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1 new cast member who saves an established show?

#1
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5/15/08 at 3:48pm
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while he may not have saved "Til Death" he certainly has raised the show above ordinary.
He would be J.B. Smoove.
he appeared on season 6 of curb your enthusiasm
and was a surprise high-lite of that season.

i had never heard of him before Curb but he's a riot.

he truly raises 'til death from a bubble show to a show i want to watch every week.

now the main question.
has there ever been a show that was either on the bubble or about to be
canceled that was brought back from the dead by 1 new cast member?
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#2
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5/15/08 at 6:14pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Supposedly Heather Locklear saved Melrose Place from early cancellation.

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#3
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5/15/08 at 6:16pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD
has there ever been a show that was either on the bubble or about to be canceled that was brought back from the dead by 1 new cast member?
Did Jaleel "Urkel" White save "Family Matters" from cancellation?

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#4
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5/15/08 at 6:32pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

I can't think of any off-hand, but I can think of tons of characters who probably caused established shows to be cancelled.

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#5
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5/15/08 at 6:54pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

yea thats a bit of a different topic.
i'm looking for people who saved not killed a show.
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#6
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5/15/08 at 7:54pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

i never watched it, but didn't Geri Ryan save Voyageur?


"now, if that's a fact, tell me... am i lying?"

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#7
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5/15/08 at 8:25pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

She may have helped.
At least she brought a new interest to the show.
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#8
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5/15/08 at 10:37pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

I just remembered (and am kicking myself for forgetting), Nancy McKeon's Jo character is credited as helping to save "The Facts of Life" from an early death.

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#9
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5/16/08 at 4:48am
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

James Spader...kind of.

Allan Shore on The Practice led to Boston Legal. Seems to me The Practice eeked out on more season thanks to him.
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#10
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5/16/08 at 10:06am
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Joan Collins saved Dynasty, she was not in the first several episodes.
Sally Field may have helped Brothers and Sisters, but I don't think she "saved" it.
Michael Dorn helped save DS9.
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#11
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5/16/08 at 11:47am
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Bruce Boxleitner -- Babylon 5.

I'm not sure he saved the show, but I doubt that it could have survived with Michael O'Hairr as the main lead for 5 years.

"I sit in my cube with my headphones on and try to let my competence hold back the tide for as long as possible, then move on when the flood of stupidity breaches the levee. I'm a refugee from Hurricane Stupid."

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#12
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5/16/08 at 12:10pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

William H Macy saved the fictional version of SportsNight enough for them to get bought out by a company that would keep them on the air?

Too bad it didn't do much for the real version.
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#13
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5/16/08 at 12:16pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

The minor character of Fonzie sure didnt hurt Happy Days.
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#14
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5/16/08 at 1:28pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Poochie.

Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races.

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#15
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5/16/08 at 2:39pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

poochie got taken by aliens didnt he?

Fonzie was on the show from the beginning, and joan collins was on dynasty
at least near the beginning wasnt she.

some of the others are good examples i think.

i'm looking for people who weren't on the first season who came in to help or save a show.

i guess there wasn't too many.
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#16
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5/16/08 at 3:30pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Rev. Jim (Christopher Lloyd) on Taxi? He guest-starred on 1 episode in the first season, then became one of the show's most popular characters.
Does anyone even click on these "My Collection" links?
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#17
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5/16/08 at 3:52pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD
poochie got taken by aliens didnt he?

Fonzie was on the show from the beginning, and joan collins was on dynasty
at least near the beginning wasnt she.

some of the others are good examples i think.

i'm looking for people who weren't on the first season who came in to help or save a show.

i guess there wasn't too many.

Joan Collins didn't join Dynasty until season 2.

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#18
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5/16/08 at 4:12pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony Hom
Joan Collins saved Dynasty, she was not in the first several episodes.
.
\\

ok i never watched it i was going by that post.
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#19
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5/16/08 at 5:40pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Cheers was lucky Alley and Harrelson came along after the loss of Long and 'Coach' Colisanto.

Locklear pumped some life into the end of Spin City as well as her reviving of Melrose.
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#20
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5/17/08 at 5:24am
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD
She may have helped.
At least she brought a new interest to the show.

Or at least new implants!
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#21
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5/17/08 at 11:03pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

spin city, charlie sheen came in the last 2 seasons but it didnt help much.

i thought spin was better in the first 2 seasons or so when his secret girlfriend
was Connie Britton.
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#22
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5/18/08 at 9:37am
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony Hom
Sally Field may have helped Brothers and Sisters, but I don't think she "saved" it.
I'm not sure how she qualifies as a "new" cast member, since she's been in it since the pilot.
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#23
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5/18/08 at 12:44pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
has there ever been a show that was either on the bubble or about to be canceled that was brought back from the dead by 1 new cast member?

That was the original question, and most of the answers haven't come anywhere near it. I can't think of an example, either, although my gut says there must be a few out there. We've mostly been discussing shows that had cast changes when they weren't on the bubble or about to be cancelled (Spin City, Cheers, Dyansty) or actors who were with the show from the very start (Henry Winkler, Sally Field.)

Babylon 5 was on the bubble every single year it was on the air - including when Boxleitner had the lead, and he certainly didn't "save" it. (The relevant decisions were made in this order: Michael O'Hare decided to leave, so a new lead character was created, PTEN decided to renew the show for another season, Boxleitner emerged as the winner of the casting process. So the renewal decision was made before Boxleitner was hired, and had nothing to do with his subsequent effect on ratings - which was minimal in any case.)

