Shows you think deserved one more season (2 Viewers)

[MartinP.]

Neil, what is your opinion on the Governor and JJ? I've been very curious about it and remember it vaguely. Was it a comedy or drama? Wish more late sixties and early seventies one year series would come out. You also remember Lucas Tanner, would like to see more of that.

It was a half hour sitcom. It actually lasted another 1/2 season of 13 episodes for a total of 39 episodes. I watched it as a teen when it was on. I don't remember loving it, but there was something appealing about it. I remember an occasional cameo from an actual Governor of the time. And Neva Patterson was in it, whom I always enjoyed when she was in anything.

I always thought the Governor's name was awkward, Governor Drinkwater. The plot of the only episode I can remember, and after all this time I could be slightly off, but it involved his daughter J.J. going to some function with him when she finds out another woman is attending in the exact same dress that she has. They spend the next part of the episode trying to quickly remedy the situation and she at last has another dress to wear. All is well. When they enter the dining room, however, J.J. is horrified to discover that all the chairs are upholstered in the exact same material and design her dress is made of. A scene of her sitting down in one of those chairs was quite memorable, I guess, because i still remember it! And I was watching it in black & white!

 

[Neil Brock]

Neil, what is your opinion on the Governor and JJ? I've been very curious about it and remember it vaguely. Was it a comedy or drama? Wish more late sixties and early seventies one year series would come out. You also remember Lucas Tanner, would like to see more of that.

--james

Both excellent shows. Governor and JJ. Leonard Stern produced it. Among his other work was The Honeymooners original 39, Get Smart and the great He and She. Won the Golden Globe for best comedy of the 1969-70 season. The funny thing about it is I never saw it until the early 80s when I got into collecting. In the early 80s I met a 16mm film dealer who had prints on a bunch of (at the time) unsyndicated shows so I bought a bunch of them. When it was on, it was opposite ABC Movie of the Week the first year and Room 222 the second so I never saw it.

Lucas Tanner was the Mr. Novak of its era. A warm and gentle drama about a dedicated high school teacher. David Hartman told me that the reason it was cancelled was NBC wanted the character to have a relationship with a student and he flat out refused to do such a storyline, leading NBC to abandon the show. I happen to like teacher shows and Lucas Tanner is one of the finest.

 

[GMBurns]

I've got a few episodes of Governor and J.J. on film and have found it to be a very pleasant show. Julie Sommars is quite charming and the relationship she has with Dan Dailey feels like an authentic father-daughter relationship. It certainly could have used another season on CBS, and would be great on dvd, but I suspect there is zero chance of that.

 

[JamesSmith]

Both excellent shows. Governor and JJ. Leonard Stern produced it. Among his other work was The Honeymooners original 39, Get Smart and the great He and She. Won the Golden Globe for best comedy of the 1969-70 season. The funny thing about it is I never saw it until the early 80s when I got into collecting. In the early 80s I met a 16mm film dealer who had prints on a bunch of (at the time) unsyndicated shows so I bought a bunch of them. When it was on, it was opposite ABC Movie of the Week the first year and Room 222 the second so I never saw it.

Lucas Tanner was the Mr. Novak of its era. A warm and gentle drama about a dedicated high school teacher. David Hartman told me that the reason it was cancelled was NBC wanted the character to have a relationship with a student and he flat out refused to do such a storyline, leading NBC to abandon the show. I happen to like teacher shows and Lucas Tanner is one of the finest.

A few things I remember about Lucas Tanner. It had a nice theme song which hasn't shown up on youtube. And Tanner was dealing with the aftermath of losing his wife and son in some sort of accident. It gave a nice tinge or sorrow to the show.

GMBurns, still hope that more episodes of Governor and JJ will turn up someday. I remember that Western put out a few comic books on it.

--james

 

[JamesSmith]

Why is it that I feel those seventies shows are better than anything on today?

--james

 

[TravisR]

Why is it that I feel those seventies shows are better than anything on today?

--james

I would say that that's mostly due to nostalgia and personal taste.

