Series You Initially Loved, Then Abandoned and Never Finished

[cct]

 

 

Can't remember why I fell out of Murphy Brown in it's middle years, but I fell back in that final season. I think I left when Jim left FYI. I liked the cancer storyline and how the show ended overall, but I haven't seen it in years, and could do without a reboot. The timeliness of our current political state would be perfect, but the cast is much older, and Eldon and Phil have passed on. More than likely I'll watch, praying it doesn't become the "Arlington Virginia Dinner Theater" does "Murphy Brown."

 

 

As they say on the "E! True Hollywood Story," Kirk Cameron Jesus-freaked Growing Pains right off the air. Once naughty-boy Mike grew into striving young adult, it became a bit sanctimonious and somewhat uninteresting. This was a show that was more about the adults early on and became about Cameron a la Family Ties became about Fox.

[Faulkner]

Yeah, I don’t know about Murphy Brown coming back. It’s not like it had this long tail in the public’s consciousness due to syndication or its undeniable influence on society or at least the TV shows that came after. 

[alwaysAMC]

Once Upon a Time

 

[mango]

 

The ending allowed the show to come full circle. That was well done. Same bathrobe -- great nod there.

 

The series probably should've ended two seasons earlier. Tony and Angela started getting empty nest-like. Angela was always so driven, but then they saddled her as a guardian to Billy (?), while basically ignoring Jonathan. He made an appearance here and there but rarely had any storylines. And it was weird not seeing Tony as a housekeeper. Him going back to school worked, but abandoning the foundation of the show didn't. 

 

I would've liked to see a little more of Mrs. Rossini, or even Bonnie. They did have some good supporting characters on the show, especially early in the run.

[Khan]

 

I quit watching MB because Diane English had left to launch the painful "Love & War;" and without her at the helm, the show's quality was just not the same.

 

 

ICAM.  But the BIG difference, IMO, was that Michael J. Fox was a much better performer than Kirk Cameron.

 

 

Yeah, I think it's common knowledge that none of the WTB? cast enjoyed or appreciated the addition of that kid.  He was like the Cousin Oliver of WTB?.

[SoapDope]

Empty Nest........the show lost a lot when Kristy McNichol let the show as Barbara. In the final seasons they added Marsha Warfield and Estelle Getty to try to liven things up. They also brought on that daughter Emily for a while to try to replace Barbara, but it didn't work. Dinah Manoff said that her character Carol lost half of herself without Barbara. Barbara & Carol were like Laverne & Shirley.

[Khan]

 

Yep.  Which is ironic, because, in a cast that included Richard Mulligan, Dinah Manoff, Park Overall and even David Leisure, who knew that Kristy McNichol, who wasn't exactly known for her comedic skills before EN, would end up being an integral part of the entire show?  But it's true: when she left (understandably, due to health reasons), she really took the show with her.

 

I didn't mind Marsha Warfield's addition so much, although I really thought her addition AND the move to that inner-city clinic was unnecessary.  (Harry and Laverne could've just stayed at the hospital, I thought, and Warfield's character could've been just a new addition to his pediatric clinic.)  But Estelle Getty's addition...?  THAT felt like a bunch of glorified guest spots or cameos to me.  As much as I loved Sophia on "The Golden Girls" and "The Golden Palace," I felt like she added nothing to EN.  Same goes for the guy who played Carol's baby daddy.

[Gray Bunny]

 

I feel like How To Get Away With Murder is very hit-or-miss with their split seasons. I would say the second half of season two is when it got completely out of control. But then the second half of last season and the first half of this past season was exceptionally better. Jury is still out on this current chunk of eppys, but by and large, HTGAWM is a perfect example of a TV show burning out way too soon because they just cram in TOO much in every episode. Give the characters a chance to breathe, regroup, reflect. Guess it's the soap opera fan in me wanting a break in between all the plot, plot, plot to see the characters decompress. 

