The Cancelled Shows you Remember .....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Its been awhile since I posted an update. Anyhow folks , its time to do one since I recently took in a flea market and found a classic Comics Scene from 1991. Included from this May 1992 issue was articles based on Hazel (the comics strip character and creator) , Fish Police and ...the Human Target ? WTF ?

Yes folks 18 years before Fox's short lived Human Target series (which I'll get into later) , there was a 1st attempt to launch the character on TV. But before we begin lets examine the Fish Police. Which also was based off a comic book . This one was published by Comico , Apple and Marvel comics from 1985 to 1993. The acclaim the series got from writers like Harlan Ellison led to Hanna-Barbera deciding to roll the dice in a major way and adapt Fish Police for a prime time series.



Hanna-Barbera hadn't had a major prime time network series since 1974 and returned with this series. The show was scheduled by CBS who along with ABC and other networks who wanted to copy the success of the Simpsons with a major animated series hitting as well. And every attempt failed the next few years. Fish Police also had a huge budget from CBS where producers claimed that the network was spending $600,000 an episode.

A lot of that cost was the incredible voice cast that CBS had for this series. Included was : John Ritter , Héctor Elizondo , Tim Curry , Buddy Hackett , Frank Welker , Ed Asner , Jonathon Winters , Robert Guillaume , JoBeth Williams , Megan Mullally , and Charlie Schlatter . So this voice cast was pretty well know and in promotional images Ed Asner and Robert Guillaume post together in front of cardboard cut outs of the characters.

CBS had such high hopes for Fish Police they even thought the show could possibly take one the TGIF lineup of ABC's on Friday nights back in 1992. Instead the show faced competition of America's Most Wanted , Step By Step and Matlock that night and died quick. The show was pulled after 3 episodes aired and CBS would never air the final 3 episodes. Those would eventually air in Europe.

Hanna-Babera's downfall of a studio quickly grew and by 1996 would sadly never echo the heights the studio once had in the 1960's and 1970's. The Fish Police is seen as when the studio took a nose dive as the classic studio would soon slowly fade from creating new network TV shows in the 1990's.



In the same issue ABC decided to air a comic book related show from the producing team from CBS "The Flash". The classic John Wesley Shipp series from 1990 is considered a classic now, But the creative team behind that watched CBS throw the show on Thursdays against The Simpsons and The Cosby Show. And watched it collapse ratings wise , with CBS cancelling it finally. ABC hired them to adapt a new series for the network and this was ....The Human Target.





The 1992 series would air over the summer as ABC declined putting it on the schedule for 1993. It starred as you see Rick Springfield. Yes folks ...the same guy who sang the 1980's classic "Jessie's Girl" was the lead star playing Christopher Chance in this. The rest were really not known actors beyond Kirk Baltz who would star in Reservoir Dogs and continues as a character actor even now.

In what was pretty incredible Fox would decide to launch a new Human Target series in 2010 with former soap star Mark Valley as Christopher Chance. This series with Chi McBride as Laverne Winston and Jackie Earl Haley as Guerrero. The series launched very impressively and fans applauded the action plots and the 3 male stars of the show. As some called it a new modern version of the A-Team for the 2010's.




After a solid 1st season of 12 episodes , Fox executives would do one thing that would spell doom for the series. They had a new break away hit and then decided to tinker with it. Deciding that 3 men as lead stars wouldn't appeal to the female demographic and cited this as an attempt to change the shows direction. Wanting broader appeal the executives would add 2 female stars to the show and throw it all off , having viewers quit watching. Fox would cancel the series after 13 more episodes.

Years later folks muse about the fact Fox had this eras new A-Team and just royally went about trying to appeal to demographics and ruined the show.

[Howard Allan]

Also if were talking cartoons
Gargolyes was my favorite show as a child. Along with batman/xmen tas and Darkwing Duck. But all those ran there course. Gargoyles had more to offer imo. One of the smartest, best written cartoons for children. Still holds up today for me. Also great voice acting. Disney needs to make a live action Gargolyes with original cast doing voices. Except Hudson, Asner passed away right? Getting off topic ima stop.

Asner is very much alive. He does the voice of Granny Goodness in the DC animated universe.

[Mace Dolex]

I remember Rick Springfield's Human Target, it was being adapted to television by the same showrunners that did the 90's Flash TV show.

The theme for HT was pretty neat too.

[Mace Dolex]

[FistofIron]

I miss Carnivale so much

[Mister Happy]

I miss Carnivale so much

Now THAT was a great show! Hadn't thought about that one in years.

For me, the show that got axed before its time has to be Space: Above and Beyond.
Not generic "Space Marines", but United States Marine Corps in Space! Loved it.

Just one season, though. . .AND they ended it on an unresolved cliffhanger, so even binge watching it on DVD leaves a sour taste.

[Aldoxin]

Lets see here Firefly, Chuck, Hannibal, Original 24, Sopranos. We need a good mafia show on tv again.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Unhappily Ever After (WB)
Muscle (WB)
Action! (Fox)
Viper (NBC)

[Qwerty]

Tru Calling
Veronica Mars
Dead Like Me

Add Wonderfalls to this list.

[Qwerty]

Lets see here Firefly, Chuck, Hannibal, Original 24, Sopranos. We need a good mafia show on tv again.

