideas that might encourage young people to think. *sigh* God, listen to me...
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Post by Silent Seraphim on Jan 25, 2006 14:35:29 GMT -4
I agree with the comments about Angel. I thought it ended way before its time.
Of course, Extreme Ghostbusters finished too soon, but then I think there were a few things they could have done which might have made the show a bit more popular and therefore could have prolonged its run a bit more.
I’m also quite peeved about Buffy and the way it ended. Even though there were seven seasons of it, I just think that they dropped the ball in season six and headed in some really strange, ultra-depressive direction. I can’t help but think that if they had done things somewhat differently, it would still be running.
There was a show called VR5 which I used to like, but it only lasted for one season. I think it was a bit too complicated for the average viewer, and they ended up cancelling it because people didn’t stick with it.
As for reality TV? Well I hate to say it, but Big Brother is a very guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t ask me why, but there’s something strangely compelling about seeing an MP acting like a cat in a sort of pseudo-sexual way on national television. I agree that there’s far too much in the way of reality television and makeover shows out there, but the big ones (I’m a Celebrity and Big Brother) will probably always prove popular. One gives people the opportunity to vote for various so-called ‘celebrities’ (normally z-list) to do some really disgusting trials, and the other gives the opportunity for crowds to boo wannabes when they become too idiotic for their own good. What’s not to like? ;D
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Post by Kingpin on Jan 25, 2006 16:50:58 GMT -4
The only good thing about this series of Big Brother:
George Galloway's constituents realising what a fool they elected and leaving him in droves.
Buffy wasn't cancelled, I'm pretty sure it ended when it was meant to be ended, I mean... how could they continue it and not repeat the same stuff? They destroyed Sunnydale, how can you top or go back from that?
Sigh
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Post by Silent Seraphim on Jan 25, 2006 18:34:59 GMT -4
Buffy wasn't cancelled, I'm pretty sure it ended when it was meant to be ended, I mean... how could they continue it and not repeat the same stuff? They destroyed Sunnydale, how can you top or go back from that? SighWhy the sigh? From what I've heard since it finished, Joss Whedon has more stories he wishes to tell with the Buffyverse. The destruction of the Hellmouth was the only way that the show itself could be concluded. However, if the show had gone down a different path after season five, then I think possibly we'd still be watching. Some of the storylines involved in the sixth season especially, weren't hugely popular. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Tara, Anya, Giles, Xander and Dawn were all great characters, with pretty good scope. I just think it kind of tailed off in quality in the latter seasons which inevitably led to its ultimate demise. Just my opinion, of course.
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Post by ECTO-1 on Jan 25, 2006 18:47:33 GMT -4
I'm pretty sure Gellar wanted it to end.
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