Top 5 Favorite TV Flops, Part 2-The Worst Ideas Ever!

A few months ago I did an article on my five favorite TVdisasters, those shows which just flat out bombed they were so bad. Today Iwant to talk about five more, but these are more than just bad shows. They wereflat out stupid ideas that never should have been green lit never mindproduced!

What's the difference between a flop and a flat out stupididea? Simply put, some ideas are good ideas it’s just something happens whichmakes the idea poorly conceived. For example The XFL wasn't a bad idea, butsome mistakes along the way made it a flop. What I have put together is a listof five television shows which were so stupid, how they ever got off the drawingboard I will never know.

#5. The Trouble With Larry
Bronson Pinchot starred in this sitcom about a man who was carried off by baboons on his honeymoon. The man returned sometime later to discover his wife was remarried.  He moves in with his wife and new husband, and antics ensue! Not kidding, this really happened and  it is so bad it was almost cancelled before it even aired. Even ”Cavemen” had a longer runtime than this turkey and that show was truly heinous.The part I loved was that Brosnson Pinchot was actually proud of this, bragging about it before it aired,. He probably still regrets that.

#4. My Mother The Car-You have to see it to believe it. Inever understood why people liked Mr.Ed, but while it’s a silly premise thereis a charm to that show which is why it was a hit. This show was just…who cameup with this? Jerry Van Dyke plays a man who discovers this mother’s spiritlives in the new car he just bought. No, really. This happened! Her voice wouldliterally come out of the car! The biggest casualty of this show was Van Dyke’scareer, which suffered for years until his supporting role in Coach finallygave him a little respect back. NBC really blew it with this one, but as anyonewho remembers Supertrain or Emeril can tell you, it wouldn’t be the lasthorrible idea they would have.

#3. Baby Bob
This idea was even worst! There had been a series of adswith a baby who talked like an adult person. They were cute, so why not createan entire sitcom around that idea? So CBS premiered this show and the baby hadthe voice of comic Kevin Meaney. It was just…odd. Why the network thought thiswould work is beyond me. Hard as it is to believe, something like this happenedback in the 90’s. The Look Who’s Talking movies spawned a series called BabyTalk. This show was so bad the female main lead left the show before an episodeaired, the male lead (George Clooney believ it or not) left after a coupleepisodes, and the premise was just lousy. Tony Danza provided the voice of thebaby. ABC was determined to keep the show alive, so the next year it came backwith yet another actress in the lead role and a totally different premise. Theshow was a bit better, but not good enough and it quietly disappeared; becomingthe TGIF show no one talks about or remembers.

#2. The Brady Bunch Variety Hour
Thank heavens I missed this one. I understand how it may have seemed like a good idea, The Brady Kids had been a popular group and of course Florence Henderson and Robert Reed were pro’s. This could have worked,if not for one idiotic mistake. Here was the premise, Mike Brady sells his families home and move them to California so they can perform in a variety show. See the problem? WHY WERE THEY IN CHARACTER ON THIS THING????  If they had been the actors as themselves itmay have worked, but were people supposed to buy the Brady’s were actually singing and dancing like that? IT MADE NO SENSE! I finally got to see some clips a few years ago,and wow! If you can imagine the Brady’s dressed up like characters from TheWizard of Oz while they sing “Carwash”….well, you get the idea. Susan Olden who played Cindy has a book all about this I would love to read someday. Thank heavenst his was not in canon with the later reunion movies. The one interesting thing about  this is that the cast kind of laugh about this now. Yeah it was absurd but they look back at it and still remember it kind of fondly. This cannot be said of the people involved in the next show.

#1. The Star Wars Holiday Special
Several years ago I was searching the internet when I came across an article about something called a Star Wars Christmas Special. I had never heard of it, and wasn’t sure if it was real. I did some more digging anddiscovered it was real, and was something George Lucas was ashamed of. I managed to download a copy and watch it. Wow, what in the world were they thinking? As luck would have it I was only four years old when this came out,so I really can’t vouch for the reaction at the time. I can say that over theyears this has developed a cult following. This was awful. Having the Wookie’s screechingwithout subtitles, pointless sketches and music number, and the actors allappearing as if they were heavily medicated as they performed in this. I do understand the initial idea. In an age before home video Lucas was afraid everyone would forget Star Wars by the time Empire came out. He just should have had alittle more control over the product. I just discovered the most amazing thing about this, it was a two-hour special!! Are you kidding me? It amazes me whatprogrammers Okayed back in the 70’s. They watched this thing and thought, “Yeah, thiswill be awesome!”. Really? This show makes me so glad I was a product of the 80's.  If you’re curious one of the best Nostalgia Criticepisodes was on this, check it out.


Honorable Mention-Turn on

What show was canceled faster than any other? How about this show, which premiered on the East coast and was cancelled by the time it airedon the west coast the same night! Some stations which aired the show refused to return to it after it went into commercial break! What was in this show? Debutingin 1969 this was a sketch show to compete with (or rip off)  Laugh-In. However the material was a little toedgy and offended people almost instantly. Tim Conway is the most famous nameassociated with this dud, as he was the host of the first and only episode.

The list of horrible programs on television is endless, and maybe I will come back with yet another five examples of horrible television.