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Interesting TV shows you'd never heard of

DRW50

By DRW50
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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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I was reading about Penelope Keith (a wonderful British comic actress who was on Good Neighbors/The Good Life, and To the Manor Born, among other sitcoms), and there was mention of a very controversial show called Sweet Sixteen, where she played a 41-year old businesswoman who fell in love with a man 16 years her senior. With that title I can see some of the controversy -- if you didn't know better you'd think she was involved with a 16 year old.

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/sweetsixteen.htm

Are there any TV shows you never really knew of but suddenly heard of and thought were interesting?

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bellcurve Newbie

bellcurve

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A couple of Christmas Breaks ago, I found out the premise to Herman's Head on FOX and saw the pilot. The show, while not BRILLIANT, had a basic, interesting concept and with the right staff of writers could have been better. I hear that Herman's Head, although good, was very hit or miss, especially in the third season.

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SFK Rising Star

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I watched Herman's Head too! It had Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson). FOX had some widely forgotten sitcoms back then including "Women in Prison" with CCH Pounder and Antoinette Byron (the original Skye on AMC) who played a lipstick lesbian, and a TV version of "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" starring Hector Elizondo and the bodaciously-bodied Anita Morris.

I discovered a show a couple of years ago that I found interesting called "The Awakening". It was a limited budget, religious-themed, predominantly black primetime soap opera produced in the Chicago area that pulled in huge ratings in that market. It's available on dvd and looks like straight up cable access quality, but I'm going to check it out someday.

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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Yeardley was very funny on that show. So was Hank Azaria, and of course those in Herman's Head. I still can't quite believe she is Bart.

FOX had a lot of fun and weird stuff before they hit it big and became so boring and fake. There was a real edge to their material. There was also some random things like weren't Melissa Gilbert and Fran Drescher on a sitcom about women whose husbands were in prison.

I remember years ago when I got a book about the best and worst sci-fi shows ever, voted on by a panel, and there were some real WTF shows in there, like It's About Time, the caveman time travel show, and then there was one that was filmed in Canada, on a very cheap budget, about a bland young man and woman who went around a ship with various exotic creatures.

And of course Quark, which I finally got to see a few months ago.

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SFK Rising Star

SFK

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I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that the blonde actress who played Ross's lesbian ex on "Friends" was one of the folks in Herman's head.

Me and my dad LOVED "The Gary Shandling Show" which my mom just found so obnoxious. :lol:

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SFK Rising Star

SFK

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Ah yes, Parker Lewis, that was a good one. And then, I think it was ABC (?), came out with the Ferris Bueller sitcom to compete. I remember the first episode where "Ferris" is like, "I'm the REAL Ferris, the guy in the movie is fake..." it was just so lame and WTF.

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EricMontreal22 Collaborator

EricMontreal22

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I can distinctly remember being in my grandparents' basement with some friend excited to watch the Ferris premier--all I remember is he took the cardboard standup of Broderick and cut it in half with a chainsaw. I think the pilot is all on youtube actually, I've been meaning to re-watch.

I'd love to see the tv version of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, speaking of such...

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Khan Grand Master

Khan

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Yep, except it was Rosie O'Donnell, not Fran Drescher. The show was called "Stand by Your Man," and as Rosie once said, it got creamed in the ratings by Richard Simmons' "Deal-a-Meal" infomercial(s).

It's tough for me to contribute to this list, since I was such a TV junkie back in the day. Even now, I don't watch much TV, but I do try to keep abreast of what's on. For me, the topic should be "TV Shows You SWEAR Really Existed," lol.

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SFK Rising Star

SFK

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Now didn't Rosie and Fran do a pilot that didn't get picked up and when Fran was on Rosie's show she briefly mentioned it but said they weren't allowed to talk about it? I remember someone on here talking about that, never got the full story.

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SFK Rising Star

SFK

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Have you guys heard of NBC's $$$$$$ major flop, Supertrain (1979)? I read Joe Barbera's (of Hanna-Barbera) autobio over ten years ago and he talked about this show. At the moment, I'm forgetting exactly how he was involved but I think it had to do with his working relationship with Fred Silverman. He remarked that he kicked the mock train and to his surprise it was real steel (!). At any rate, there are some clips and full episodes of it on YouTube, the basic premise was The Love Boat on the rails.

Opening Credits:

<object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/gUERtAe73NI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param'>http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/gUERtAe73NI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/gUERtAe73NI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object>

Piece from The Today Show:

<object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/yBMVAzIMl5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param'>http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/yBMVAzIMl5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/yBMVAzIMl5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object>

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Khan Grand Master

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"Supertrain," "Hello, Larry," and "Pink Lady and Jeff": three disasters Fred Silverman will never live down.

The promo for "Women in White" makes it look like "Grey's Anatomy: the Disco Years."

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