The Cancelled Shows you Remember .....

[alton]

Anyone remember Mantis? Paralyzed doctor with exo-suit fights crime. It was pretty good, from what I remember

Codystarbuck may have already covered this but on another thread a decision to eliminate Mantis's black college student techies from Season 1 and replace them with a white crew kicked up a firestorm of protest and the show got cancelled. Producer said he was just trying to increase ratings by finding a more relatable ensemble cast for the mainstream audience. Double check this I don't want to steer you wrong. Certainly a weird reversal on what is going on in comics and film these days.

[Knightmare10880]

Codystarbuck may have already covered this but on another thread a decision to eliminate Mantis's black college student techies from Season 1 and replace them with a white crew kicked up a firestorm of protest and the show got cancelled. Producer said he was just trying to increase ratings by finding a more relatable ensemble cast for the mainstream audience. Double check this I don't want to steer you wrong. Certainly a weird reversal on what is going on in comics and film these days.

That was the biggest problem with Mantis is that Fox kept making them retool the series over and over again. I remember watching the original pilot movie with my brother and we both loved it, Mantis was awesome with the the suit and trenchcoat over his exo-suit then in the series they dumped the suit and just had him in the exo-suit. The final episode of the series is horrible and it's another example of Fox in the 90's taking an interesting concept and running it into the ground cause they didn't get it.

[brettc1]

Fantastic Journey.

I was a huge Roddy McDowall fan

[harashkupo]

Anyone remember Mantis? Paralyzed doctor with exo-suit fights crime. It was pretty good, from what I remember

I loved that show and I thought it was cool that Professor X had the same type of suit in Fatal Attractions. The show made me a fan of Carl Lumbly and he's the sole reason I started watching Alias.

I know people hate remakes but I would be oh so down for someone to bring this show back.

That was the biggest problem with Mantis is that Fox kept making them retool the series over and over again. I remember watching the original pilot movie with my brother and we both loved it, Mantis was awesome with the the suit and trenchcoat over his exo-suit then in the series they dumped the suit and just had him in the exo-suit. The final episode of the series is horrible and it's another example of Fox in the 90's taking an interesting concept and running it into the ground cause they didn't get it.

That's current day Fox with the way they mishandled Almost Human and Fringe. Those guys are seasoned pros at driving shows into the ground.

[The Cool Thatguy]

That's current day Fox with the way they mishandled Almost Human and Fringe. Those guys are seasoned pros at driving shows into the ground.

That reminds me of Chris Titus' recap of why his show was cancelled. Paraphrasing, "The studio execs would come in and say, with no irony at all, 'Chris, we love the show, it's perfect. Here's what you have to change...'"

[Professor Moriarty]

James Bond Jr.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The other day I was looking for a video clip , or highlight reel of M.A.S.H TV moments. Weirdly I couldn't find anything regarding M.A.S.H beyond some highlight clips with a song behind them and brief scenes. But then while looking I discovered that the long running show actually had 2 ....yes 2 , spin-off shows (Trapper John , M.D. could be considered a spin-off , but everyone discusses how good that was) . One folks mention as a but of jokes and the other , not many will remember. So lets discuss both of them.




M.A.S.H the film was made in 1970 and was a pretty big hit for the studio that made it (20th Century Fox) and the discussion turned to a TV series. With almost all the stars leaving except for Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly). A whole new cast was added to play the characters of Hawkeye Pierce , Trapper John and Henry Blake. And its the rare time a network cast everyone so well.

Its hard to believe that the show wasn't popular when it began. In fact it took the CBS President's wife at the time to convince him to save the show and move it to another night. Once the show was moved and seen during that summer , it never looked back. It became a huge runaway hit and one that even with characters leaving , managed to maintain a very high level for 10 more seasons.

Like any long running show , spin-off shows will happen at times. When the character of Trapper John was written out (star Wayne Rogers walked out over his role being 2nd to Alan Alda's character) , a few years later CBS did the new series , "Trapper John , M.D." That one worked very well and ran for 7 seasons and 151 episodes. But beyond that CBS wanted a show to follow closer with its big hit M.A.S.H. So they went to the drawing board as the final season began and signed 3 of M.A.S.H's key stars to a contract for the spin-off that would become "AfterM.A.S.H" .




