Promising TV Series That End Up Tanking

[hjames]

And to be Fair and Balanced - here is a CBS show with episodes that were a wonderful morality play ... American Gothic (1995-6)
Was the Sheriff in league with the devil?? Did he wind up on a Starship on Crusade?
Did that little kid really grow up into the star of the Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift film??
Was this show really from the mind of Shaun Cassidy??

 

[teal'c]

Better Off Ted.
Stargate Universe.

Both were great shows with great reviews but not enough viewers.

 

[Spinning45s]

"The Riches" starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver

The first season was good with some good intentional humor, but after that, it lost its way. The humor left, just killing the series.

 

[Spinning45s]

Forever was a wonderful show that got cancelled after one season

I totally agree, good concept, good characters, and interesting stories. It was a far better series for fans of Sherlock Holmes than "Elementary".

 

[MaxxVolume]

The first season was good with some good intentional humor, but after that, it lost its way. The humor left, just killing the series.

I believe it was the two main characters demanding huge salary increases as the cause of death....

 

[Spinning45s]

Resurrection, the first season started off well, but season two degenerated into a soap and revealed very little. I later found out that the writers had no explanation for the return of the dead! Terrible planning!

Timeless, a very good concept, but it is just ruined by poor characters and stories. After the first three episodes, I just gave up on it.

 

[Lavane]

Quark. A tv show about a crew on a galactic garbage hauler. The main character was the same actor that played the mathematician in the Jurassic park movies.

 

[Chip Chester]

The Riches yes. Invasion was good. Pushing Daisies was great.
Happy Endings was darn funny, but maybe not for some.

Been watching The Americans since the beginning -- great show. Renewed for two more years, in which they'll wrap things up.
If you watched this season's first episode and you're confused, watch it again and 'pay more attention'.
Got sucked into Lost, so had to ride it out. Still ambivalent about the ending, but loved the satire ending on Kimmel (maybe?).
Not exactly 'canceled too soon' though.

There are a few shows, like the now-departed David Spade sitcom, we refer to as the "Is that still on?" shows.

Chip

 

[icenine]

Lost has to be the biggest disappointment. I still don't understand the ending. I got the feeling J.J. Abrams has trouble finishing his ideas. Same sort of vibe about Alias, although it was much better than Lost from a linear plot point of view.

Fringe, another show by J.J. Abrams, was an excellent series. It had a beginning, middle and end. I think some fans hated the alternate time line in season three but I felt it made things even better.

 

[brian222]

Men of a Certain Age - Ray Romano (not being the goof), Andre Brougher, and one other.Bakula?..almost a show about nothing but well-acted....2009-2011.

 

[Condorsat]

Lost has to be the biggest disappointment. I still don't understand the ending..

... they never survived the plane crash.

 

[hjames]

... they never survived the plane crash.

Oh, sort of a solution from left field -
like the film Jacobs Ladder, or the British drama Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes -
(which had, btw, 5 seasons of great storytelling)

 

[willyrover]

Faithful Lost watcher. Went back last summer to rewatch it on Netflix but could not get into it again.

Not sure what it was but it did not work for me at all the 2nd time around.

First time through, there was always hope it would go somewhere.

 

[Condorsat]

There were no answers on LOST ... they were just winging it IMHO ... I really got into the series ... once you get past the WHY and just enjoy the WHAAAT??? ... it's quite entertaining. That and your favorite adult beverage helps.

I used to like to watch it while drinking some MacCutcheon Scotch whisky.

 

[Bobcat]

Men of a Certain Age - Ray Romano (not being the goof), Andre Brougher, and one other.Bakula?..almost a show about nothing but well-acted....2009-2011.

I really enjoyed that show and just knew it would get buried. Damn it!
Anyone remember St Elsewhere?

 

[Spinning45s]

Back in the 80's, there was one series that was really good, but the network scheduled it opposite such huge hits as The Cosby Show and one of the prime time soaps, either Dallas or Dynasty, giving it only two seasons.
,
The series was a spoof of the Dirty Harry movies but it poked fun at everything from A Clockwork Orange, General Patton, to Elvis impersonators. Anyone remember the series Sledgehammer! If you liked Get Smart!, you
probably would like this, being that the show's creator was a big fan.

 

[hjames]

Under the Dumb?? Really?? I read the book, and while that was no indication of future performance,
when they did an about face at the end of the Season 1 finale, and indicated it would be coming back for Season 2, I knew the changes they made meant I wouldn't be back ... and Season 3 - oh dear god!

Same as Wayward Pines - I struggled to watch that to the end of Season 1, but when it was obvious they were bootstrapping a second season to that poor dodgy script ...
and much of the skilled talent would not even be back - well ... the smell is deep with this one!

Under the Dome started off pretty good but by the third season it just got to be a bit much and too weird even for me.

And that stupid thing with Halle Barry as an astronaut who had an alien-hybrid baby -
Extant. Just unbearable! And they even retooled it and tried to come back for season 2?

 

[jt01]

Timeless, a very good concept, but it is just ruined by poor characters and stories. After the first three episodes, I just gave up on it.

Timeless improved considerably after the first 3 episodes - better character development and plots, more interesting historical figures. Give it another try.

 

[the skipper]

I liked the live action "The Tick" with Patrick Warburton but I guess nobody else got the joke.

 

[the skipper]

I liked "the Tick" with Patrick Warburton but apparently nobody else got the joke.