Was this the quickest cancellation in TV History?

[snl 70s show fan]

Originally Posted by lebong

Anyone curious about this one? These were hilariously gross trading cards which were scheduled to be a Saturday morning animated show in the mid 80s. But protests were at such a fever pitch that the network (CBS I think) scrubbed the show just days before the premiere. But I'm sure there would be a season's worth of episodes at least simply because it's animated and you've got to be way ahead of the air-date in the production of the eps. But I've never seen hide nor hair of this show.

the cosby show once did a minor paroddy of the garbage pail kids it was where clair caught rudy and her friends watching a forbidden movie called the gross out gang and clair had a hissyfit

[sitcomuser512]

GPK animated was shown outside the us (sweden)
and is now coming to DVDin april

[alleycatsback]

SHOWS THAT LASTED ONLY ONE EPISODE

Who’s Whose (CBS, 06/25/51)
You’re In the Picture* (CBS, 01/20/61)
Turn-On** (ABC, 02/05/69)
Co-Ed Fever (CBS, 2/4/79)
South of Sunset (10/27/93)
Public Morals*** (CBS, 10/30/96)
Lawless (Fox, 3/22/97)
Dot-Comedy (ABC, 12/12/00)
The Will**** (CBS, 01/05/05)
Emily’s Reasons Why Not (ABC, 01/09/06).

* You’re In The Picture did have a second airing, but the original format was scrapped and host Jackie Gleason used the half hour to apologize for the show the week before.
** Two episodes were filmed. One aired and the other did not.
*** 13 episodes of Public Morals were filmed but only one aired.
**** The Will did end up airing in July of 2005 on the cable channel Fox Reality.

SHOWS THAT LASTED TWO EPISODES

Roxie, CBS. 4/1–4/8/87
Take Five, CBS. 4/1–4/8/87.
The Paula Poundstone Show, ABC. 10/30–11/06/93
Love and Marriage, Fox. 9/28–10/5/96.
Prince Street, NBC. 3/6–3/12/97
Four Corners, NBC. 2/24–3/3/98
Push, ABC. 4/6–4/13/98
Wind On Water, NBC. 10/17–10/24/98
The Mike O’Malley Show, NBC. 9/21–9/28/99
Ryan Caulfield: Year One, Fox. 10/15–10/22/99
Wonderland, ABC. 3/30–4/6/00
Clerks, ABC. 5/31–6/7/00
Danny, CBS. 9/28–10/5/01
That Was Then, ABC. 9/27–10/4/02
girls club, Fox. 10/21–10/28/02
Charlie Lawrence, CBS. 6/15–6/22/03

SHOWS CANCELLED BEFORE THEY AIRED

Snip, NBC. 1976.
Star Trek: Phase II, 1979.
The Dictator, CBS. 1988. *
Secret Service Guy, Fox. 1996.
Rewind, Fox. 1997
Manchester Prep, Fox. 1997.
Hollyweird, Fox. 1998.
Schimmel, Fox. 2000.
Fling, Fox. 2001.
The Grubbs, Fox. 2002.**
The Ortegas, Fox. 2002. ***
Still Life, Fox. 2003. ****
Septuplets, Fox. 2003.
Domestic Goddess, ABC Family. 2003.
Fearless, WB. 2003.
The Mayor, WB. 2003.
Commando Nanny, WB. 2004.
Welcome To the Neighborhood, ABC. 2005.

* eight episodes filmed
** 13 eps filmed
*** six eps filmed
**** three eps filmed

[tvfan0101]

Originally Posted by alleycatsback

SHOWS CANCELLED BEFORE THEY AIRED

Star Trek: Phase II, 1979.
Fearless, WB. 2003.

Not sure you can count either of these. Star Trek: Phase II never got past the pre-production phase; countless shows get that far. The only unusual aspect of Star Trek: Phase II were the thirteen scripts written and a bit of test footage.

As for Fearless, as far as I know only a pilot was shot. Every season dozens of shows go to pilot. I believe The WB added it to a tentative schedule, but again, that happens occasionally.

[alleycatsback]

Love your site, by the way.
I can get on board with Trek: II maybe not being considered as I'm not even sure a network was going to air it. However, I do feel Fearless warrants mention because actually two pilots were shot (I've seen the both), and the WB did include it in its season launch information for that year and handed out pilots to critics at the Television Critics Association meeting in L.A. that summer. I think that Rewind, Manchester Prep and a host of other shows on the list had the same treatment given to them. So I strongly vote for Fearless to be included.