 

[Bryan^H]

Why is it that I feel those seventies shows are better than anything on today?

--james

I'm not sure I think 70's shows are so much better. I think series from then and now are just so radically different in tone. I think "shock factor" and excessive realism of the shows on today are a big deterrent for some (myself included regarding most shows). Especially when people are just trying to escape the grim realities of life, seeing it mirrored on screen might be a turn off.


Not to say I can't recognize great series when they air. I never got too much into Game of Thrones (I watched it complete, but certainly didn't love it) but 'The Sopranos, and Dexter are two of my all time favorite TV shows. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the late 90's was an amazing series that showed you can still have "escapism" in spades -- funny, dramatic, dark, weird and wonderfully written.
It showed how amazing a series can be when given the perfect formula of talented writers.

Considering most shows of the 70's were designed solely for the reason of "escapism" after we got out of the draining, and sobering Vietnam war, and the turbulent 60's. TV of the time was made as a sort of a perfect drug to forget, and escape. That is why I love 70's TV. I am taken out of the confides of the real world and transported to a simpler time of fun, light shows (The Muppet Show, The Love Boat, Happy Days,) to the the short lived sci-fi greats like Planet of the Apes, or Logan's Run, and finally the fantastic crime dramas of the period like Hawaii Five 0, Barnaby Jones, The Rockford Files etc.

 

[Darby67]

Bus Stop (adapted from William Inge's play it had pretty good storylines and a cavalcade of guest stars)

Cliffhangers! (while the Curse of Dracula segment had wrapped by the time it was cancelled after 10 episodes, an 11th episode that wrapped up the Stop Susan Williams and The Secret Empire segments aired overseas; the concluding part of Stop Susan Williams eventually aired as part of the TV movie The Girl Who Saved the World which edited all 11 parts into a one hour movie)

Coronet Blue (thank you Kino-Lorber for releasing the complete series of one season...which only whetted my appetite for more seasons)

East Side/West Side (a thoughtful and gritty series with a terrific cast that pushed the envelope in its day and was cancelled way to soon)

Get Christie Love! (I'd be up for hearing "You're under arrest, Sugah!" a few more times...)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (scripts for a second season were in development)

Makin' It (alright, as a fan of Saturday Night Fever, I'll admit this one is a purely nostalgic choice)

Planet of the Apes (sure it used the template of The Fugitive but another season would have been nice)

Quinn Martin’s Tales of the Unexpected (ahem, "Quinn Martin" mixed with "Unexpected Tales" = a winning formula)

Return to the Planet of the Apes (while the animation was static, the storylines were well done and Doug Wildey had a rather compelling season two arc sketched out)

Supertrain ("Supertrain"...enough said!)

'Way Out (creepy anthology series with introductions by Roald Dahl, what's not to like about that!)

I'll probably think of 10 more shows seconds after I post this...

Sean

 

[Darby67]

The Guy Williams Zorro

While Zorro did have a second season on ABC and there were also the four one-hour specials that followed that, but I, too, could have definitely indulged in even more Zorro; one of my all-time favorites and pure comfort food to watch!

 

[Arthur Powell]

Zorro did have a second season on ABC and there were also the four one-hour specials that followed that, but I, too, could have definitely indulged in even more Zorro; one of my all-time favorites and pure comfort food to watch!

Who is saying it didn't? I thought the point of this thread was to list shows that you wish had more seasons than they did. Anyway, I just watched the two Gilbert Roland "El Cuchillo" hour-long Zorro episodes last weekend.

 

[Darby67]

Who is saying it didn't? I thought the point of this thread was to list shows that you wish had more seasons than they did. Anyway, I just watched the two Gilbert Roland "El Cuchillo" hour-long Zorro episodes last weekend.

Arthur, my apologies for the confusion. I thought the thread was originally referring to one-season shows rather than shows that folks wished there was more seasons of. I revised my original post shortly after I posted it. I assure you no offense was intended toward you.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Arthur, my apologies for the confusion. I thought the thread was originally referring to one-season shows rather than shows that folks wished there was more seasons of. I revised my original post shortly after I posted it. I assure you no offense was intended toward you.

