Just something I was thinking about, feel free to list/discuss yours (it can be from any decade - mine will mostly be sitcoms, but you can include any).

I think it's easy to say that about ones we like - logically the more time we "spend" with the characters, the better, right? But I honestly do think the following could've been extended a bit:

Full House: With Steph just starting high school, and Michelle still only about 8 in 1995 (with the twins about 3), I'd say they easily could've had enough momentum to carry the show into about 1999. At least passing the 10 year anniversary in '97. I suppose it was just a case of bad timing with that kind of show being unfortunately "out of vogue" by the mid 90's.

Behind the Music, VH1: I love biography-type programs. Stuff like this were one of the few good things on VH1 these days. Unlike a show with characters that get older or can wear itself out, this could've gone on for years since it's just a profile of different artists. I especially liked the "year-based" ones (eg: 1984).

Ricki Lake: Alright, a bit of a guilty pleasure here, but I used to really like her, as well as Jerry Springer, LOL! ;D Seriously though, I thought this was a perfect medium between more "traditional" talkshows, and the edgier ones like Jerry - the first to adapt a more "youthful-ish" spin on things. I guess it did last for about a decade, but a couple more years wouldn't have hurt.

Rescue 911: This was a "recreated reality show" hosted by William Shatner in the early to mid 90's, about real life emergencies. Varying from heart attacks, to police chases to fires, I liked the "educational entertainment" in it. Even if Shatner didn't want to host it anymore, I think it could've easily still been on today with another host.

PS: On the other side of the fence, I DO think shows like Seinfeld and Home Improvement picked the perfect time to bow out, before they each got "stale". Despite my love of both these, I actually think HI might've already been losing a little steam the last couple seasons with Randy's abscence, and it overall getting more "serious" more often.

Cartoon series
"The Oblongs" and "Mission Hill."

Sledge Hammer

Firefly

Cartoon series
"The Oblongs" and "Mission Hill."




I agree..I totally LOVE "The Oblongs"



Erin :)

Greg The Bunny

Behind the Music, VH1: I love biography-type programs. Stuff like this were one of the few good things on VH1 these days. Unlike a show with characters that get older or can wear itself out, this could've gone on for years since it's just a profile of different artists. I especially liked the "year-based" ones (eg: 1984).

Theyre bringing it back





PS: On the other side of the fence, I DO think shows like Seinfeld and Home Improvement picked the perfect time to bow out, before they each got "stale". Despite my love of both these, I actually think HI might've already been losing a little steam the last couple seasons with Randy's abscence, and it overall getting more "serious" more often.


egh, Seinfeld lost its steam really two seasons prior to its cancellation.
and on retrospect, Home Improvement was never actually that good....I used to like it a lot more.


shows that ended too soon:
Faulty Towers
Undergrads
The Critic
THe Tick
Greg the Bunny
Andy Ricter controls the universe

oh, and Family Guy

Family Guy is back on with new episodes.  :)

Family Guy is back on with new episodes.  :)


yeah, I know

and Im sorry to say this, but the quality is slipping

Fastlane http://images.art.com/images/PRODUCTS/Regular/10088000/10088951.jpg

Two mistmatched cops, the angry and bitter Van Ray, and the brash Deaqon Hayes, are forced to team up by a shady vixen police lieutenant, Billie Chambers, into going undercover in the seedy side of Los Angeles in using a variety of police confiscated flashy cars, clothes, weapons and other items, kept in a large secret warehouse called the Candy Store, in order to nail various low-lifes and rich and powerful criminals.

Dead Like Me http://epguides.com/DeadLikeMe/logo.jpg

Georgia "George" Lass (ELLEN MUTH) is a young college drop-out who has no job skills and seems unable to take an interest in anything, including her own life. She cultivates an air of cynicism that infuriates her mother, baffles her father, and isolates her younger sister. George is about to get a wake-up call.

With her mother Joy (CYNTHIA STEVENSON) insisting that she get a job, George applies to a temp agency that sends her out as a file clerk. Her lunch break - and her life - are cut short when a toilet seat from the MIR space station drives her into the pavement. George does not realize that she is dead until Rube (MANDY PATINKIN), the kindly leader of a team of grim reapers, points out her remains. Rube takes George under his wing and introduces her to the other members of his undead group: Mason (CALLUM BLUE), Roxy (JASMINE GUY) and Betty (REBECCA GAYHEART).

The members of Rube's team of reapers are all, like George, people who died with unresolved issues. They still have lessons to learn that - for one reason or another - they failed to learn in life. They move about the Pacific Northwest in the full light of day. They walk the city streets and eat at all-night diners, just like anyone else. They have to find somewhere to live, cook, eat and do their laundry. They look just like everyone else but as grim reapers they appear physically different to the living than they did when they were alive.

What George experiences beyond death is the focus of this darkly comedic series. It takes a slightly twisted look at life and at one possible version of life in the after life. What if death is not the end? What if it is not even an escape from the issues that plagued us? What if it is not a way to avoid accountability, but an opportunity to accept responsibility? What if it is a wake-up call?

