TV: Favorite Show that only lasted 1 season or less?

[End on a Hinote]

14. Band of Brothers

Mini series' shouldn't count

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Mini series' shouldn't count

Why?

 

[Drytoast]

Gonna age myself here...

 

[Stealth JD]

The Night Of, John from Cincinnati, Hello Ladies

 

[End on a Hinote]

Why?

Because technically it's not a season.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Mini series' shouldn't count

Agreed.. by their nature (& name), it's implied they are mini. Not designed to run a whole season/long-term. Their brief nature isn't because of lack of popularity.
But mentioning mini-series.. the popular, allegorical V mini-series in the 8os, spun off a brief sci-fi, weekly series (that struggled in the ratings & only made it one season.) I thought it was good..

 

[Shareefruck]

Agreed.. by their nature (& name), it's implied they are mini. Not designed to run a whole season/long-term. Their brief nature isn't because of lack of popularity.

I didn't realize this thread had anything to do with things being cancelled due to their lack of popularity. Figured it was just anything that didn't last long.

 

[Babe Ruth]

I didn't realize this thread had anything to do with things being cancelled due to their lack of popularity. Figured it was just anything that didn't last long.

Fair enough.. & this is just friendly (& ultimately meaningless) conversation..
I think a mini-series has traditionally been a different genre than a weekly series. Weekly series usually aspire to go on for multiple seasons, so everybody involved can make $. It's hard for me to remember a weekly series from that past that was cancelled short of a season for anything other than lack of ratings, or a labor issue.

I do think Netflix is changing that paradigm tho.. They're not bound by network season parameters or Nielsen ratings, etc. Seems like they will make short series & seasons (less than 26 episodes), and then wrap a show up. peace

 

[Shareefruck]

Fair enough.. & this is just friendly (& ultimately meaningless) conversation..
I think a mini-series has traditionally been a different genre than a weekly series. Weekly series usually aspire to go on for multiple seasons, so everybody involved can make $. It's hard for me to remember a weekly series from that past that was cancelled short of a season for anything other than lack of ratings, or a labor issue.

I do think Netflix is changing that paradigm tho.. They're not bound by network season parameters or Nielsen ratings, etc. Seems like they will make short series & seasons (less than 26 episodes), and then wrap a show up. peace

Yeah. I'm just not sure I totally understand the need for distinction. Aren't mini-series' usually aired weekly anyways? The lines get especially blurred when you start considering British TV shows, which are treated like seasons, but are intentionally as short as a mini-series, usually with one or two "series" of six half-hour episodes each.

I actually tend to favor shorter series' that don't end up going on for years and years.

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Favorite is Police Squad!

Richard Pryor had a sketch comedy show that lasted four episodes back in the 70s.

On The Rocks (c. 1975), a prison-based sitcom, think Barney Miller behind bars.

 

[Mimsy]

WHA' HAPPENED

 

[Babe Ruth]

Alien Nation wasn't my favorite short-lived series (I've mentioned others previously in thread), but it was a decent sci-fi show. It depicted an enslaved alien race, that crashed on Earth and were subsequently integrating in to human society.. Main protagonist was a cop & family man, who was paired w/a human partner..
Apparently, it did ok in the ratings it's first season (1989), but FOX was a young network, struggling w/ad revenue. So they had to cancel production on Nation & some other dramas. Unfortunate..

Show had a lot of commentary (sometimes heavy-handed) on a society's treatment of refugees, and some funny twists on humankind's natural order (in the alien race, males were like seahorses, they carried the donated fetuses in a pouch until birth).

Entire single season series is on DVD..

 

[Babe Ruth]

I was reminded of another good, short-lived series: Bakersfield P.D.
It was a FOX sitcom from the mid 90s, about an eccentric police department. Looking back, I see it as kind of a forerunner to Reno 911!

Had Gus (from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul).

 

[Buckets and Gloves]

Ugly Americans... show was f***ing hilarious.... only 2 seasons 30 episodes in total.

 

[DustyMartellaughs]

Greg The Bunny. It deserved a longer run than Fox gave it.

 

[NyQuil]

Gonna age myself here...

There were 2 seasons of Fawlty Towers.

 

[Lost Horizons]

Mercy

 

[Babe Ruth]

Another series to add to the list: LA to Vegas. Was reading recently that FOX is not renewing it for a second season.

Funny show; I thought a sitcom in the air was unique..

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Why?

because they are only 1 season by design. guessing the point of the thread is good shows that got cancelled after only 1 season (like Firefly).

My vote goes to Undeclared. Very good and well done comedy that gets what freshman year in college is like. It's basically Freaks and Geeks go to college and is good Apatow comedy before it became a caricature of itself.

For those that got 2 seasons, its easily Code Monkeys. That show is a f**king riot, especially for gamers

Code Monkeys - Wikipedia

 

[beowulf]

Firefly
Terra Nova
Brimestone

 

[Cor]

A couple recent sitcoms I've liked that got cut short.

"About A Boy" (David Walton, Minnie Driver) only lasted 33 episodes which I thought was a shame.

"The Grinder" (Fred Savage, Rob Lowe) only lasted 22 episodes. (This one I'm not too upset about. It was a fun show, but the writing quality wasn't anything to great)

Bobby Moynihan's "Me, Myself & I" only lasting 10 episodes was a darn travesty

 

[hoglund]

Rosanne

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Definitely Backstrom! Rainn Wilson absolutely slayed this role, it pisses me off that this show got cancelled. He's basically Dr. House as a detective.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Another good, short-lived series on FOX: Fastlane.
Series about undercover cops with muscle cars, & other unique rides.

I realize as I'm recollecting & posting these single season shows; I've pointlessly watched a lot of TV over the years.

 

[Lost Horizons]

Reunion. It was on Fox and every episode took place in a different year(85,86 etc etc) Had a great soundtrack as well