Khan mentioned Chico and the Man in another thread, and it reminded me of the fact that I never saw this show in syndication. I grew up watching reruns of shows like Good Times, and Sanford and Son (some of my family just loved Fred and laughed and laughed at every episode), and the MTM sitcoms, and the Gary Marshall sitcoms, and the other Norman Lear sitcoms, but I never saw this.

What are other shows that were huge hits at one point, then sort of vanished?

Speaking of Ally McBeal (who someone mentioned earlier), I haven't seen the other old David E. Kelley shows lately, either (Boston Public, Picket Fences, Boston Legal, and especially The Practice, which I'd loved for a minute during its original run and haven't seen since).

Dang, I wish I got that channel. Laughing to myself thinking about Webster's obsession with special guest star Diahann Carroll. And then there was special guest star Ben Vereen as Webster's "junkie" uncle. George didn't want him around Webster because years ago he saw him shooting up. It was insulin, the man had sugar! And of course that awesome house with the dumbwaiter and secret passages like the one inside the grandfather clock.

The one I remember the most is when The Four Tops guested. Susan Clark is singing one of their songs in the gym with her earphones on and they come up behind her and get in on it. BTW, Henry Polic just passed away a couple of months ago.

I wish they would air some of the 70s variety shows but apparently with music rights and such permissions involved, I guess the stations aren't interested. The Flip Wilson Show seems to be one of the exceptions, though, as that's been played on a couple of cable stations the last few years (now on Aspire) and they show the musical performances.

Roku features some old (some free) channels with classic shows, although not usually full series or even full seasons. Some of the usual suspects are on there (Bonanza, Andy Griffith, etc.) but also some other stuff that's gotten little to no airplay - pre-Harry Morgan Dragnet episodes, Life With Elizabeth, Here's Lucy. Some are privately created channels with people uploading stuff from their own collections, so, like Youtube, you might find an occasional variety show episode from the 50s or a few episodes of What's My Line, stuff like that.

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by applcin

It's been a good while since I've Dawson's Creek on the air, maybe 2008?

Party of Five

Felicity, haven't seen it since 2004.

Hangin With Mr. Cooper

Lucy Desi Comedy Hour

Chicago Hope

Oh wow, I didn't hear that about Henry Polic II. Sad. He was friends with Betty White and was one of the members of her "family" on a celeb episode of Family Feud, or some other similar game show.

I read Murphy Brown doesn't repeat well is people find her too grating

One of my IMDb buddies says that she delivers every line the exact same way. When I thought about it, it's kind of true. I really liked that show when it originally aired but had a harder time getting into the reruns unless it was a really good one I remembered. Her parents were always great, it was sad when they wrote in Colleen Dewhurst's/Avery's death.

Candace won so many Emmys. One year she joked in her speech that Delta was going to jump her in the parking lot.

Candace was a pretty terrible actress, a lot of folks speculated that her wins were probably because of her father was the first president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Diane English actually wanted Cybill Shepherd or Heather Locklear for the role.

The writing has just aged terribly for the show though, it could be so damn heavy handed an inorganic, it wasn't even funny.

I loved Murphy Brown. I bet it'll come back someday, on some channel. I love how TV Land (or nick at nite) did a whole week's work and went through all the seasons. It was such fun.

I miss the old Nick at Nite. Back when i was a kid it was all the old black and white shows. I wouldn't mind seeing Patty Duke again. I know Me TV has Donna Reed at like 4 or 5 in the morning. I sometimes record an episode and watch it.

I may be wrong, but around Halloween, (at least) one of the station will be playing both Munsters and Adam's family. I've always been partial to the Munsters. They were so funny, i can't wait to see them again. Ususally it's played on Halloween or the weekend before.

The This network plays Patty Duke early mornings, like 5 or 6am.

Wow, I didn't know that about Cybil and Heather. I liked Cybil's show.

The loss of Miles was a palpable hit to Murphy Brown. It just wasn't the same without him. As wonderful as Lily Tomlin is, her character was not written to her strengths and added nothing to the show. The episode where Murphy's fighting cancer and on the phone with Lily's character in the middle of the night was one of those dark heavy-handed episodes.

Several of the shows currently on ThisTV are coming to Antenna TV next month - Patty Duke, Green Acres, Mr. Ed, Flipper.

Several of the shows currently on ThisTV are coming to Antenna TV next month - Patty Duke, Green Acres, Mr. Ed, Flipper.

Whoop whoop, I didn't know about that! Flipper was one of my faves on Nickelodeon back in the 1990s. Loved the outdoorsy atmosphere, the Florida scenery, nautical stories, and of course, Sandy Ricks got my little motor running.

Candace was a pretty terrible actress, a lot of folks speculated that her wins were probably because of her father was the first president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Diane English actually wanted Cybill Shepherd or Heather Locklear for the role.

The writing has just aged terribly for the show though, it could be so damn heavy handed an inorganic, it wasn't even funny.

Truth be told I loved 'Murphy Brown'...but it has aged really badly and when I do think about it, Candace delivered those lines exactly the same every single time.

I can't imagine Heather Locklear in it, she either would have been amazing or the show wouldn't have lasted 13 episodes. To think, had she done Murphy Brown we never would have gotten Amanda Woodward. *shudder*

Wow, I didn't know that about Cybil and Heather. I liked Cybil's show.

I liked 'Cybill' too, even though it was a blatant ripoff of 'Absolutely Fabulous'...how Chuck Lorre got away with that I'll never know. That said, it was the best ripoff of AbFab out there and was damn fun to watch, Christine Baranski made that show, much to Cybill's chagrin.

Edited October 12, 201312 yr by DaytimeFan

Heather was the lead in Working Girl, which wasn't quite the same, but I wonder if she got it because of Murphy Brown.

CBS also ripped Ab Fab off with High Society. That got most of the attention as a ripoff. I guess Cybill snuck in for that reason.

A lot of the Murphy Brown characters struggled to get past one-dimension, especially after the first few seasons.

For me the nadir was when she met Newt Gingrich. I was shaking my head the whole time.

I liked 'Cybill' too, even though it was a blatant ripoff of 'Absolutely Fabulous'...how Chuck Lorre got away with that I'll never know. That said, it was the best ripoff of AbFab out there and was damn fun to watch, Christine Baranski made that show, much to Cybill's chagrin.

I recently bought the entire series on DVD and have been watching an episode every once in a while. The humour is slightly dated but some episodes are still pure gold (e.g. Cybill and Maryann in New York - priceless). And that is of course mostly Christine Baranski's doing. After rewatching some it I'm convinced that I'll have to watch THE GOOD WIFE after all.

CBS also ripped Ab Fab off with High Society. That got most of the attention as a ripoff. I guess Cybill snuck in for that reason.

High Society was promoted as the American AbFab...hell the characters even had nicknames akin to Eddie and Patsy (Ellie and Dot!)...and the problem was the show just sucked and didn't have a hint of the desperation/wickedness that AbFab did.

Cybill, on the other hand, was rife with Cybill and Maryann's desperate plans and wicked schemes and it had enough charm to stand on its own. Plus, Christine Baranski clearly knew she had the part of a lifetime on her hands and played it for all it was worth.