Too Good for TV: One-Season Wonders
Some of my favorite shows that were excellently written, produced and acted but failed to impress the Nielsen ratings families and were yanked by their networks after one season or less.
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- CreatorGlen MorganJames WongStarsMorgan WeisserKristen ClokeRodney RowlandThe Earth is embroiled in a desperate war against alien invaders, and this series focuses on one squadron of Marine pilots involved in it.World War II-style military drama set in space, in a near-future time when humanity has colonized the stars, and is forced to fight for survival against a mysterious race of aliens known only as the Chigs.
- CreatorBuck HenryStarsRichard BenjaminTim ThomersonPatricia BarnstableThe misadventures of an outer space garbage collector and his crew.No, not the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character, but Capt. Adam Quark and the crew of his interstellar garbage scow. Funny and way ahead of its time.
- CreatorJoss WhedonStarsNathan FillionGina TorresAlan TudykFive hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.One season was not nearly enough for this great Wild West/sci-fi mashup from the mind of Joss Whedon...and neither is one movie. I want my Big Damn Trilogy!
- CreatorDanny BilsonPaul De MeoStarsJohn Wesley ShippAmanda PaysAlex DésertA police forensic scientist, Barry Allen, battles crimes as the super-fast superhero "The Flash."DC Comics' Silver Age Scarlet Speedster brought to life on the small screen...and so well done even STAR WARS' Mark Hamill was willing to guest star not once, but twice! Made way before the 2014 version now airing on The CW...but its star, John Wesley Shipp, is now playing Barry Allen's wrongly-jailed dad in the new show.
- CreatorChris ThompsonStarsJay MohrIlleana DouglasJarrad PaulA dark comedy about Peter Dragon, a sleazy Hollywood executive. His last, massively expensive, movie bombed and he needs a hit. Will "Beverley Hills Gun Club" be it and how far will he have to go to make it?Jay Mohr brilliantly shows us everything wrong with Hollywood as a washed-up filmmaker trying to make a comeback in this all-too-brief series lit up by cameos from Salma Hayek to Buddy Hackett ("I'm 78 years old; I got one lung, one ball and one kidney. I take Viagra just to keep from pissing myself. Who are you frightening?!").
- CreatorDanny BilsonPaul De MeoCarmine InfantinoStarsRick SpringfieldKirk BaltzSami ChesterThe cases of a unique bodyguard/detective who protects his clients from murder by impersonating them to draw the killer's fire.From the producers of THE FLASH, Bilson & DiMeo, TV's first attempt at adapting DC Comics' bodyguard-cum-impersonator for hire, Christopher Chance (before the much-less-faithful Fox version with Mark Valley). Rick Springfield in the lead, a cool private superjet and rubber face masks - this one has it all.
- CreatorPatrick McGoohanStarsPatrick McGoohanAngelo MuscatPeter SwanwickAfter he resigns, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is actually a bizarre prison. He refuses to give his warders information while attempting to escape.The late Patrick McGoohan's tour de force as creator, writer and star (later made into a far inferior AMC mini-series not even Sir Ian McKellen could save). A nameless Brit super-spy tells his boss to take his job and shove it...and ends up imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there is no escape—except possibly madness.
- CreatorEarl W. WallaceDonald E. WestlakeStarsEdward AndrewsHarrison PageRobert AldaThe adventures of a nation-spanning train and its passengers.Okay, maybe this one wasn't too good for TV - in fact, it may have been too bad. But the concept was interesting and the theme music was great. This one is still regarded as one of the biggest flops ever aired by any network; comedian Alan King remarked, "It's a bird! It's a bomb! It's SUPERTRAIN!"
- CreatorEric MorrisStarsBruce CampbellAngela Marie DotchinStuart DevenieJack Stiles, American spy stationed on a South Pacific island in the early 19th century, teams up with no nonsense British agent Emilia Rothschild to stop Napoleon's colonizing efforts. Jack's alter ego is the Zorro-esque Daring Dragoon.19th-century steampunk espionage action comedy in a tropical-island setting. The biggest reason to watch? Bruce Campbell as the "scoundrel with a heart," American spy Jack Stiles. The second biggest reason? Kiwi beauty Angela Dotchin as his British scientist partner/love interest, and the sparkling, sparking chemistry between them. Was far better than its partner in the Action Pack timeslot, CLEOPATRA 2525; they should have just given it the whole hour.
- CreatorJ.H. WymanStarsKarl UrbanMichael EalyMinka KellyIn a not-so-distant future, a human cop and an android partner team up to serve and protect.Another overlooked gem canceled by Fox too soon. Not the first TV series to feature android cops...but by far the best one yet, in large part due to Michael Ealy's performance as the amazingly humanlike Dorian, and Karl Urban's as the walking gearbox's past-haunted human partner, Det. John Kennex.
- CreatorRobert De LaurentiisDick WolfStarsDavid AndrewsYancy ButlerS. Epatha MerkersonIn the near future, cop Bobby Mann is teamed with a voluptuous robot partner, Sgt. Eve Edison. He's a brash, wise-cracking maverick; she's serious, naive, by-the-book and tends to take things literally. In this hour-long series, the two detectives learn from each other, while solving a variety of crimes.The last TV series built around a robot police officer and its human partner, before ALMOST HUMAN came along. Yancy Butler's performance as the "machine" half of the title makes it...and she ain't exactly hard on the eyes, either.
- CreatorLaeta KalogridisStarsAshley ScottDina MeyerRachel SkarstenIn the future, long after the Batman has driven himself into exile, his legacy lives on in the form of the Birds of Prey--Black Canary, Oracle, and the Huntress.DC Comics' attempt to capitalize on the success of Smallville with a series based on its comic book of this name. The three ladies comics fans know as Oracle, Huntress and Black Canary (who here is no more than a fledgling chick) are surprisingly well written and acted, and Mia Sara in a recurring role as none other than Dr. Harleen Quinzel, MD (AKA Harley Quinn) was a curve I never even saw coming. It deserved much more of a shot than the one season the network gave it.
- CreatorIvan GoffBen RobertsStarsVincent PriceCoral BrowneWoodrow ParfreyJason and Margaret Winters are the sophisticated hosts of the Time Express, a train which takes its passengers back in time to relive a pivotal moment of their lives.
- StarsKatherine KellyGreg AustinJordan RenzoThe sixth formers of Coal Hill Academy all have their own secrets and desires. They have to deal with the stresses of everyday life including friends, parents, school work, sex, and sorrow, but also the horrors that come from time travel.