William Christopher , Jamie Farr and Henry Morgan all signed onto the spin-off that would launch in fall 1983. The other actors like Alan Alda , Loretta Swift and Mike Farrell all turned down the spin-off , wanting to move on. So CBS had a show with 3 of the male stars of the show and decided to focus on Sherman Potter and Maxwell Klinger's family life. With Father Francis Mulcahy joining them at the VA hospital that both Klinger and Potter worked for.

The series launched in the same time slot and soon would finish 15th for the season. A good sign that the spin-off could likely have just as long a life span as the original series. Then someone at CBS got cocky and felt that AfterM.A.S.H could logically challenge NBC's new hit show ... The A-Team on Tuesdays. So they moved the show in its 2nd season to a new time slot where it was crushed in quick fashion. CBS its claimed really didn't seem to like the series and its been rumored the executives wanted to kill the series and not ruin the main shows syndication appeal. So they moved it from its successful 1st season to a time slot it wouldn't win. The series ran for 30 episodes and was cancelled after 2 seasons.




And that would have closed the door on M.A.S.H and its universe. There would have been no more spin-offs as some would think. But no , that isn't true...because CBS ordered a pilot for a series with Gary Burghoff reprising his role of Radar O'Reilly. Burghoff had left the show in 1979 and his career was typecast as the small Radar sadly so he returned for a potential new series as the nice naive O'Reilly. This one arrived in 1984 and actually , here is the link to the pilot episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8Vd1vVqXc


The show had the Radar character become a policeman in St.Louis , leaving the family farm behind. He also had lost his wife (she ran off with another man) and he was single. The pilot actually had a very unique cast as W.A.L.T.E.R (the name of the potential series) had Noble Willingham , Victoria Jackson and Lyman Ward (Ferris Beuller's Day Off) in roles. The pilot also if you watch had Bill Bixby as director.

But as you can see why , CBS rejected the series and just burned it off one evening. Never to mention it again. What is unique is Hawkeye Pierce was mentioned on the series in the opening like he'd be mentioned on AfterM.A.S.H. After these 2 spin-offs we never got another spin-off series again.

So why did these spin-offs fail ? Its pretty simple as a reason , fans of M.A.S.H loved the struggle these people went through in the most horrible of times. They lived in a hell hole and survived , getting laughs at times and trying to cope. Taking them from the war setting just didn't work. A fact CBS seemed to realize pretty quick and cancelled one series after they threw it to the wolves (or A-Team) and one they didn't even want as a series .

[Deathstroke]

Wow, I never knew about the Radar spinoff.

[codystarbuck]

After MASH was launched to big fanfare but was pretty much hated by fans. The show had good initial ratings; but, it quickly became clear it wasn't the same level of writing. It's a shame, as the cast was always good.

There's a difference, though, between a cancelled show and a pilot. Pilot's are commissioned all the time, to test an idea. However, a good many go unseen, at worst, and aired; but not picked up, at best. WALTER was not picked up and only had one broadcast. there were tons of specials and tv movies that were actually pilots, which never went to series. Genesis II, from Gene Roddenberry, got two pilot films (one with Alex Cord, one with John Saxon) and a low budget theatrical release. the second pilot was cobbled together from scripts for episodes of the potential series. It wasn't picked up. Ron Ely, post-Tarzan, starred in a tv movie, called The SEAL, about an ex-Navy SEAL, well before the name had entered public consciousness. It didn't sell. Another was a movie, Earth II, starring Gary Lockwood. It featured a space station that was a peaceful, independent state, that is threatened by nuclear devices. The movie was broadcast a couple of times and is available from the Warner Archives (as are the Genesis II movies).

Markie Post starred in a failed pilot for a comedic Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl tv series, before the more recent attempt at the same.

Michael Beck starred in a pilot movie, The Last Ninja, about a white man who was raised by a Japanese couple, and trained as a ninja, after the death of the couple's natural son. he then goes on to infiltrate a high rise building, taken over by terrorists (well before Die Hard).

Jared Martin and Robert Ito starred in a tv movie that was also probably a pilot, Men of the Dragon, about a man (Martin) whose sister (Katie Saylor) has been kidnapped by a white slaver (Joseph Wiseman). Ito is an old friend who helps Martin track down the villain's base and rescue her. It featured martial arts fights, choreographed by David Chow, who also choreographed Kung Fu, and who appears as the villain's henchman. It was launched at the height of the martial arts fad and was well done; but, no series followed.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Masquerade Making a Living/ It's a Living - five (or was it four?) waitresses, workplace comedy, yada yada ... I just had a big crush on Ann Jillian...