I think the conditions set forth in the original post require a show that is in imminent danger of cancellation due to poor ratings, which is saved by the addition of an actor/character who dramatically increases the ratings. And no actor and no show discussed thus far meets these criteria.

The closest thing I can come up with off the top of my head is Dark Shadows. Originally a conventional afternoon soap opera, it didn't really take off until the producers introduced supernatural elements like ghosts and witches to the story, culminating in the arrival of Jonathan Frid's vampire, Barnabas Collins. But I'm not sure it was actually in danger of being cancelled before those changes were made.

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Joe
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#24
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5/18/08 at 12:53pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Eddie Murphy saved SNL from cancellation.

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#25
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5/18/08 at 4:07pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo
Eddie Murphy saved SNL from cancellation.

Nope. Dick Ebersol saved SNL, taking over near the end of the disastrous Jean Doumanian 1980 season. Murphy was almost a non-factor in 1980 (he didn't make the featured player list until right around the producer transition.) 1980 was when the show was seriously threatened with cancellation. 1981 was Murphy's break-out year, in large part due to Ebersol's decision to turn SNL into the Murphy and Piscopo show.

That was not a case of a single performer coming in and saving a show. It was a case of a single producer going out, which put an end to the actions which were tending to destroy it. Murphy's arrival at around the same time was more of a coincidence than anything else. Any number of peformers, including some who auditioned for the show but were rejected, could have come in and done well enough to keep the show going once the era of going on the air without the sketches even being finished was over.

Regards,

Joe
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#26
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5/18/08 at 4:29pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

While it was Ebersol who begged and pleaded with the NBC brass to bring the show back, if not for Murphy, the show would have just been cancelled the next season. It was Murphy who got the show back on the public radar and changed the network's attitude that SNL should just be put out of its misery. Regardless of who the producer was, it was Murphy that got the audience back, not Ebersol.

I'm sure I read the same book you did.

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#27
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5/18/08 at 5:34pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
That was the original question, and most of the answers haven't come anywhere near it. I can't think of an example, either, although my gut says there must be a few out there. We've mostly been discussing shows that had cast changes when they weren't on the bubble or about to be cancelled (Spin City, Cheers, Dyansty) or actors who were with the show from the very start (Henry Winkler, Sally Field.)

Babylon 5 was on the bubble every single year it was on the air - including when Boxleitner had the lead, and he certainly didn't "save" it. (The relevant decisions were made in this order: Michael O'Hare decided to leave, so a new lead character was created, PTEN decided to renew the show for another season, Boxleitner emerged as the winner of the casting process. So the renewal decision was made before Boxleitner was hired, and had nothing to do with his subsequent effect on ratings - which was minimal in any case.)

I think the conditions set forth in the original post require a show that is in imminent danger of cancellation due to poor ratings, which is saved by the addition of an actor/character who dramatically increases the ratings. And no actor and no show discussed thus far meets this criteria.

The closest thing I can come up with off the top of my head is Dark Shadows. Originally a conventional afternoon soap opera, it didn't really take off until the producers introduced supernatural elements like ghosts and witches to the story, culminating in the arrival of Jonathan Frid's vampire, Barnabas Collins. But I'm not sure it was actually in danger of being cancelled before those changes were made.

Regards,

Joe


exactly.
i havent seen some of these shows mentioned so i have no idea.
never watched
Dynasty, rothers and Sisters or Dark Shadows.
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#28
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5/18/08 at 6:18pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Regardless of who the producer was, it was Murphy that got the audience back, not Ebersol.

Well, this is an argument that can't really be settled, since we can't know for sure what would have happened without Murphy being there. We do have a couple of datapoints, however:

Murphy made no difference at all when Jean D. was producing the show. He was the same talented performer, but he wasn't being used properly and he didn't have strong scripts. As noted above, that peroid was notorious for sketches going on the air unfinished, with the actors left to flail around improvising live on the air. The ratings remained dismal.

The following year Ebersol introduced more discipline into the writing process, and the over-all quality of the sketches improved. The ratings went up.

Murphy's subsequent career shows the same pattern: With a strong script he can be terrific. With a weak script he sucks. He is not a performer who can overcome weak material and never has been.

I submit that with Jean Doumanian as producer and Eddie Murphy in the cast, SNL would have still been cancelled in 1981, because he would never have emerged as any kind of start with the lousy sketches the Doumanian system produced. Conversely, if Ebersol had taken over but the entire 1980 cast, including Murphy and Piscipo, had been fired, the show would still have survived because good writing and decent performances can carry a show like SNL. If Ebersol had been able to hire a Jim Carrey (who auditioned at the time) the show could have done as well or better than it did with Murphy.

Remember, the criteria ia a performer who saved a show from cancellation all by his or herself. In Murphy you have an actor who did not turn the ratings around when he joined the show, and s situation where the eventual resurgance of the show had to do with much more complicated issues (including budgets) involving many more people. Whatever might have happened, Murphy does not meet Tony D's original criteria for this thread.

Regards,

Joe
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#29
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5/18/08 at 6:21pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD
spin city, charlie sheen came in the last 2 seasons but it didnt help much.

I don't think Spin City meets your criteria, either. SC wasn't threatened with extinction because of low ratings, Sheen came into an already established show that was at risk because it had lost its leading man to illness. There was a question about whether or not the show could be saved, and in the end Sheen proved unable to do it, but that's another thread.

Regards,

Joe
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#30
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5/18/08 at 6:26pm
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Re: 1 new cast member who saves an established show?

thats right i forgot that J. Fox left the show probably for health reasons, oh well.
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