View Full Version : Sitcom's Dumbest Ideas
What were the dumbest concepts ever created for a sitcom?
I'm talking utterly stupid ideas that make you wonder how they ever had the guts to pitch this idea to a network, and even scarier, what Newtork exec thought said stupid idea would be a hit!
Example - "Mr. Smith," This short lived 1983 comedy featured a super-intelligent talking orangutan who becomes a top secret advisor to the President.
puke:
Sitcomwriter
01-11-2003, 04:49 PM
I personally LIKED the show but 4 Words:"Homeboys In Outer Space"
C Doody
01-11-2003, 05:20 PM
LOL, That would be great if a new channel came along and aired all the stupid shows like that.
ThomasE
01-11-2003, 06:54 PM
Originally posted by Sitcomwriter
I personally LIKED the show but 4 Words:"Homeboys In Outer Space"
I thought that was one of the dumbest ides ever concieved. I am not knocking your opinion, though. It was a waste. Sitcomwriter, do you remember "Sparks" and "Social Studies" on UPN?
Jimbo
01-11-2003, 07:15 PM
A few years back, ABC broadcast "Baby Talk", which was basically a ripoff of the "Look Who's Talking" movies. It was a bad concept for a TV show based on a bad concept for a movie!
For some reason, the network stuck with this show for a full season, and I believe, part of its second season. They overhauled the format a couple of times along the way. ABC seemed determined to force this really, really bad show on the viewing public.
dawsongirl
01-11-2003, 09:05 PM
"Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp"
dawsongirl
01-11-2003, 09:06 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
For some reason, the network stuck with this show for a full season, and I believe, part of its second season. They overhauled the format a couple of times along the way. ABC seemed determined to force this really, really bad show on the viewing public.
They changed mothers. Julia Duffy was one of them. Tony Danza ended up on that show too.
Sitcomwriter
01-11-2003, 10:01 PM
Originally posted by ThomasE
Do you remember "Sparks" and "Social Studies" on UPN?
I saw "Sparks" a few times but I don't remember much about it.I never saw "Social Studies" though.
Sitcomwriter
01-11-2003, 10:03 PM
Originally posted by dawsongirl
They changed mothers. Julia Duffy was one of them. Tony Danza ended up on that show too.
Don't forget Scott Baio and George Clooney....
Janice
01-11-2003, 11:40 PM
My Mother, The Car (nuff said)
My Two Dads (anyone ever hear of a paternity test?)
Originally posted by Janice
My Mother, The Car
Ah yes. Nothing like a classic.
:lol:
A paternity test for "My Two Dads?"
This is a sitcom! You can take your sensible logic elsewhere missy!
;)
Brian
01-11-2003, 11:47 PM
I Married Dora. It basically had a guy (illegally) marrying his maid to keep her from being deported.
Brian
01-11-2003, 11:48 PM
Originally posted by Sitcomwriter
Don't forget Scott Baio and George Clooney....
OMG thank goodness the show was cancelled before more harm could come to them!;)
edoug
01-12-2003, 07:54 AM
Even though it's opne of my favorite shows I would say that HOGAN'S HEROES is probably the worst idea for a sitcom that I've ever heard. There's no way they would even attempt to put anything like it on tv today.
Another really bad idea is the one where they are going to make a real family into a sitcom although I haven't seen the commercial in a while so maybe, thankfully, it will never happen.
edoug
01-12-2003, 08:01 AM
sorry double post
Jimbo
01-12-2003, 11:22 AM
Originally posted by Janice
My Mother, The Car (nuff said)
This was a bad career decision for Jerry Van Dyke. He turned down the role of "Gilligan" in "Gilligan's Island" in order to do this show.
(Another bit of trivia: Carroll O'Connor was among those considered for the role of "The Skipper"!)
Brian
01-12-2003, 01:42 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
This was a bad career decision for Jerry Van Dyke. He turned down the role of "Gilligan" in "Gilligan's Island" in order to do this show.
He also turned it down because he thought it was the stupidest material he ever read.
dawsongirl
01-12-2003, 02:37 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
(Another bit of trivia: Carroll O'Connor was among those considered for the role of "The Skipper"!)
OMG...I can't see that.
dawsongirl
01-12-2003, 02:38 PM
Originally posted by edoug
Even though it's one of my favorite shows I would say that HOGAN'S HEROES is probably the worst idea for a sitcom that I've ever heard. There's no way they would even attempt to put anything like it on tv today.
