TV's Biggest Flops (MSN)

[Brian Damage]

On Jan. 20, 1961, TV legend Jackie Gleason launched a quiz show called "You Bet Your Life," which had contestants playing a bewildering game featuring a celebrity panel poking their heads through life-sized illustrations. Immediately deemed one of the largest flops in the history of television, the show was so bad that "The Great One" appeared on the show the following week to announce its cancellation. "You don't have to be Alexander Graham Bell to pick up a telephone and know it's dead," he joked.

More than 40 years later, shows like "Supertrain", "Cop Rock" and "Me and the Chimp" have gained similar notoriety as hyped-up mega-flops. And as you'll see with the following examples, there is no shortage of high-profile, low-quality TV trash released this very decade, either. A word to Heather Locklear, Matt LeBlanc, William Shatner and the others: Whenever you're ready to come
back on the air and apologize, we'd be happy to tune in.

[Brian Damage]

"Armed & Famous"

Has "The Surreal Life" become too commonplace for you? Are "Breaking Bonaduce" and "Hogan Knows Best" akin to watching your family's home movies? Then perhaps a reality show with D-level celebrities playing cops in a small Indiana town would be enough high-concept for you. At least, that was the thinking at CBS for 16 days this year. "Famous" had LaToya Jackson, Jack Osbourne, Trish Stratus, "Wee-Man" from "Jackass" and Erik Estrada (in the most inspired choice) moving to Muncie, Ind., to become police officers (while simultaneously arresting perps and signing autographs for them). Amazingly, no one wanted to watch this.

[Brian Damage]

"Father of the Pride"

To everyone outside Las Vegas, Siegfried and Roy were already punch lines when DreamWorks began production on this bizarre, prime-time animation show. Then, as if it wasn't bad enough that the studio had confused recognition with ridicule (What's next, a Carrot Top show?), magician/trainer Roy Horn was mauled by one of his white tigers just months before the show's premiere. After weeks of high-profile Olympics advertising, the show debuted in August 2004, although it was immediately unclear who the target audience was. If it was for kids, why was the humor so ribald? If it was for mainstream America, why would they watch Siegfried and Roy any more than a cartoon about Danny Gans? Soon after the show's absurd $1.6-million price tag (per episode!) was revealed, this clunker about S & R's family of "friendly" white lions was unceremoniously put down.

[Brian Damage]

"The Post-'Seinfeld' Shows"

In some alternate, bizarro universe, perhaps, Michael Richards is the most beloved man on television, and critics are sadly reporting on the triumphant seventh and final season of "Bob Patterson." On our Earth, however, the term "nothing" refers to both the overriding concept of "Seinfeld" and the cast's collective contribution to our entertainment in the years since. Richards was first out of the gate with 2000's "The Michael Richards Show," which cast him as a bumbling private eye who was essentially a live-action Inspector Gadget. Two months later, the show was canceled without receiving a tenth of the viewers of Richards' recent Laugh Factory meltdown. Jason Alexander hit the ground with 2001's "Patterson," an unfunny show about a self-improvement guru that premiered a month after Sept. 11 and actually succeeded in making the country feel even less in the mood to laugh. In 2005, Alexander returned with the sports radio spoof "Listen Up," and no one did. The only star smart enough to leave well enough alone was Jerry Seinfeld, who has maintained a relatively low profile since his show went off the air in 1998. Then, there is the unique case of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose 2002 bomb, "Watching Ellie," was finally redeemed by the apparent success of "The New Adventures of Old Christine," which may have finally broken the "Seinfeld curse."

[Brian Damage]

"Joey"

As NBC's comedy juggernaut "Friends" prepared to go off the air, the network frantically put out feelers, hoping one of the six stars would be willing to press on with a spin-off. Eventually, they got around to Matt LeBlanc (who had already proven his lack of discernible taste with the 1996 monkey-baseball movie "Ed"). Sure enough, the only star of the show never to host "Saturday Night Live" relocated the most-one-dimensional "Friend" to the absurdly overpromoted "Joey," which told the story of his move to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune. The program struggled through its freshman season, receiving disappointing ratings before a mercy pickup for Season 2, in which "Joey's" ratings dropped off by 82 percent. A move to a time slot opposite "American Idol" put the final nail in the coffin and, soon enough, NBC was finally answering Joey's trademark question of "How you doin'?" with a resounding "Not so good"!

[Brian Damage]

"Coupling"

Another attempt to fill the post-"Friends" void on NBC was this high-profile translation of one of Britain's top-rated sitcoms. Featuring six impossibly handsome, improbably intertwined friends in relationships, the show was attacked for its overtly sexual conversations. And this was before the show actually began! By the time it aired, people found plenty of other reasons to wish for a permanent separation from "Coupling." After only four episodes, the 2003 sitcom, starring Aniston wannabes Rena Sofer and Sonya Walger, was canceled, convincing many that English humor simply wouldn't translate across the pond -- at least until Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute and an "Office" full of paper reams proved otherwise.

