One of the more annoying things in my opinion is when something new
is a huge hit, and all the clones start to appear. These are obvious
desperate attempts to cash in on a trend. The worst part of this trend
is that these copy cats are almost always duds! They are so blatantly
rushed and/or trying to copy the success of the first show that it’s
just lame.
This happened with game shows when Who Wants to be a Millionaire
spawned crap like Greed and Twenty-One. It happened when Survivor (and
later American Idol) spawned reality TV junk like “The Apprentice” and
to many others to name (I thank god this reality craze has died down a
bit). And the success of Seinfeld and Friends spawned garbage like
“These Friends of Mine” (later “Ellen”) and the very short lived
“Coupling”. We could be here all day listing examples of this.
And then we have the prime time cartoon craze that began in the 90’s.
When The Simpsons came around in 1989, it was the first successful
prime time cartoon series since The Flintstones and The Jetsons. So of
course what happens when a new idea is a big hit? We get the god awful
copy cats!!!! Ok, some worked. Family Guy and King of the Hill and
Futurama, were all good. Ok, The Critic wasn’t that bad either come to
think of it. And Duckman was a huge success though I never watched it.
And of course South Park, which I really can’t stand though I guess it
can be funny.
But while those were hits, most were not so lucky and were here and
gone in a flash. Here are ten other shows which did suck, at least in my
opinion. Some were rushed to meet the Simpsons craze, some were trying
to flat out copy the Simpsons, and some were just…stupid as all hell.
Capitol Critters
This was an animates series about the lives of mice and roaches who
reside in the basement and walls of The White House. Intrigued yet? Yeah
this is a lame show and only lasted thirteen episodes. Neil Patrick
Harris was in it, but to be fair this was long before “How I Married
Your Mother” made him a celebrity again so I can forgive it. This show
demonstrates a very important lesson that others did learn-it takes more
than a cool setting to make the show gritty and adult! I watched it a
little and it felt like a stupid Saturday Morning Cartoon, non and adult
Prime Time Cartoon.
Family Dog
This first appeared on an episode of “Amazing Stories” which was a
really good show that deserves more attention. I actually dont remember
this episode, but it got a good reception. The series Family Dog was
produced by Steven Speilberg and Tim Burton but still couldn’t work.
There is a lot to the story but suffice to say, it was a project pretty
much DOA.
Fish Police
Same thing as Capitol Critters, just because it’s on at prime time
doesn’t automatically make it adult. The show felt like it belonged with
the other Saturday Morning fare…and it was created by Hanna-Barbera
which doesn’t help! John Ritter was one of my favorite actor/comedian’s
but why the heck he signed on for this I’ll never know. Hanna-Barbara
was behind this show, only six episode were made. And three aired! This
was based on a comic book series but as a cartoon show it just didn’t
work. I think it was played to straight, looking at the description it
could be any police show this just happened to feature fish under water.
Oh wait, we’ll make lots and lots of fish puns! That’ll make it fun!!
Nope, just boring.
Stressed Eric
There’s nothing bringing a show over from England and them Americanizing
it so the show sucks. That’s what happened with this show about a man
who is stressed by family and work. This was so poorly received in
America that only a few episodes aired in 1998, and that was it.
Mission Hill
Only 13 of 18 episodes were actually produced of this series. And while
it didn’t last to long it has developed a cult following over the years.
Not much to say about this one, basically a bunch of people live in a
“mission hill district” and hi jinks. I don’t get that if the premise is
just about normal people then why not just make it live action?????
What does animating do to make special? For it to work you need
something unique to make it clear it can only work as a cartoon.
Something like…….
Dilbert
I needed a show on the list that others did like but I did not. While I
never watched The Critic, that Siskel & Ebert episode was pretty
inspired. So, while I may get some disagreement on this one, it lasted
two years and even won an Emmy, but I hated this show. They took one of
Dilbet’s running gags and made it the whole damn series! This was
supposed to be a series based on average office environments, why were
there aliens? Yeah I know I just said why above, but it turned me off.
Again, the one show on this list which was decent and well liked. Not be
me, but by others.
God, the Devil and Bob
Oh man, do we have to talk about this one. I did see this one, so I feel
very safe putting it on this list. Was it god awful? Maybe I should
rephrase that. Was it the worst thing ever? No. But man was it lame,
especially when it came along opposite Who Wants to be a Millionnaire
with ads anmouncing the show was so wonderful that it would top that
show. It did not. The plot? Ok how do I sum this up? God (James Garner)
has a bet with the Devil (Alan Cumming). The Devil chooses Bob (French
Stewart) as the human to prove he has made the world a better place..or
the world will be destroyed. Long story short, Bob does do this in the
pilot and for the rest of the series God kind of hangs around him while
the Devil…does stuff. Good lord almighty was this stupid! Only a few
episodes aired on NBC who, as I said, hyped this up BIG TIME. Not only
did it have low ratings but it also offended religious people (No!!).
The real crazy thing? This is on DVD. WHY?????
Baby Blues
So what happens when you take a family friendly comic strip and give it a
Simpsons edge? You get this awful TV show. Yeah Dilbert was about
“real” people but there were enough quirks to have it make sense as a
cartoon. I watched some on YouTube and it was boring. This was just a
show that didn’t know what it wanted to be, and it ended somewhere
between The Simpsons and Clerks. Oh, speaking of…..
Clerks: The Animated Series
Based on the 1994 hit this show had problems, and only lasted two
episodes. To be fair, ABC kind of screwed the show over when it finally
came on the air. I get the DVD for this one since it includes additional
episodes which never aired plus commentary. Was it a bad show? Don’t
think it’s for me but I think if it had been marketed differently, and
came on a different network that wasn’t afraid of it, it may have done
better. Can’t condemn this one, it was an idea that could have worked.
Father of the Pride
Oh man, the pain! This was part of a trend of CGI shows which came
around for awhile (Game Over anyone?). This was one of those shows that
was almost cancelled before it ever aired! But not for the reasons you
may be thinking. This was loosely based on the tigers from the Siegfried
and Roy show in Vegas. Great idea, until Roy Horn was almost killed on
stage! But the two endorsed the show so NBC went ahead. What’s it about?
It’s basically about what the personal lives must be like for the lions
from that show. Yeah, excited yet? The worst part is that while it
looked like a kids show, it was clearly aimed at adults with its low
brow humor. It was boring. Even having Eddie Murphy play Donkey from
“Shrek” didn’t make this idea very interesting, and it lasted about half
a season. Ironically, this is what I wish the new Muppet show was like,
but I don’t feel like discussing that disappointment right now.
Yeah I didn’t cover them all. PJ’s was actually a hit, and The
Oblongs was another stupid show. Any others that I missed, or that I
mentioned by you guys liked? Feel free to comment and let me know.
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