Premature burial that causes you the most pain....

[MissNathalieVintage]

Since you mentioned Gidget, a bit of Americana trivia: I recently learned that she is a real person, the 17 year old capable of surfing with the guys on Malibu Beach in 1957. The group that set the archetype of West Coast surfing culture all went by nicknames, and since Kathy was only about 4 feet 10 inches tall they started off calling her "girl midget" which got shortened to Gidget. Her father was a Hollywood screenwriter who wrote a book, available on Amazon, about her surfing summers that was the basis for the movie and TV series.

More info here:

http://www.atomicbride.com/gidget.html

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/24/local/la-me-terry-tubesteak-tracy-20120824

http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/34583/rip+terry+tubesteak+tracy+the+original+big+kahuna/

Thanks for the killer diller information, on Tubestake. I did not know he passed away.

I knew about the real live Gidget, read the book. And I have the Accidental Icon The real Gidget documentary on DVD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLv5cNVv-FA

The Real Gidget's dad was a script consultant for the TV show, too.

Dig-ing this.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Hi, Honey I'm home!
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
Rags to Riches(1987-1988), the great thing I remember about this TV show was the set up. The show was set in the 1960s and a different girl would sing a 1960s song on ever show. Here is the youtube link
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4D4UShuRUaw&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4D4UShuRUaw Another fantastic thing! I just learned Rags to Riches is now on DVD.

 

[DameWhoDrinks]

IA couple of other shows I miss are:
Young Elvis

.

PLEASE tell me more about this.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

PLEASE tell me more about this.

The correct name for the TV show was Elvis. I just always remembered it being titled young Elvis. Here is some information I found on IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098786/

Someone also started a thread about the Elvis TV series with tons of information I never knew, to cool! Here is the link for the Elvis thread http://www.tcb-world.com/threads/33340-1990-s-ELVIS-TV-Series-On-ABC

 

[p51]

My two favorites are both sci-fi shows.
"Space: Above and Beyond" only lasted one season in the 90s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_Above_and_Beyond
"Defying Gravity" didn't even last one season and the last episodes of it's only season were only to be found on DVD later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defying_Gravity_(TV_series)

 

[casechopper]

The Fades

 

[Wire9Vintage]

I loved and adored The Riches. Not only did it get cancelled, but it was cancelled on a huge cliffhanger. I will mourn forever!

Also loved Quantum Leap. and I quite liked Flash Forward.

 

[m0nk]

My two favorites are both sci-fi shows.
"Space: Above and Beyond" only lasted one season in the 90s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_Above_and_Beyond
"Defying Gravity" didn't even last one season and the last episodes of it's only season were only to be found on DVD later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defying_Gravity_(TV_series)

Yeah, Space: Above and Beyond could have been great if given a chance. It was gritty and realistic, while being a sci-fi action show. I think it was the precursor for Firefly and the relaunch of Battlestar Galactica; you can certainly see the similarities with all three.

 

[Canadian]

I loved how in S:AAB the cast were human. They weren't superheroes, and they encountered human problems.

I liked how McQueen was asked if he wanted to make peace with his Maker. He responded, "My maker is some geek with a petri dish". There was no moralizing and no preaching. Just a good action show.

Tom

 

[p51]

The cliffhanger comment got me recalling a show when I was a kid. There was a series called, CLiffhangers and they didn't air the final episode when I lived, I never found out how the stories ended! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhangers_(TV_series)

Yeah, Space: Above and Beyond could have been great if given a chance. It was gritty and realistic, while being a sci-fi action show. I think it was the precursor for Firefly and the relaunch of Battlestar Galactica; you can certainly see the similarities with all three.

So true. I dare any fan of the 'new' Galactica to watch the episode, "Scar" and tell me it's not almost the plot line as the "Chiggy von Richthofen" episodes of SAaB!
You can also see a real influence in the "Starship Troopers" movie soon afterward as well.
I collect items from the show and even have a flight suit from one of the named characters. I don't have much but what I have is pretyt neat. Feel free to check it out here: http://www.freewebs.com/willysmb44/scifi.htm

 

[JonnyO]

Now that I think of it, Firehouse USA: Boston which the Discovery Channel aired for a season and The Bravest, I cant recall the network, but was cancelled after a season as well. Both series were basically a firefighting version of COPS.