[Brian Damage]

"60 Minutes II"

I'm Mike Wallace, I'm Morley Safer, I'm Ed Bradley and I'm Charles Grodin? As the turn of the century was approaching, CBS decided to double its pleasure with this uninspired sequel to its long-running, highly profitable, Sunday evening news program featuring a cast of veterans (Dan Rather, Charlie Rose), newcomers (Lara Logan, Vicki Mabrey) and Andy Rooney-wannabes (Grodin, Jimmy Tingle). Although the Wednesday broadcast lacked a sense of purpose, it managed to stay on the air for more than half a decade, providing ample punch lines for late-night talk-show hosts and everyday folk alike. Then, in September 2004, Dan Rather greeted a predominantly pro-Bush nation with a story about the president's troubles while serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Weeks later, CBS had egg all over its face for reporting doctored documents as facts, and both Rather and "60 Minutes II" would never recover.

[Brian Damage]

"Show Me the Money"

Have you already forgotten this high-profile game show? Or were you one of the millions who simply ignored all the hype? Attempting to cash in on the "Deal or No Deal" formula, "Money" gave us a simple set-up that required no real knowledge of anything, a cheesy title and catchphrase and an even cheesier host. (Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. William Shatner!) However, Captain Kirk's 13 female dancers/card revealers were no match for Howie Mandel's 28 models/briefcase openers and, after a mere three weeks, the Shat hit the fan.

[Brian Damage]

"Surface"

It's amazing to think of all the billboards, commercials and print ads that pummeled relentlessly for this quickly forgotten show. "Surface" (or "Fathom," as it was originally titled) was part of an onslaught of programming greenlit to capitalize on a post-"Lost" environment -- a trend more tolerable to science-fiction themes and open-ended plotlines. ("Heroes" has since proven this true, whereas "Threshold," "Invasion" and a slew of others have not.) "Surface" followed several characters around the world witnessing strange occurrences in and around our oceans: hostile monsters, destroyed lighthouses, pod eggs and, of course, ominous government conspiracies. Fifteen episodes later, a half-hearted, cliffhanger finale stranded "Surface" dead in the water.

[Brian Damage]

"The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best"

Contrary to popular belief, there are apparently very few men who want to spend time with a "virgin" -- or women, or the elderly, or any other demographic, for that matter. Premiering while Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" was hotter than Jessica Biel at a do-it-yourself car wash, Richard Branson's reality show touted him with the modest title of "Rebel Billionaire," featuring a ubiquitous ad campaign that had the eternal grinner jumping out of an airplane. Sixteen camera-friendly wannabes were dragged around the globe for a series of ranks-thinning stunts, and the show's poor ratings made one thing quite clear: Even though the toothy, sandal-wearing Branson had figured out how to sell records, airlines and even cola to the masses, he was a rebel without a clue when it came to selling a TV show.

[Brian Damage]

"LAX"

Why not ask everyone in America to spend an hour each week in a place they usually hate going? That seemed to be the thinking behind this drama, set in Los Angeles' famously crowded airport, and positioned as yet another comeback vehicle for perennial TV star Heather Locklear ("T.J. Hooker," "Dynasty," "Melrose Place," "Spin City"). Paired with the equally resilient Blair Underwood (who somehow hasn't aged since "L.A. Law"), the show was marketed as "24" with sexual tension, but turned out to be more painful than a three-hour layover. After 10 episodes and Jay Leno jokes ("[LAX] is thinking of changing its name to avoid being associated with the show"), it was grounded for good, undoubtedly killing dozens of scripts set in DMV waiting lines, gridlocked highways and dentist's chairs.

[Brian Damage]

http://tv.msn.com/tv/bombsaway-1

[catlover79]

I seem to remember Melba Moore launching a sitcom in 1986, "Melba", which lasted ONE episode before getting pulled off the air.

Does anyone else remember "Princesses" from 1991? It starred Julie Hagerty (Airplane) and a pre-Nanny Fran Drescher. Ms. Hagerty suddenly quit, and the show was put on hiatus to find a replacement. Alas, it turned out to be a permanent hiatus.

There was also the ill-fated "Women of the House" starring Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker several years after she'd been kicked off "Designing Women". I think it only lasted a month, if that.

Where, oh where, is mention of the XFL!?

[MikeLutton]

just asking what does msn have to do with shows not lasting lol

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by The Article

On Jan. 20, 1961, TV legend Jackie Gleason launched a quiz show called "You Bet Your Life," which had contestants playing a bewildering game featuring a celebrity panel poking their heads through life-sized illustrations. Immediately deemed one of the largest flops in the history of television, the show was so bad that "The Great One" appeared on the show the following week to announce its cancellation. "You don't have to be Alexander Graham Bell to pick up a telephone and know it's dead," he joked.

They got that game show mixed-up with the Groucho Marx classic. The Jackie Gleason flop was actually titled You're In the Picture.