My own blog post from yesterday reminded me of all the shows I watched as a kid or teenager which ultimately went nowhere... cancelled after a few episodes or just one season.These are:
The Interns (1970)... I would watch this on the Sony portable upstairs and enjoy it; even though some of the subject matter was quite adult. Maybe this is why I was upstairs watching it on the Sony b&w instead of the Zenith colour tube downstairs. As I remember it, Interns had a great opening title sequence. That Broderick Crawford. Along with Sandy Smith, Mike Farrell, Stephen Brooks, and Christopher Stone.
Planet of the Apes (1974)... The family, well some of us, watched this tv series based on the successful feature films. This series was not successful, partly due to its great cost, less than stellar ratings (after a while), and inflexible format (although it was, the producers just did not try to flex it). This show was huge in Great Britain.
Lucas Tanner (1974)... My memory is watching this upstairs by myself on the Sony portable; although the subject matter was definitely more agreeable than that of The Interns. It was a show about a school teacher (David Hartman) and his trials and tribulations with his students. I liked this one.
Gemini Man (1976)... Ben Murphy played some dude who had the power of controlled invisibility for about fifteen minutes. Hey, like me in high school math class!
The Fantastic Journey (1977)... A group of people end up in the Bermuda Triangle where they meet some strange goings on and some strange dudes. A fun journey, but not for enough people.
Darkroom (1981)... James Coburn was the host of this superior thriller/horror show of the anthology kind. The flexible segment lengths within a typical episode allowed the running time to fit the story being told. There were some true standouts in this baby.
With the exception of Apes, I have not seen these in years.
And what is it about me becoming attached to shows which do not survive? Or is it that I jinx them? Here's a thought; I should start becoming attached to the new Battlestar Galactica, and Torchwood.
I did not mention Hello, Larry as it went into a second season. That fact saved me from admitting I watched it every week.
3 comments:
Lovely. We all have these... "Chopper One", "Apple's Way", "Run Joe Run", "Bob" (the ill-fated short-lived 1992 series with Bob Newhart, which I thought was great because it was darker than the other two), "George and Leo" (great show with Newhart and Judd Hirsch), "Out of Practice" (barely lasted the 2005-6 season).
I might even be able to sing the theme from "Hello, Larry." It made me extra scared when one of the daughters was in peril in Jaws 2.
Gemini Man I remember as being exciting, I remember the black lines on the watch disappearing one by one. I don't think it is inherently terrible to mine nostalgia or exploit a brand name. Some 70's shows might actually have something to build upon.
I haven't looked for it on-line but you never know.
The dweeb who writes a trite Entertainment Weekly column "The Final Cut" Mark Harris (now that Stephen King isn't doing Pop of King apparently) claims that genre films are unable to evolve as long as they are catering to one generation's nostalgia. Poor baby can't cope with seeing another Alien movie and whatnot. Mark Harris from what I've read of his usless column doesn't like sci fi much anyway. He's right up there (or down there) on my list of losers with Norman Wilner for opinions that are 75 percent wrong 80 percent of the time.
Ah yes...Darkroom. I will always remember the episode I saw about the Vietnam vet who is attacked by toy soldiers. Even as a kid I knew this was no Twilight Zone.
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