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Series You Initially Loved, Then Abandoned and Never Finished


Faulkner

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I didn't mind Allie getting married either, because where is it written that one loses their identity when married.. and I think the show had an opportunity to show that just because someone remarries, doesn't mean they will sacrifice their newly found identity.  How the show went about showing it was wrong.  I would have had Kate stay in the brownstone and going through roommates every so often (like Murphy Brown and her assistants)... with the two adjusting to the new change in status.

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The 87-88 season after she left was still good. The 88-89 season is when it went downhill with Callie marrying JR and Sue Ellen leaving for good.

This was the time that Jackee and Marla Gibbs were fighting over who was the bigger star of the show. Jackee became a special guest star only. The new cast was just horrible. I hated the new building owner, the two goons as neighbors and the actress Tookie Smith..or whatever the hell her name was....she was not funny at all. Actually none of the additions were funny. The show suffered in the ratings without Jackee full time.

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Jackee also had a spinoff episode that did extremely well in the ratings but for some reason NBC didn't pick it up as a series. I forget what year that was.

You aint lying on that one! Not even Charlotte Rea could save the Barry Sobel character.

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"Jackeé" aired on May 11, 1989. That was a Thursday, so it got to air after The Cosby Show (and before a Cheers rerun). NBC had two open half-hours that fall: 8:30 Sunday, which Sister Kate got, and 9:30 Wednesday, which The Nutt House got. Would anyone have plugged Jackeé in either, or done some re-arranging?

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You know...to tell you the truth...although I think Jackee and Sondra were RIPE for a spinoff show away from "227," I don't know if I actually liked the premise that was set up with that pilot.  Instead, I would have taken the "Frasier" route and developed more of Sondra's family and background.  We had met her mother already -- played by Della Reese, right? -- so they could have brought her back (if not with DR in the role, then with another actress).  Maybe they could've created a bougie, sanctimonious older sister or cousin for Sondra to play off of -- someone who always looks down her nose at Sondra's floozy-like ways -- along with a BFF from childhood or high school.  (If they REALLY wanted to be daring, they could have also created an ex-girlhood crush of Sondra's who had since transgendered, and was, in some ways, more Sondra-esque than Sondra.)

 

Personally, I've always suspected that Marla Gibbs played at least a small part in NBC's decision not to order "Jackee" to series.  Regardless, though, I think "Jackee," had it been allowed to go to series, would have expanded Jackee's career; and I think that NBC's decision, in tandem with Jackee's "demotion" on Marla's show, derailed Jackee's career in the long run.

 

Also, I would have aired "Jackee" on Saturdays between "227" and "The Golden Girls" until it was strong enough, both in quality and in audience figures, to stand on its own on another night (maybe Mondays?).  Jackee herself was enough to bring in viewers at least in the beginning.  However, if her own series had any chance of surviving more than a season, then it needed time and that safe spot on the schedule to develop an ensemble strong enough to support her.

 

 

Agree.  It was as if they were attempting to fill the void left behind by Jackee/Sondra's regular presence with a bunch of random (and frankly, unfunny) people.  It just didn't work.

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@Khan I think you need to find some producers and pitch those ideas about a Kate and Allie reunion. That's a reboot I would be thrilled to watch!

 

After some thought, I would also like to add Who's the Boss to my list of shows I loved but then left in the dust. Tony started getting creepy and way too intense when they finally paired him up with Angela. Jonathan was a non-factor in the closing seasons and Sam married young, taking her out of any real storylines. She seemed to just be a guest star who popped in front time to time. They also tamed Mona down.

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  • ER: I lasted right up until Carter left, and I just never really returned to it until the finally few episodes. 
  • L.A. Law: Watched the first two eps of Season 8 and I was done as the show didn't have any of the magic to it anymore. Coincidentally it turned out to be L.A. Law's final season on air. 
  • Dallas: I've never been able to watch the 1989-90 season after the first time I saw it. I can tolerate the 1990-91 season thanks to performances by George Kennedy, Barbara Stock, Barbara Eden and a woefully underrated Kimberly Foster being that season's saving graces. 
  • Wings--The last few seasons were dreadful and rewatching it on Antenna TV recently reminds of when the show just became too full of itself. 
  • Supernatural: Great show that somehow by 2011 once I missed a few eps though I just never bothered to return and catch up on though. I'm surprised it's still on maybe one day I'll binge watch what I've missed. 
  • Pretty Little Liars: No progress after five seasons, and when I read up on who the last A was it sounded like Chris Carter was writing the show. Speaking of which....
  • The X-Files: Even before Mulder left the show, once the Syndicate were massacred the show felt aimless with some "aliens as God" tale Carter really felt he needed to tell that just came off as a bad rip-off of The Last Temptation of Christ. Once they revealed that Samantha had simply became rainbow brite and every MOTW aimed to be comedic it was hard to swallow to watch. The current batch of episodes are decent though. 

 

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Bones - I'm not a fan of procedurals but I started watching this on the back end of Angel ending when I followed a lot of the Buffyverse actors and since this show never took itself too seriously and had a unique concept I stayed with it for a few years, until Season 4. It was never a can't miss show though, and while I wasn't pressed by what happened to the character of Zac, after four years the show seemed to be heading into a new era and it seemed like a good time to back out of that committment. Especially because at this time I really had no interest in watching major network shows with 22 episode seasons and commercials. 

 

Grey's Anatomy - I watched the first three seasons. Kind of like what happened with Bones, I knew I probably wouldn't stick with it for its entire run (very happy with my decision now that I see it is still on!). Seasons 1 and 2 were so fresh, but with season 3 all that backstage drama came out and the show already seemed to be reaching for story. I had to bail.

 

Desperate Housewives - I can't even remember how long I watched it. Maybe to season 3 as well. Talk about a one season wonder. You would have thought Ryan Murphy was running this ship with how awful the show quickly became after the first season. How it lasted as long as it did, I'll never understand.

 

Nip/Tuck - Technically I watched until the end. Seasons 1-3 were fantastic television for me. Season 4 was alright, but it was clear a shift was happening and it was just being written for shock value at that point. I never got around to watching the whole second part of season 5 with Katee Sackhoff. I don't know why I continued on with season 6 and 7, but those were hard to watch.

 

SKINS - I've only ever seen the first and second generations, so seasons 1-4. The first generation was everything a teen drama should be, and because I loved Ellie, the second generation should have been just as fantastic, but never measured up. nd though his character could be highly grating at times, at least it introduced me to the fantastic Jack O'Connell. I really should get around to watching the final season, but I don't know if I can handle a goodbye to Cassie that may not be worthy of her.

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I think that's what happens to me. I don't intentionally drop a show, so much as I forget to rejoin and then just never catch up. I "lost" a lot of shows when I "cut the cord" a few years back, and never picked them back up.

 

Although not the "hot" thing after a while, I watched ER all the way through; you just had to get the idea that the show was a revolving door and make peace with it. I think some of the things that rejuvenated the show for me was Sally Field's arc as Tierney's mother and Parminder Nigra's character. 

 

Same with Grey's, as I'm still watching it. Every time, I think it's dying on the vine, it does something to bring it right back, and it is not usually the stunts (of which the show does make fun of itself doing at times), it's the relationships.  

 

I stuck with Nashville, but never rejoined after it left network TV (esp. after I heard of the development of one of the characters). I've been more pleased with Empire since Phylicia Rashad initiated the "family feud," but I haven't caught back up with it since the midseason finale...nor Grey's...I suppose I will later. So grateful we have these ways of watching television these days rather than turning on a network at a specific time on a specific day.

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