The Cancelled Shows you Remember .....

[TheInvisibleMan]

I really liked The Finder

[Jokerz79]

I remember watching Voyagers as a small kid about a guy named Phineas Bogg part of a time traveling society traveling thru time with a kid Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce starred in it.

[TheInvisibleMan]

2008s Knight Rider

I enjoyed it, did a bit of a retool in mid season, just didn't catch on

good concepts though, solid cast

spirit of the original

even KARR

[Toreador]

Anyone remember The War Next Door. Kind of a live action Roadrunner cartoon where a retired ex-spy (played by Linden Ashby) has his arch-enemy move next door and tries to kill him every week. The villain usually dies (I think the hero dies once) and the show gets reset for next week. Aired on USA and only lasted one season.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Back in the 1990's there was 4 broadcast networks. The long time stalwarts of networks was ABC , CBS , NBC and the new kid on the block ...Fox Network. Fox was still building its base as a national network broadcast channel in the 1990's as the big 3 were constantly fighting for ratings supremacy. By the mid 1990's however things started to change as 2 major film companies decided to take a shot at creating new broadcast networks ala Fox that launched back in the late 1980's. This was Warner Brothers and Paramount.

Paramount had a history in this in fact. Back in the late 1970's , they were wanting to do a broadcast network (Paramount Network) and planned to do a TV series reboot with Star Trek to launch it. But as the costs and time crept in , Paramount got cold feet and decided against this then. They would go on to launch Star Trek in films and do a new TV series called Star Trek : The Next Generation. Which they sold into syndication for huge profits .




They however by the mid 1990's after doing this with Deep Space Nine , decided they could revisit an old idea they had. This was ...if Star Trek TNG and Deep Space Nine sold so well in syndication to markets ...why not try and launch a TV network off it ? So with grand plans Paramount launched UPN. Paramount had its TV part (Viacom) do this launch with an agreement with Chris Craft Industries (who owned a portion of channel affiliates) things got put into gear. Called "United Paramount Network" the channel launched in 1996 and used the latest Star Trek series "Voyager" to sell the channel for viewers.

Meanwhile Warner Brothers had seen its TV arm develop a number of hit shows for broadcast networks and decided that they should take the next step...and do a whole network themselves. Partnered with Tribune Broadcasting who ran affiliates in cities , Warners launched The WB network in 1995. Trying to get the 1 year jump on Paramount. The difference for UPN and The WB was that there really wasn't a key show the network was launching around for them. In fact the 1st 2-3 years the WB struggled to find its voice in programming. Its not til they did "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" did things change.



The WB found its niche and became a network geared around teen shows. UPN meanwhile was struggling beyond Star Trek : Voyager to find shows around the lineup. So in 1998 they decided the best way to land an audience was to court controversy. Which at times works and at times...fails. In this case of 1998 , UPN would get massive egg on their face and it haunted them for a number of years for the network.




The Secret Diary of Desmond Pheiffer became such a terrible concept that it amazed people UPN would approve it. Chi McBride played Pheiffer an English noble who after arriving in America in the 1860's , becomes Abraham Lincoln's manservant and runs the White House. Picture a 1800's version of Benson in a sense where Pheiffer really was the smart man who ran things while a bumbling man (this time President Lincoln) got the credit.

The show once revealed took a huge firestorm of controversy from the NAACP who demanded it not even air. Protests happened outside UPN's offices who seemed to take notice and they yanked the pilot episode of the series. Yes...the very pilot that set the stage for the series was removed. Instead UPN aired the next episode where as you can see above wasn't any better. This happened on October 5th 1998.

The show quickly became known as the worst possible idea and TV show created . The controversy didn't help ratings either and after 4 episodes aired , UPN cancelled the series for good. 5 Episodes have never aired. In fact to this day they haven't aired anywhere. Chi McBride's career wasn't hurt by this as the actor would go onto to a steady TV/Film career in a number of roles. Dan Florek is more famous for being Captain Donald Cragen on Law & Order : SVU where he played that role for 15+ years. Christine Estabook would play various roles on TV and recently did a guest spot in Mad Men.