I remember that, it was a restaurant on the toppish floor of a luxury hotel

[codystarbuck]

I remember that, it was a restaurant on the toppish floor of a luxury hotel

Yep; started on the network, then moved to syndication. Ann Jillian was diagnosed with breast cancer, during the series, and had a mastectomy, about which she was very public. Nice, pleasant little series. Nothing groundbreaking, but generally well done.

[Da Boat]

The early 90s Flash TV show. It was fun and not bad. Had strong inspiration drawn from the 1989 Batman flick with a city being a mix of the 1940s and the 1990s where detectives had boiler hats and you had old cars and modern cars. All the cops and bad guys seemed to come from the 40s and the rest was the 90s.

School Rock(I think that's the name?). 80s show was like Glee before its time. Yet not as corny or social message stuff. Compared to Glee it was more of an outdoor kind of thing, not as inside the school-centric. The actors were not doing musical numbers in the goal of creating a musical, it was more like a movie like Grease or a music video where the students would have life situations and start singing, etc....

Highwayman. Think of Mad Max with a van that transforms into an helicopter with Flash Gordon as the lead. This show was badass and could have easily had a Knight Rider type of run. I have to admit I never watched a full episode for whatever reasons.

[codystarbuck]

The early 90s Flash TV show. It was fun and not bad. Had strong inspiration drawn from the 1989 Batman flick with a city being a mix of the 1940s and the 1990s where detectives had boiler hats and you had old cars and modern cars. All the cops and bad guys seemed to come from the 40s and the rest was the 90s.

School Rock(I think that's the name?). 80s show was like Glee before its time. Yet not as corny or social message stuff. Compared to Glee it was more of an outdoor kind of thing, not as inside the school-centric. The actors were not doing musical numbers in the goal of creating a musical, it was more like a movie like Grease or a music video where the students would have life situations and start singing, etc....

Highwayman. Think of Mad Max with a van that transforms into an helicopter with Flash Gordon as the lead. This show was badass and could have easily had a Knight Rider type of run. I have to admit I never watched a full episode for whatever reasons.

I did watch full episodes. There was a very good reason it didn't last long; it wasn't very good. Jones was fine, Jocko was terrible and the writing was pretty bad. It was extremely generic and didn't have any of Mad Max's mayhem or personality and the stunts were below what you'd see on the average Stephen J Cannell show. It was a decent idea that was horribly executed.

[Toreador]

I did watch full episodes. There was a very good reason it didn't last long; it wasn't very good. Jones was fine, Jocko was terrible and the writing was pretty bad. It was extremely generic and didn't have any of Mad Max's mayhem or personality and the stunts were below what you'd see on the average Stephen J Cannell show. It was a decent idea that was horribly executed.

I did like one of the trucks they used. It was low like a sports car that slid under the trailer. I believe it was a prototype for a new type of semi-truck that didn't catch on (probably the drivers didn't want to lose their vantage point from the trucks used now).

And the show had Tim Russ (who went on to Voyager) and Jane Badler (who went on to do V).

[codystarbuck]

I did like one of the trucks they used. It was low like a sports car that slid under the trailer. I believe it was a prototype for a new type of semi-truck that didn't catch on (probably the drivers didn't want to lose their vantage point from the trucks used now).

And the show had Tim Russ (who went on to Voyager) and Jane Badler (who went on to do V).

That's one of the problems about building a show around gadgets and gimmicks. You can have a cool ride; but, if you don't do anything with it, you don't have a series. Supertrain had a cool looking train; it was still a poor man's Loveboat; but nowhere near as well written. Think about how bad that really is. Blue Thunder had a cool gunship and no plot. Airwolf at least had the hook of Stringfellow's search for his MIA brother and some decent espionage-themed stories, plus decent characters. it wore out the premise quickly, though. Knight Rider developed a personality for the AI-driven car and had a decent character in michael; and, the Hoff had enough charisma to carry through some pretty generic writing and limited acting skills. It was a fun, popcorn tv series.