LOL...I knew someone was gonna say that. On the outset, it did look rather strange, but it worked.
Jimbo
01-12-2003, 04:11 PM
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Jimbo
(Another bit of trivia: Carroll O'Connor was among those considered for the role of "The Skipper"!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by dawsongirl
OMG...I can't see that.
I can't see that, either:
"Ahhh geeesh Gilligan, will youse stiffle yerself!!!"
Jimbo
01-12-2003, 04:15 PM
Originally posted by edoug
Even though it's opne of my favorite shows I would say that HOGAN'S HEROES is probably the worst idea for a sitcom that I've ever heard. There's no way they would even attempt to put anything like it on tv today.
Werner Klempler, who portrayed Colonel Klink, agreed to take the role on the condition that there would never be an episode where Klink and the Nazis came out on top. (Klempler, by the way, was Jewish).
dawsongirl
01-12-2003, 05:16 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
(Klemperer, by the way, was Jewish).
So were John Banner (Schultz), Robert Clary (LeBeau), and Leon Askin (Burkhalter). Clary was actually in a concentration camp. He got out and realized his entire family had been killed.
dawsongirl
01-12-2003, 05:18 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
"Ahhh geeesh Gilligan, will youse stiffle yerself!!!"
:lol:
Originally posted by Jimbo
quote:I can't see that, either:
"Ahhh geeesh Gilligan, will youse stiffle yerself!!!"
Very funny!
I didn't know you did impressions!
:lol:
Central Perk
01-12-2003, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by Janice
My Two Dads (anyone ever hear of a paternity test?)
I totally agree with you. I first discovered the show on NBC's 75th anniversary site, when I was looking through their picture gallery. I though that the show was about a girl with two gay parents or something like that, but when I taped it off USA, I realized it wasn't. It turned out the show wasn't new or groundbreaking, it was just stupid.
Adamantium
01-12-2003, 08:47 PM
Originally posted by jimmiegirl48
Ned and Stacey. I forget the exact premise of the show, but didn't the guy have to marry someone he didn't like in order to keep a job? That seemed stupid to me.
Ned and Stacey is in my Top Twenty Favorite Sitcoms List. It's changed from the last time I posted it.
The plot was Ned had to have a wife to look good for the firm he worked at. Stacey needed to get a life, so she pretended to be married to Ned in order to live in the apartment.
I guess it is kind of a dumb plot, but it was a very funny show.
Penny Lane
01-13-2003, 12:44 PM
Originally posted by Jimbo
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Jimbo
(Another bit of trivia: Carroll O'Connor was among those considered for the role of "The Skipper"!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can't see that, either:
"Ahhh geeesh Gilligan, will youse stiffle yerself!!!"
I love that! Very good Jimbo!:lol: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
Brian Damage
01-13-2003, 02:56 PM
The Secret Diaries of Desmond Pfeiffer. I guess UPN thought that slavery = comedy.
dlemond
01-13-2003, 03:29 PM
How about "Woops!," the Fox sitcom about 6 American survivors after a nuclear war.
What were they thinking?
Brian Damage
01-14-2003, 02:05 PM
Oh yeah, I remember that. How dumb!
Believe it or not, before it hit the airwaves, "I Love Lucy" was considered a stupid idea for a sitcom. Really! Think about this: A normal yet scatterbrained American housewife marries a Cuban bandleader and constantly pesters him to let her into his act. Now if you were a network executive back in 1950 or so would you have bought this idea? Lucy and Desi didn't think so, so they travelled across the country---with Lucy more than 6 months pregnant---and performed vaudeville routines in front of packed houses to convince their bosses at CBS that it would work, otherwise the series never would have aired. Think about that the next time you hear another farfetched sitcom idea, because you really never know.
TVgen62
01-23-2003, 03:35 AM
Originally posted by Sal
Believe it or not, before it hit the airwaves, "I Love Lucy" was considered a stupid idea for a sitcom...Think about that the next time you hear another farfetched sitcom idea, because you really never know.
You raise a good point, Sal. I guess the dumb ideas (in TV shows) are more noticeable when the execution lacking. Then it really should be executed! If a show, based on a dumb idea, is performed and written well, people may call it "quirky" or "off-beat". When that same show is, or becomes, predictable or otherwise loses favor, we call it "dumb".
(Sorry for abbreviating your post in my reply. I just needed its essence.)
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