For UPN however they would have years where folks would bring this up and the network struggled ...finally getting help from the WWF who put Smackdown on the channel. But for years WB and UPN struggled with money losses and really not much viewership. Both channels ate at whatever demographics they could have and there just wasn't room for 6 broadcast networks in America.

So in 2006 , Paramount and Warner Brothers both did a unique deal. They would each own 50% of the network and do one channel. Now called the CW. The idea was to save money and partner together. Also it allowed both to survive.

[Dr Quinch]

Crazy Like A Fox. Ran for two seasons followed by a TV movie. My mother didn't approve of me watching it because she thought it was too violent which seems hilarious in retrospect:

[TheInvisibleMan]

I used to watch that in reruns, always thought it was fun

[TheInvisibleMan]

Crazy Like A Fox. Ran for two seasons followed by a TV movie. My mother didn't approve of me watching it because she thought it was too violent which seems hilarious in retrospect:

Honestly, I think you could take this concept today and it would work well

[Dr Quinch]

Honestly, I think you could take this concept today and it would work well

I agree although it would be difficult to replace Jack Warden. The original show was developed specifically as a vehicle for him.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Tv in the 1980's was geared around action adventure shows and cartoons. The idea was to sell a show to viewers as well as action figures/toys etc. In a lot of cases these action adventure shows (The Fall Guy , A-Team) became success stories and branched out into tons of merch like toys , clothes and figures. In other cases a show would sadly fall. In 1984 NBC under Brandon Tartikoff was rebounding the network and had one 1 huge runaway hit with The A-Team. Tartikoff had gambled on the A-Team back in 1983 as executives told him the show would never work and he was throwing away giving it a prime after Super Bowl debut on the schedule.

Tartikoff was proven right and the A-Team went on to be a huge success and helped NBC rebound to become the #1 network of the 1980's/1990's. As much as Brandon Tartikoff was right on a lot of things , he also could guess wrong. With the A-Team having a huge success , the idea was another action-adventure show should be done and this one folks...is called The Master.



Created by Michael Sloan this show starred the late Lee Van Cleef who had a reputation as being mostly for years in bad villain roles. In fact its believed him and John Hurt hold a record on characters deaths onscreen. Van Cleef at this point was in his 60's and really not in the best physical shape (heart issues etc). Anyhow Van Cleef signed on as the aging ninja master in this series.

His partner driving an A-Team style van was a young Max Keller portrayed by Tim Van Patten who was a wanderer who traveled cross country. Also Keller wanted trained to be a ninja and during the show would learn how to become one as Cleef's character "The Master" would teach him. The final recurring villain was a former student of The Master named Okasa . He was actually the only one really trained in the martial arts during this series as the real actor who portrayed the character ; Sho Kosugi is a trained martial artists from Japan !

Anyhow the premise of this show was Van Cleef's character learns he has a daughter he never knew he had so he travels to the United States to search for her. This makes Okasa mad who believes a ninja must never stop his duty of ninja things I guess. So he tries to kill him in this series. While he traveled with Keller and trained the young man.

The show was placed in the mid-season and debuted in January 1984. A year after the A-Team debuted that same January spot that the A-Team took off with. However unlike the A-Team , the Master disappeared after a quick 13 episodes due to low ratings. The show should have disappeared but it developed a cult following where NBC soon had the show released on home video (VHS) tapes to cover the season.

The tapes proved so popular that the series would be mentioned for years and even attracted the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment for a 2 episode tape that was edited together . This was the VHS tapes that NBC had released in the years after the series.

After the series ended sadly Lee Von Cleef passed away at the age of 64 due to a heart attack. Tim Van Patten who had came off doing the White Shadow before this went on to become a very big executive producer and director. Directing tons of a shows like Sopranos and ...the 1st episode of Games of Thrones. Kosungi would do films and martial arts for years. He made an onscreen return in 2008.

