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What TV shows were you GLAD were cancelled?

Widebrim

I'll Lock Up
The title says it all...This is posted in contrast to the thread which has you post which shows saddened/maddened you upon their demise. Yet, as strong as those emotions might run, I'm sure that most of us were filled with elation when certain programs were taken off the air (hopefully before one season).

I'll start with the 1975, cliche-ridden The Montefuscos, an insult to Americans of Italian ancestry. It was mercifully cut down after just 9 episodes (which was too long as it is). Hopefully, few, if any recall it...

http://youtu.be/EGPrHfhmX4w
 
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Dixon Cannon

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All In The Family. I was just a teenager when it began but I saw immediately where it was headed. I hated the endless smarmy putdowns and the canned laughter.
It led to endless copycats from 'Sanford & Son' to 'The Jeffersons' and 'Maude'. I hated all of them and actually went for about five years with no television because of my disgust with the sitcom genre. -dixon cannon
 
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LizzieMaine

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I thought "Happy Days," the fountainhead of every dumb fifties-nostalgia cliche, ran about ten years longer than it should have.

(That's the sitcom "Happy Days", not the variety show of the same name that ran as a summer replacement show in 1970, featuring as many surviving thirties personalities as it could find. That show should have run a lot longer than it did, even though nobody remembers it but me.)
 
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The title says it all...This is posted in contrast to the thread which has you post which shows saddened/maddened you upon their demise. Yet, as strong as those emotions might run, I'm sure that most of us were filled with elation when certain programs were taken off the air (hopefully before one season).

I'll start with the 1975, cliche-ridden The Montefuscos, an insult to Americans of Italian ancestry. It was mercifully cut down after just 9 episodes (which was too long as it is). Hopefully, few, if any recall it...

http://youtu.be/EGPrHfhmX4w

And bad acting too. :eeek::p
 

Gregg Axley

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I thought "Happy Days," the fountainhead of every dumb fifties-nostalgia cliche, ran about ten years longer than it should have.

(That's the sitcom "Happy Days", not the variety show of the same name that ran as a summer replacement show in 1970, featuring as many surviving thirties personalities as it could find. That show should have run a lot longer than it did, even though nobody remembers it but me.)
While I liked Happy Days, I find many of the Marshall produced series to have the same problems, too many of the Marshall family that can't act. I think this became an issue with Cindy Williams on the set of Laverne & Shirley.
My choice is...
Welcome Back Kotter. Yep, as a child I had the Vinnie Bobarino dress up kit, to put different bad 70's clothes on Vinnie (kept me quiet on long trips), but other than that I don't have any GOOD memories of the show.
 

Wally_Hood

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I thought "Happy Days," the fountainhead of every dumb fifties-nostalgia cliche, ran about ten years longer than it should have.

(That's the sitcom "Happy Days", not the variety show of the same name that ran as a summer replacement show in 1970, featuring as many surviving thirties personalities as it could find. That show should have run a lot longer than it did, even though nobody remembers it but me.)

Add me to that list. As a young fan of thirties and forties film but very little radio from that era, I got a lot of the skits and riffs. I think Chuck McCann was a regular, as well as Louie Nye. I remember McCann's The Great Voodini, sort of a Houdini wannabe; Nye did a riff on Mr. Anthony. I wish there were some copies of the show floating around.
 
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Happy Days started out meaning well, was something of a good fifties-throwback show. However, already after the first season, they began to really cheese it up. Ten years longer is a good figure.

Remember, they gave us the phrase 'jumping the shark'

I thought "Happy Days," the fountainhead of every dumb fifties-nostalgia cliche, ran about ten years longer than it should have.

I'll go with a more recent piece of trash TV they are doing away with, 'Jersey Shore.' GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!
 
