The "Flash in the Pan" Thread

[TaranofPrydain]

Cop Rock was one of TV's most notorious flops, but outside of the terrible choreography, its actually a pretty good show, if you can go along with the idea of a gritty crime musical.

The Snoop Sisters in the 70s was a charming element of the mystery movie series starring Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick, but they only did five episodes.

 

[AndyB2008]

You could add The Newsreader.

Although a hit in Australia, it hasn't been shown much love from the UK audience despite critical acclaim. The first series aired on Sunday nights, but the overnight ratings were poor, with episodes rating lower than Songs of Praise, a concern for the BBC considering Songs of Praise did not get promotion, a plug on 5 Live's Must Watch and the pick of the day in the TV magazines like The Newsreader got, not helped by the series dropped in one go.

The second series is not airing on Sundays and is airing instead on Thursday and Friday nights at the moment against the C5 dramas and Big Brother. (The Sunday slot has been given to a Liz Bonnin show instead).

I think the main problem why The Newsreader hasn't resonated in the UK is the audience is seeing the real life behind the scenes shenanigans with GB News, Talk TV, the real life dramas of BBC newsreaders etc, and so no need to see a make believe behind the scenes drama about it (even if the acting is superb).

Hasn't helped that serious dramas set in the world of TV news haven't been hits in the UK (Making News didn't last long, E.N.G was short lived, and The Newsroom was aired to a tiny audience). And yet comedies using a TV news premise like The Day Today have been hits.

I noticed The Newsreader has been renewed for a 3rd season, but it remains to be seen whether the BBC will acquire it or if it will air on BBC2, given they have tried different timeslots to little audience.

Personally the only reason the Newsreader could work in the UK is if the director\writer moved it from serious into a camp direction by hiring known faces like Rebecca Front and J.Lo, or even Gillian Anderson, and shaken it up a bit. (The UK audience prefers silliness in TV news based shows rather than serious).

Basically Front plays a new producer while J.Lo is an American newsreader transplanted to Australia, desperate for the main role on News at Six and willing to get it deviously, basically giving Anna Torv's character a strong rival, which is lacking. (The writing off of the Walters couple in a Family Affairs style disaster would herald the new era - the guy out of Home and Away would be also written off in the revamp). Then it will transpire Front is the mother of the J.Lo character..

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Brooklyn Bridge (1991-1993) was a gorgeous 50s set comedy/drama involving a Jewish family in Brooklyn, focusing especially on a 14 year old boy and his formidable grandmother. The show was extremely well written, cast to perfection, and was visually handsome.... But it was unfortunately done in by CBS constantly moving it around the schedule, leaving it in a spot for no longer than 6 episodes at a time. Only 35 episodes were made, and the show can only be found in grainy uploads due to the extensive use of vintage rock and roll songs. But let it not be forgotten that it was wonderful.....

....And also that Constance McCashin was a guest in six episodes.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Maybe not 'flash in the pan", but Moonlighting started strong, and became less interesting because of production delays, resulting
in fewer episodes, not to mentioned rumored issues with both Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepperd

 

[DallasFanForever]

Maybe not 'flash in the pan", but Moonlighting started strong, and became less interesting because of production delays, resulting
in fewer episodes, not to mentioned rumored issues with both Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepperd

Such a shame because I always felt it had the potential to be one of those shows we’d be talking so positively about all these years later. I thought Bruce and Cybil had such great chemistry on camera.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Such a shame because I always felt it had the potential to be one of those shows we’d be talking so positively about all these years later. I thought Bruce and Cybil had such great chemistry on camera.

To a great degree, it still is beloved for the first half of its run. There was more attendant publicity over its streaming debut last year than I could remember for any other broadcast series.

 

[DallasFanForever]

To a great degree, it still is beloved for the first half of its run. There was more attendant publicity over its streaming debut last year than I could remember for any other broadcast series.

Well that’s good to hear! Here I was thinking I was the only one that still enjoyed it. What struck me as surprising, and what I didn’t realize at the time, was that there were only 67 episodes.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I Married Dora was a short-lived sitcom on ABC that I recall being enjoyable, though nothing groundbreaking. The premise was that a widower (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) with kids (one of whom was a very young Juliette Lewis) discovers his Maid/Housekeeper/Nanny (Dora, played by Elizabeth Pena) is in the US illegally, so he marries her to keep her from being deported. There is the usual UST (unspoken sexual tension) and it appeared the plan was to have them fall in love for real, but the show was cancelled quickly. The most memorable scene of the show was the final one, where the cast is in an airport and a character decides not to board a plane.
"It's been cancelled!" the character announces.
"Your flight?" another asks.
"No, the series. Bye!" The cast breaks the fourth wall to wave to the camera as it pulls back to reveal the set and the crew members gathered around to join in the waving.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

I'm going to mention a series I haven't seen at all, but I'm bringing it up just as a case study.

The show was the 1991-1993 TV series Civil Wars, part of the the Steven Bochco package after he moved over to ABC. It was a legal series dealing with New York divorce attorneys and it lasted for 36 episodes between 1991 and 1993. Because of the heavy subject matter, it never became a ratings hit, even after they tried to play the controversy card after Mariel Hemingway's character posed nude for a photo shoot in the second season opener. Two of its supporting players, Alan Rosenberg and Debi Mazar, ended up reprising their characters in LA Law where they added much needed snap to that final season. But the funny thing is that the show has entirely vanished. It was critically acclaimed, even if the Emmys didn't really nibble, but the sole proofs of its existence are a clip of the opening credits, a two minute clip on YouTube, and a shady bootleg site selling it for $144. It's hard to think of another show from that era that has so thoroughly disappeared.

 

[Seaviewer]

I remember Civil Wars. A serviceable legal drama as you would expect from Bochko. And the transfer of the two characters to LA Law was not quite unique but an interesting development for a student of TV history.