And as far as The Master goes , the show will return in new home video treatment on DVD/Bluray soon.


(Thanks Deathstroke for the news piece post awhile back on this).

[Phoenixx9]

Now that you mentioned it, I think I remember the Master show, but not much at all about it!

[TheInvisibleMan]

Brandon Tartikoff was a genius, television wise

took chances, knew what would work and what wouldn't

[Nate Grey]

Huh. I thought this was already mentioned but, Walker Texas Ranger had a spinoff that aired during a hiatus called Sons of Thunder.



If wiki is to be believed, it actually did better ratings in Walker's timeslot than Walker's previous two seasons, but CBS passed on it citing "budget concerns".

It only had 6 eps.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The other night NFL Network aired the story of Lyle Alzado. A feared defensive end who was so scary on the field , his own team would be scared of what Alzado would do or act. But underneath his anger and his belief he had to be the best , Alzado was a man who loved children . He also had a face and image that was geared for Hollywood executives to take to and he transitioned to Hollywood after his career as a Raider ended.




Alzado had this magnetic personality where reporters loved him and people saw he was something else off the field. It was whispered he did take steroids and it may have led to his issues on the field. But as far as it went off the field it was like he was a friendly , lovable giant of a man. Alzado would in appearances at children's hospitals tell kids that they could be brave. In a heart warming scene on that special he tells a kid , that he has few friends but now he counts him as one.

Hollywood had Alzado in commercials and soon movies. But the biggest move came in 1988 when Alzado was cast in a syndicated TV series filmed on CTV in Canada (and broadcast in USA). In this Lyle's lovable persona could work and the premise itself seemed to possibly fit in a way with who he was .




Alzado played Robert Randall who by day as we learn is a private school teacher and vice principal. But to earn extra money he takes a side job as a masked pro wrestler. Alzado's character has to juggle both aspects of his life and family as well. The show has a tie-in with the National Wrestling Alliance and allowed their wrestlers to be featured on the show from Ric Flair to the Road Warriors. They even had Alzado on the Clash of Champions II to promote the TV series.

The cast around Alzado had Yannick Bisson (Mark Randall) who would do lots of TV work the next 2 decades and is known for the Canadian show "Murdoch's Mysteries" . Nicole Stoffman (Ellen Randall) was in DeGrassi Junior High in the 1980's and left after 2 seasons. After a spotty career , she left the industry and now has attended various Universities and has last worked for the Parliment of Canada !

Anyhow beyond that the show featured a cast of really unknown actors around Alzado and appearances by pro wrestlers. The idea was the show could capture the boom of the mid 1980's pro wrestling era. But came about a year too late as the boom period had started to slowly wane. The show didn't really help as its been known to be pretty bad. After a 26 episode 1st season , the show was quietly ended by March 1989 and to this day , beyond what you can find on youtube...its never had a home video release.

After the series ended , Alzado tried a football return at 41 but his age didn't help and he was asked to retire by Al Davis. Then in 1991 , Alzado was diagnosed with a brain tumor and surgery was not an option. Alzado would admit to years of steroid use and claim he did lie over it for years. Even though they couldn't link the brain tumor to his steroid use , Alzado believed where he took HGH and steroids that it caused it. He would pass away in 1992 at age 43.

Years later , Steve Williams who did the wrestling spots in this show (and was paid pretty decent) as the masked character of Alzado's would pass away in 2009 of cancer. Doctor Death was a legend in Japan and he did this as a small job since he near matched Alzado's build to do it.


In the 2000's in a weird move , Sony Pictures took the concept of Learning the Ropes and revamped it for the UFC which was popular at the time. The concept had a man not use a mask and actually compete in MMA to raise money for his school.

[Qwerty]

Huh. I thought this was already mentioned but, Walker Texas Ranger had a spinoff that aired during a hiatus called Sons of Thunder.



If wiki is to be believed, it actually did better ratings in Walker's timeslot than Walker's previous two seasons, but CBS passed on it citing "budget concerns".

It only had 6 eps.

I remember watching this when it came on. This and martial law