Greg The Bunny


Yeah I loved that one too (luckily I taped one of them before it was pulled!). :)

It's definitely a bit "on edge", but was it cancelled for that, or low ratings? With some of the (kinda sick but funny) humor, I wouldn't be surprised if execs were fearful of offending people with its content.

The Weekenders.  It should  of lasted longer; at least a couple more years.  By about 2005, tish "photoshopmyavater" would stop being so artsy, and Lor will finally break up with Thompson, even though the only words she said to him is a bunch of mumbles.  And the kids look so familar to the avaters on this site.

http://www.tvtome.com/Weekenders

I agree..I totally LOVE "The Oblongs"



Erin :)

One of the few TV series to deal realistically with class issues!
;)

Theyre bringing it back

egh, Seinfeld lost its steam really two seasons prior to its cancellation.
and on retrospect, Home Improvement was never actually that good....I used to like it a lot more.


shows that ended too soon:
Faulty Towers
Undergrads
The Critic
THe Tick
Greg the Bunny
Andy Ricter controls the universe

oh, and Family Guy

I can't believe there are only twelve episodes of "Fawlty Towers."  It seems like there are far more because every single one is packed with ripping humor.  Something that good couldn't last.  Too much work.  Besides, John Cleese had too many other irons in the fire to keep just one TV series going.

"The Undergrads" was cool, but I preferred a couple of different "college" cartoon series, one I already mentioned, "Mission Hill," then there was another on MTV called "3 South"  That one was hilarious.  But you know MTV, "Oh, something without gangbangers showing off blinbling or kids necking in hot tubs?  Nope can't have that!"

"The Critic" was a funny series, but it seemed to have a pretty good run.  It guess John Lovitz wanted to go on to bigger things...like Yellow Pages commercials! 
::)
Another 'toon I wish had lasted longer is "Duckman."  Some critic aptly said "Duckman" was as gross as "South Park" and as funny as "The Simpsons."  Again, it's hard to keep a hot ticket like Jason Alexander tied down to a funky cartoon series.

"Home Movies" (1999--2004) with Paula Poundstone was yet another great cartoon, but five years is a good lifespan for a cartoon of that style.  It was more subdued in nature.

Comedy Central tends to dump shows that I think are really funny... like Strangers with Candy, Primtime Glick and Upright Citizens Brigade.

Hull High,Brimstone,Elvis the early years,Freaks and Geeks,American Dreams

Eerie, Indiana



Erin :)

Daria - I think this show could have continued for another 2-3 seasons in great shape. 

Primetime Glick - Funny show that could have went on

Sledge Hammer


Was that the gun mad cop?  Always slept with two guns under his pillow.  blonde brushed back hair IIRC

Another 'toon I wish had lasted longer is "Duckman."  Some critic aptly said "Duckman" was as gross as "South Park" and as funny as "The Simpsons."  Again, it's hard to keep a hot ticket like Jason Alexander tied down to a funky cartoon series.


They made 70 episodes of Duckman. I'd say that's a pretty good run.

Some cartoons I thought were on far too short:

The Critic
Dilbert
Baby Blues
Hey, Joel



And another show:

The Lone Gunmen

Comedy Central tends to dump shows that I think are really funny... like Strangers with Candy, Primtime Glick and Upright Citizens Brigade.

Martin Short is a comic genius!  No one can tell me Jiminy Glick wasn't gay (wink, wink), but I guess they didn't want to play on the stereotype in these PC times, so they made him married...but a lot of gay guys are married!
The UCB was great, as good as Kids in the Hall.  The Hollowmen are very talented, but no comedy troupe has stood a chance of rivaling Monty Python in the past 30 years!

Satish, seventy episodes of Duckman are not enough for me!

Full House: With Steph just starting high school, and Michelle still only about 8 in 1995 (with the twins about 3), I'd say they easily could've had enough momentum to carry the show into about 1999. At least passing the 10 year anniversary in '97. I suppose it was just a case of bad timing with that kind of show being unfortunately "out of vogue" by the mid 90's.
Pardon me, but when the series ended in 1995, Stephanie was still in middle (junior high) school, namely in the seventh grade. If the series had continued into Fall '96, THEN we would have seen her start High school.

Martin Short is a comic genius!  No one can tell me Jiminy Glick wasn't gay (wink, wink), but I guess they didn't want to play on the stereotype in these PC times, so they made him married...but a lot of gay guys are married!
The UCB was great, as good as Kids in the Hall.  The Hollowmen are very talented, but no comedy troupe has stood a chance of rivaling Monty Python in the past 30 years!

Satish, seventy episodes of Duckman are not enough for me!


Can you catch Jiminy Glick in re-runs anywhere?  I was interested in it, but didn't have Comedy Central (or whatever it was on) at the time.

Homefront was a good show.

Was that the gun mad cop?  Always slept with two guns under his pillow.  blonde brushed back hair IIRC


That was the one.  He always would say "Trust me, I know what I'm doing"  ;D


Here's three that each only ran for 4 seasons.  They could have each lasted a few more seasons for sure

SOAP
WKRP in Cincinatti
Mork and Mindy