 

[Worf]

Television history is replete with great shows that were cancelled far to soon for far too many bad reasons. Many of these are soooo good they become instant cult classics or spawn fan clubs that will live forever. What's the one cancellation that leaves you sleepless at night wondering where the story went and how the characters fared?

A part of my heart died with STTOS and I hadn't felt that way again until "Frefly" and more recently "The Event". But that's just network television. HBO has an entire boneyard devoted to great shows killed in their cribs... "Carnivale" comes to mind.

Worf

 

[Stanley Doble]

TV series have a life of their own and eventually they grow old and have nothing more to say. It's sad but understandable when they die of natural causes.

 

[Gingerella72]

What is "STTOS?"

I'm upset that Fox canceled "Touch". I'm also hanging on tenterhooks waiting to see if ABC renews "The Neighbors" for a second season....one of the funniest comedies to come along, IMO.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I never got over Hoppy and Topper riding off into the final sunset...

Then Cisco..Diablo...Pancho and Banjo did the same damn thing....

 

[Doctor Strange]

There are lots of great one-season wonders I've loved over the years... My So-Called Life, Frank's Place, EZ Streets, Relativity, Sledge Hammer, Action, Firefly...

 

[Worf]

What is "STTOS?"

I'm upset that Fox canceled "Touch". I'm also hanging on tenterhooks waiting to see if ABC renews "The Neighbors" for a second season....one of the funniest comedies to come along, IMO.

"Star Trek the Original Series" people had to be clear since there seemed to be Star Trek spin-off's popping up weekly.

Worf

 

[Doctor Strange]

I don't know that TOS was killed too soon. There aren't many great third-season episodes, after all.

Now if NBC had begun using sophisticated demographic analysis (vs. basic Nielson ratings) a couple of years earlier and realized that Trek was pulling in the EXACT audience their sponsors wanted and gotten behind the show, with bigger budgets and an exec producer who wasn't told to let the show sink ASAP, it would have been worth it. But another season as lame as season 3 wouldn't have yielded very many good episodes.

 

[ButteMT61]

I always applaud a network/production company/writers who know when "it's time". Nothing worse than a show dragging on and on and sucking.
That said, a few come to mind that bummed me.

M*A*S*H
Six Feet Under
24
The Wire

And a bunch of other really cheesy shows I'd not mention in public.

 

[Edward]

I'd rather a show went too soon than it hung around and jumped the shark... but yes, some have been killed far too early. M*A*S*H was one of very, very few big US shows I've loved that carried on for so long without losing it. I think they rounded it off at a good point. I've been rewatching it on DVD (finally bought the Box set last year) - I'm up to I think season seven now. It's interesting seeing how it progressed over time, from the more political material that was clearly about Vietnam (and other issues - I remember the one about 'the wrong colour blood' making a big impact on me as a kid), to more character-driven stuff as time went on. They never went for the easy option, and I particularly loved that their characters were allowed to be flawed, human, and we weren't always meant to like them. Alan Alda did some particularly amazing stuff with Hawkeye (Fallen Idol?).

I would love a look into another world where Twin Peaks had carried on a few more years, though I am far from convinced of the wisdom of going back to do a third series now, as is rumoured. Wonderful show - rewatched it all last year, and it has not dated a jot.

Another show that really deserved much more than the scant six episodes it was permitted was Ultraviolet. Nothing to do with the US film of the same name - this was a British thriller, set in the then-present day (1998), in London. A very nice, modern take on the vampyre mythology, working in all sorts of modern technology to the established conventions - vampyres not showing up on CCTV, vampyres not being able to talk on telephones, all sorts of fun stuff. The vamps in it were working towards a future where they could come out of the coffin... Amusingly enough, one of the vampyre leads in this show later went on to be Vampyre Bill in True Blood.

Well worth picking up on DVD if you're a fan of the genre. Looking back on it now, it's also a really nice period piece, with many surprises for those of us who easily assume that nothing much has changed since the late nineties.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169501/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_(TV_serial)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A590843