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All In The Family. I was just a teenager when it began but I saw immediately where it was headed. I hated the endless smarmy putdowns and the canned laughter.
It led to endless copycats from 'Sanford & Son' to 'The Jeffersons' and 'Maude'. I hated all of them and actually went for about five years with no television because of my disgust with the sitcom genre. -dixon cannon

Norman Lear practically dominated '70s television. :rolleyes:
 
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Sadly most of it wasn't very good. I like 'All in the Family' because it shows how much the Golden Era still existed in the '70's, even though the old fashioned ways were being pushed away by the younger generation. Not making any commentary in a positive way of Bunker's racism, prejudice, etc. It was just interesting to see the two major world colliding, even if Archie and Meathead were nothing more than exaggerated stereotypes.

Norman Lear practically dominated '70s television. :rolleyes:
 

Worf

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"Good Times" - After the father left and it became the J.J. Walker "Dynomite" show... yegads what drivel.

"That's my Moma" - Same reasons as above.

"What's Happnin" - Ditto.

"Captain Nice" - Sorry Batman Rip-Off.

"Batman" - For going too far on the side of stupidity.

"Gilligans Island" - See above.

Too many others to mention but I rarely watched show's I didn't like I just hated their effect on people around me. I never watched one episode of "Seinfeld". I went to Junior High and High School with similar characters. I didn't find them funny in real life... why would I spend precious time watching their antics on the the screen. Self centered, whiney preening isn't funny on the street or on the screen.

Worf
 

LizzieMaine

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Add me to that list. As a young fan of thirties and forties film but very little radio from that era, I got a lot of the skits and riffs. I think Chuck McCann was a regular, as well as Louie Nye. I remember McCann's The Great Voodini, sort of a Houdini wannabe; Nye did a riff on Mr. Anthony. I wish there were some copies of the show floating around.

Yep, Nye was sort of a Ben Bernie type of master of ceremonies, and McCann did a lot of celebrity impersonations. Bob and Ray were regulars as well, doing their usual stuff. There was also a Fred-and-Ginger pastiche dance team which did the same routine every week. I remember Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and a bunch of other big-band personalities appearing as guest stars, and they were still in good enough form to do more than just come out and greet the audience.

The Museum of Broadcasting, or whatever it calls itself now, has a few episodes in its collection, but every time I've tried to visit there they've been closed for one reason or another. The show was shot on videotape, so its hard telling if any 16mm prints were ever made, or even if all the tapes survive. But I'd very much like to see anything that does exist, if only to confirm what I remember of it.
 

Widebrim

I'll Lock Up
"Good Times" - After the father left and it became the J.J. Walker "Dynomite" show... yegads what drivel.

"That's my Moma" - Same reasons as above.

"What's Happnin" - Ditto.

"Captain Nice" - Sorry Batman Rip-Off.

"Batman" - For going too far on the side of stupidity.

"Gilligans Island" - See above.

Too many others to mention but I rarely watched show's I didn't like I just hated their effect on people around me. I never watched one episode of "Seinfeld". I went to Junior High and High School with similar characters. I didn't find them funny in real life... why would I spend precious time watching their antics on the the screen. Self centered, whiney preening isn't funny on the street or on the screen. And definitely ditto on Gilligan's Island...

Worf

I remember That's My Momma, with Clifton Davis; didn't think it was that bad. But I loved What's Happenin'!, not to be confused with the awful What's Happenin'! Now...And definitely ditto with Gilligan's Island...
 
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I liked Gilligan's Island as a kid, but probably wouldn't enjoy it now, beyond Mary Ann.

I love Seinfeld, but I grew up with it and so much of it has just become inside jokes with family and friends.

And come on, this'll always be funny.

[video=youtube;Z4qmc83EqEM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4qmc83EqEM[/video]
 
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But I loved What's Happenin'!, not to be confused with the awful What's Happenin'!

I loved the theme song

[video=youtube;J6ZB4tQqWlQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZB4tQqWlQ[/video]

Even though What's Happenin'! got good ratings, it was axed when Fred Berry (Rerun) persuaded co-stars Haywood Nelson (Dwayne) and Ernest Thomas (Raj) to join him in demanding a salary increase.
 
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