1 Season (or less) 60s shows that would be great to see (2 Viewers)

[Elena S]

Too funny!!! :>

 

[michael_ks]

The same thing applies to the music industry. I former co-worker of mine years ago, had at that time 8,000 45s, primarily from the 50s-60s. The quality of music from groups I knew nothing about that cut one record which failed to even break the Billboard 100 was an amazing revelation. Time and again he put on a "throwaway" from that era which I was blown away by for musicianship and voice quality.

Just as with music from this era, I feel confident about 50s-60s series I've never seen which failed to get renewed for a second season just on the strength of the production team, the people who wrote for them and the magnificent actors that helmed the show. Series like "Way Out", "The Dakotas", "The Westerner", "Five Fingers" and "Hong Kong". I mean, they just HAVE to be something special by today's standards.

 

[Michael Alden]

Just like with music of that era, success does not necessarily translate into quality nor does lack of success denote a poor quality. There are many great songs that never got a whiff of the Top 100 charts. The merits of the recording have maybe 5% to do with it's success while the other 95% has more to do with politics, promotion and many other things having nothing to do with the recording. Likewise, television success is in many ways similar. Some examples:

He and She - one of the greatest one-season sitcoms in history. A smart, sophisticated show which CBS paired on the schedule with Green Acres. Kind of like dressing in a tuxedo to go to a hoedown. CBS called it the greatest show they ever cancelled.

Coronet Blue - Shot for the fall of 1965, CBS yanked it and didn't put it on until the summer of 1967 where the ratings were very good, much to their surprise. By that time, Frank Converse was shooting NYPD and was unavailable to continue the series.

Occasional Wife - Ratings were okay but NBC claimed to have room for only one show from Screen Gems the following season and since I Dream of Jeannie already had 2 seasons done, it was closer to making enough episodes for syndication.

Bridget Loves Bernie - Finished at #5 for the year. However, CBS was getting a ton of pressure from religious groups that the show made interfaith marriage too appealing. Bowing to pressure, they made up a flimsy excuse and cancelled the show.

My Friend Tony - NBC had a commitment to Sheldon Leonard for an hour series but they wanted him to do a 4th season of I Spy, which he felt had run it's course. Because he wouldn't give in on that, they took this series which was designed to appeal to teenagers and a younger audience and stuck it at 10PM on Sunday nights where the young viewers wouldn't find it.

87th Precinct - Produced by Hubbell Robinson for NBC. When he left the network, they cancelled his show out of spite.

Run Buddy Run - Early ratings weren't great and CBS cancelled the series. Back then, cancelled shows still ran out their filmed episodes rather than being immediately yanked off the air like they do now. Well people began to find the show and ratings picked up and became pretty good. But by the time CBS realized that they might have made a mistake, all of the sets had been dismantled and it was too late to reverse it.

Gidget - Had a tough time being scheduled against the very popular Beverly Hillbillies. But in the second half of the year during rerun season, the show started to do great numbers. However back then cancelled was cancelled and ABC didn't reverse the decision in spite of the ratings spike.

Not every failed series has a story but most of them do and a lot of the time shows didn't stink, they just had some tough circumstances.

 

[Bob Hug]

I was happy when another one season wonder "Good Morning, World" was released on DVD early in 2006 by S'more Entertainment. In an interview on the DVD, co-star Ronnie Schell lamented the fact that it was up against the "NBC Movie of the Week" and the show just couldn't compete against some of the theatrical blockbusters that were being shown at the time.