[tvfan0101]

Originally Posted by alleycatsback

Love your site, by the way.

Thanks. I plan on updating it eventually. Shocking, eh?

I can get on board with Trek: II maybe not being considered as I'm not even sure a network was going to air it.

Paramount was trying to launch its own network and was planning on using Phase II as its cornerstone (shades of UPN).

However, I do feel Fearless warrants mention because actually two pilots were shot (I've seen the both), and the WB did include it in its season launch information for that year and handed out pilots to critics at the Television Critics Association meeting in L.A. that summer. I think that Rewind, Manchester Prep and a host of other shows on the list had the same treatment given to them. So I strongly vote for Fearless to be included.

Was Rachel Leigh Cooke in both pilots? I have only seen a promotional trailer for the series, which was probably from the second pilot. I have never figured out if that particular trailer was actually aired or not. In any case, given how close it came to airing, I reckon it falls into the same category as Manchester Prep. Only without the other two episodes that were shot.

I still want to see Snip, personally. Of all the shows in the list, Snip seems like the oddest one to be pulled.

[treky]

I have a book that tells the history of "STAR TREK" up until-I think-1996? (it was written after the first season of VOYAGER) and it includes outlines of the 13 shows that were planned for "STAR TREK: PHASE 2". It's a shame they never made it, as a lot of those episodes sound good!

There's one that's a time-travel episode that has Kirk going back to Dec. 7th, 1941 and wittnesing the Jappanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

[tvfan0101]

Originally Posted by treky

I have a book that tells the history of "STAR TREK" up until-I think-1996? (it was written after the first season of VOYAGER) and it includes outlines of the 13 shows that were planned for "STAR TREK: PHASE 2". It's a shame they never made it, as a lot of those episodes sound good!

There is an entire book just about Phase II, including a complete script for the premiere, and in-depth outlines for the other episodes. It also has production material, sketches and stills from test footage. A great read.

[savageamusement]

OKay I have one that beats this-


Seriously- this is a real show-

Heil Honey I'm Home!
UK, BSB (Noel Gay Television), Sitcom, Colour, 1990
Starring: Neil McCaul, DeNica Fairman, Gareth Marks

Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva live somewhere in 1930s American suburbia, next door to a Jewish couple, Arny and Rosa Goldenstein, and their dour niece, Ruth.

This most infamous of all British sitcoms attracted controversy out of all proportion to the number of people who saw it. Naturally, the hullabaloo was built on the shocking notion that anyone would mount a comedy about Hitler and the Jews - seemingly the definition of poor taste. In reality, the show was no more than a spoof - and not of 1930s Germany but of the kind of 1960s/1970s American sitcoms that would embrace any idea, no matter how stupid. The title, the corny dialogue, the applause when anyone arrived on set, the acting (McCaul's Hitler was more reminiscent of Chaplin's The Great Dictator than your actual Fuhrer) - all were clear signposts of parody. Mel Brooks had already explored the concept of pantomime Nazis in his masterpiece movie (and eventual stage musical) The Producers. In case anyone should have missed the point, an opening caption card explained that Heil Honey I'm Home! was a long-lost US sitcom created by one Brandon Thalburg Jr, just re-discovered in archives in Burbank, California.


Having said all this, the show really wasn't very good - at most, the idea might have made for an interesting sketch. And hardly anyone saw it because it was broadcast in the earliest days of the short-lived British Satellite Broadcasting, on its Galaxy channel, when the total number of viewers - those who had installed the company's famous-for-15-minutes 'squarial' (square aerial) - could be counted on just a few hands. Although Heil Honey was partly fashioned in order to attract media attention the project was soon considered too hot to handle; seven additional recorded episodes remain unseen, for when Sky took over BSB, remodelling the joint company British Sky Broadcasting, they wished no part of it."

[catlover79]

There was a show called Melba starring Melba Moore. It was axed after one episode in '86. Btw, everytime I hear "Melba" I think of toast.

[TVFactFan]

After the first airing of Take Five on CBS on April 1, 1987, the show ranked #65 out of 70 shows.

After the 2nd and final airing the show ranked as the worst show on TV as #70 of 70 shows


Information from Star Tribune from Minneapolis, April 9, 1987, April 16, 1987