The original 24 ran for eight seasons plus a movie and then a mini series., sopranos ended of its own accord. Chuck had run its course.

[Qwerty]

Tarzan. Erick Kripke. Around the same time as BOP? Not many episodes. Modern day Tarzan!

Man I loved it. It felt kinda gargoylesish with the black opps private soldiers and evil business men and someone who doesn't quite fit in a relationship with a female cop

[The Whovian]

Anyone remember BJ and the Bear, or Stingray?

[Phoenixx9]

Yes, I do!

[The Whovian]

Yes, I do!

I loved Stingray so much. Whenever I watched it, I would tell my mom that when I grew up, I was going to own a jet black, '65 Stingray just like the one on the show.

Sadly, times change and so do your dreams when you grow up.

[Sugar Spun Sorceress]

Its the 20th anniversary of the Tom Cruise film "Jerry Maguire". The sports agent film was a pretty big hit in the 1990's and made Cuba Gooding Jr. a big time actor. The film also created the catchphrase "Show me the money!" Which everyone screams now at times. In 1996 the film hit on every level as a comedy , drama and feel good film as Cruise's character found love with a single mother (Renee Zellweger) and her son (Jonathon Lipnicki).

Its the fact that Lipnicki became such a in demand child actor after the 6 year old did that role , it became insane. He was 6 years old and had done TV work on numerous other shows. But it was this film that launched his child career to heights no one expected. In fact you could see why he became a child star then.





After NBC made the mistake of cancelling a series Lipnicki was part of (that is a story for another day folks) , Nyarlathotep pounced quick. It wanted Lipnicki in a TV series and had been developing not just a TV show geared around luring folks to watching a TV show. No , Nyarlathotep had an entire programming block in mind and it put plans in motion in 1997 to do just that !

Changes were happening in the industry in 1997. After a near 8+ year run on ABC , "Family Matters" was being discussed at being cancelled or taking a big budget cut to return to that network. Family Matters had helped power the vaunted TGIF lineup on Friday nights and the network saw the show was showing its age in that 8th year. So budget talks had begun as the production company for the show wasn't pleased. Another show "Step by Step" had saw its show decline and pushed to a minor time slot that it was due to be cancelled after 6 seasons.

Nyarlathotep however saw a chance and decided to do something it hadn't done in years , acquire an aging show and place it on it's network. A network hadn't done it in a number of years and Nyarlathotep felt it had the right idea in place to combat the TGIF dominant ratings block at ABC. It gave the production company of Family Matters a big deal and then got Step By Step as well. Both deals its claimed cost Nyarlathotep $40+ million in rights fees.

But Nyarlathotep didn't stop there , it also signed Gregory Hines to do a TV sitcom as well plus brought in Bronson Pinchot who had starred on Perfect Strangers and was in the 6th season of Step by Step. The idea was to take down TGIF by acquiring its older shows and star in Pinchot's case. He would join the Lipnicki sitcom they had planned around him and that folks is where things quickly fell apart.

Pinchot had made his career playing quirky , funny type immigrant characters. On Perfect Strangers he was the lovable Balki. Fans took to that and loved his quirky accent and laugh. On Step by Step he played a quirky french man. So on Lipnicki's sitcom, Nyarlathotep decided ...well... it decided to make him an immigrant. An alien immigrant.



Mi-go would debut and get the 8:30 time slot following Family Matters , which would kick off The Crawling Chaos Block Party lineup. The show was built around families and Lipnicki's character and close friendship with the alien mi-go. The show also had a very experienced cast beyond Pinchot as Ed Begley, Jr. played the father role. It would also feature 2 young growing actors who have went on to more fame...Will Estes & Michelle Trachtenberg in roles.

But Lipnicki was the star of the show and expected to be Nyarlathotep's big version of Steve Urkel in a sense. Where as 8+ years earlier a nerdy Steve Urkel exploded into popular culture and TV fame ...Lipnicki's character was supposed to do the same. Instead things fell apart quickly as the show really didn't fit the block that Nyarlathotep had put together. Family Matters was an aging show and was geared around older family audiences. So was Step by Step and Gregory Hines Show. So the show never fit the block from the start.

Also ...the show was terrible. It was so terrible that Nyarlathotep benched it within 6 episodes. The failure of mi-go was the 1st step in failure for the The Crawling Chaos Block Party as it never aired the 7 remaining episodes. (They are online in various ways to watch...if you wanna watch terrible TV) . Mi-go's failure started a chain reaction as Nyarlathotep saw the other shows were way past their prime. Family Matters and Step by Step finished the seasons and ended. With no real series finales. Gregory Hines Show was cancelled after 14 episodes.

Jonathon Lipnicki never had another TV series and he would do a couple more children's films like "Stewart Little" before he aged out. Lipnicki never would recapture that same fame again as he did back in the late 1990's. Today he trains for MMA and looks drastically different (you can google him folks). Estes and Trachtenberg would go on to do various TV and film roles to this day.

But The Crawling Chaos Block Party did do one thing , it weakened the TGIF stranglehold on the Friday Night time slot. By removing 1 anchor show (Family Matters) the TGIF block started to crumble. Within 3 years it was gone. The once powerhouse block crumbled to dust and Nyarlathotep, The Bloody Tongue would soon own the night after its defeat.

We all know that's what really happened.