 

A sign of the times I guess. I remember checking out the "new" 90210 in 2008 and thought it was way too sped up and frenetic; something the original 90210 of 1990 was not. 

 

[Gray Bunny]

 

I thought Desperate Housewives was well done overall. Yes, the convoluted mess of season 2 definitely killed momentum after their tremendously successful first season, but they recovered and churned out a lot of fun, drama, twists 'n turns for 8 seasons. They brought on great new housewives, like Dana Delany and Vanessa Williams. I only felt like the wind was knocked out of their sails in the final season, with the murder mystery being weak and a lot of the secondary/peripheral characters not featured as much. 

 

 

Aw, Empty Nest. I never see that in reruns. I actually didn't mind the later years when they revamped their cast and changed the setting, but I definitely missed Kristy McNichol's Barbara. I was so glad she made it back for the series finale. 

 

The addition of little sister Emily really petered out. I think she was on for one season before they did the Marsha Warfield/Estelle Getty revamp, and Emily disappeared. 

 

Speaking of NBC Saturday nights in the 90's, did any other SISTERS fans out there stick with it through the end, even once Frankie left, Georgie's marriage blew up, and they brought on the long-lost half-sister, Charlie? 

 

[I Am A Swede]

 

Wow, I had almost forgotten Empty Nest! Strange since I really loved that show. But you're right, it wasn't the same after Kristy left. I did like the addition of Marsha Warfield, but adding Estelle Getty as Sophia was a bad idea. I never felt she fit in. She needed Blanche, Dorothy and Rose to really work.

[Khan]

 

I did.  Although it's been too long and I can't recall EVERY thing that happened, I do know I was there for "Sisters" from beginning to end.  Of course, I chalk that up to the fantastic, tight chemistry among Patricia Kalember, Swoosie Kurtz and Sela Ward.  Not to mention, Elizabeth Hoffman, who I thought did a fantastic job as the Reed girls' mother.  True, Frankie's departure was a blow, and they never DID seem to find the right actress to play Charlie.  (The first, Jo Anderson, didn't seem to mesh well with the others; and the second, Sheila Kelley, was an even weaker actress than Julianne Phillips.)  But I could count on Kalember, Kurtz and Ward to turn in good work even through some admittedly bizarre stories.

 

Now, I would LOVE for someone either to reboot "Sisters" with four, new actresses playing the Reeds; or do an abbreviated revival series with as much of the original cast as possible for some outlet like Netflix.  I think either approach could work.

[Faulkner]

I absolutely adored Sisters, and Ed Marinaro and Mark Frankel (RIP) were probably my earliest crushes. (Damn, Teddy got some hot tail alongside George Clooney’s character Falconer.) But I did not stick around after Julianne Phillips left. The show just didn’t feel right in spite of the strength of Kurtz, Ward, and Kalember.

[Khan]

Here's another one: "Charmed."  Not only did the Alyssa vs. Shannen drama turn me off, but the more I watched the show, the more I felt it was being written and produced by men who objectified women.  I mean, yes, it was an Aaron Spelling show, so you go in KNOWING there will be a little objectifying.  But on "Charmed," it seemed especially pungent for some reason.

 

Of course, now that the stories about show runner Brad Kern have come out in the wake of the #meToo/#TIMESUP movement, that might explain a few things.

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[Soaplovers]

I actually liked the first actress to play Charlie precisely because she didn't mesh with the others.. She was kind of an outsider, and tried to hang with the others with varying levels of success.  Recasting her to Sheila Kelley was jarring because Charlie was not known to hang out in Georgie's kitchen gabbing.. or at Sweet Sixteen having girl time.. and she meshed better with the other sisters.

 

For me, I think i stopped watching when the tentpole couple Georgie and her husband broke up... and the recasting of Charlie, as well.

[Khan]

 

Good point.  But it was clear that the producers meant for Charlie to become, essentially, a replacement for Frankie; and that's where I think Jo Anderson, had she stayed, would have come up short.