Of course no offense was taken. How could I take offense towards a fellow Zorro enthusiast?

 

[Darby67]

Of course no offense was taken. How could I take offense towards a fellow Zorro enthusiast?

Thank you for your understanding, Arthur!

 

[Jack P]

Bus Stop (adapted from William Inge's play it had pretty good storylines and a cavalcade of guest stars)

The problem I had with "Bus Stop" when I sampled a half dozen episodes that are available is that it became clear the premise of the series wasn't workable in terms of using the "bus stop" as a focal point or a jumping off point which was why Marilyn Maxwell quit the show halfway through the season. You might as well have just called it by the name of the town. I didn't get the feeling that the other "regulars" of the show were well-integrated into the proceedings either.

 

[Wiseguy]

Mannix was cancelled over possibly the stupidest reason in the history of tv. They were all set to start season 9, but ABC suddenly started airing reruns of Mannix in late night and CBS got pissed and cancelled the new episodes.

The way I've always heard it Paramount was impatient to make money off the series by syndicating it. Everyone else, including CBS wanted it to return. The reruns on ABC were irrelevant to the decision to cancel.

 

[Wiseguy]

I've got a few episodes of Governor and J.J. on film and have found it to be a very pleasant show. Julie Sommars is quite charming and the relationship she has with Dan Dailey feels like an authentic father-daughter relationship. It certainly could have used another season on CBS, and would be great on dvd, but I suspect there is zero chance of that.

Being a fan of Dark Shadows at the time, I remember when Joan Bennett guest starred on The Governor & J.J.

 

[jayembee]

Of course no offense was taken. How could I take offense towards a fellow Zorro enthusiast?

When I was a tad, at the time that Zorro was airing on TV, I had to go to the hospital for a hernia operation. My mother stayed in the room overnight with me (pre- and post-surgery) and liked to tell the story about giving me a Walt Disney Zorro picture puzzle to work on while I was there. Prior to the surgery, the nurse came in to give me ether to knock me out (for those youngsters among you, they soaked a gauze with ether and held it over your nose and mouth for a while, and waited for you to conk out). My mother said that I woozed and wobbled as I determinedly put the puzzle pieces in place, and managed to stay conscious -- but just barely -- enough to finish the puzzle before falling over. She said the nurse told her she'd never seen anything like it.

Sadly, I don't still have the puzzle. I have no memory of when it and I parted ways.

 

[jayembee]

I'm not sure I think 70's shows are so much better. I think series from then and now are just so radically different in tone. I think "shock factor" and excessive realism of the shows on today are a big deterrent for some (myself included regarding most shows). Especially when people are just trying to escape the grim realities of life, seeing it mirrored on screen might be a turn off.

A friend and I at some point came to the conclusion that the difference between us when it came to both movies and TV was that she liked ones that made her feel good, while I liked ones that made me feel more.

There are good shows and bad shows in every decade. Personally, I prefer both 50s/60s shows and 00s/10s shows the most, but there's a lot for me to like in between those two bookends.

 

[Ejanss]

Why is it that I feel those seventies shows are better than anything on today?

Because, with movies in "decline" (ie., audiences not wanting to go out to see depressing Nixon-era Oscar-bait before Star Wars came along), television was THE national bread-and-circuses entertainment, period.
Walter Cronkite was news, Howard Cosell was football, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett were comedy, and a Sean Connery 007 on the ABC Sunday-night Movie WAS movies in your own home.
And since a show was only on for one night at the same time each week, the entire country got together to watch it, at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central.

TV took that responsibility seriously back then, even more seriously than they did in the 80's, when shows were merely trendy and popular.
It's only after the cable, VCR and streaming eras, when we thought broadcast-network TV and their schedules "didn't matter" anymore, that it didn't.

 

[MatthewA]

The 1970s was also the last decade for the Television Code, as seen on the end credits of many hit shows.