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Posts tagged as Brilliantly Canceled

Brilliantly Canceled

Getting Trapped in Nostalgia in 'That 80s Show'

by | May 13th, 2013
Remember the 80s? Probably. Remember 'That 80s Show'? I hope not, for your sake. http://splitsider.com/?p=27195
Brilliantly Canceled

Unearthing the Complete and Total Disaster That Was 'The Chevy Chase Show'

by | April 22nd, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where Brilliantly Canceled comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

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"Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor." — Horace

"Do you got a meat thermometer?" — Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase's time on Community ended last November after uttering that word in [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

Even Clarissa Couldn't Explain 'Clarissa Now'

by | April 1st, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

Growing up is hard for anyone. But for a children's show, growing up means death. A series may be for ages 2-5 or 7-12, but what happens when the core viewers move out of that range? Should the show age with its audience? Should it look for a younger [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'Cracking Up': The Show That Made Mike White Crazy

by | March 11th, 2013

It's a story as old as time and one that sadly continues to be relevant, usually on network television: a well meaning individual has a perfectly sculpted vision of a great television show in his or her mind. Then several evil network executives destroy that beautiful, untainted concept with copious notes that will turn that "artist friendly" idea into the first show in history to appeal to every human being in the world. It will also make somewhere in the vicinity of ten billion dollars. It pisses off the creator, and usually the project never sees the light of day, and possibly dreams of cable pastures fill the brain. [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer': Historically Awful

by | February 11th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder as our foreheads turn red from frequent smacks. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

Terrible events in history and controversial subjects in general have always been used for comedic fodder, but in order to make it legitimately funny and not offensive to the majority of the people, comedy writers have to walk a very, very fine line. [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'Buddies': Dave Chappelle's 'Home Improvement' Spinoff That Actually Got Made

by | May 6th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where Brilliantly Canceled comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

"It was a bad show. It was bad. I mean when we were doing it, I could tell this was not gonna work." – Dave Chappelle

(Grunt) – Tim Allen

There was a time when Timothy "The Toolman" Taylor changed lives.

On March 14, 1995, two gentleman [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

The Gross Mess That Was the 'Garbage Pail Kids' Cartoon

by | April 15th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

It’s not every day that Brilliantly Canceled gets a number of reasonable theories as to why a show failed. Usually, we’re left to complaining about unfulfilled expectations and audience confusion. In the case of the Garbage Pail Kids cartoon series, which CBS canceled several days before its initial 10-episode [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'Emily's Reasons Why Not': Because Once Was Enough

by | March 25th, 2013

There must be a special type of indignity felt when you are canceled after one episode – only nineteen English language shows throughout the entire history of television have had that honor, after all. After being chosen among multitudes of other pilots, to be one of the select few to actually make it to air, to only be told that twenty two minutes was more than enough, thanks?

Emily's Reasons Why Not is the one show out of the lucky nineteen that is most likely remembered by the American public, mostly due to its decent proximity to the present, because that Heather Graham lady starred in it, [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

Watching 'Kelly's Kids', the Backdoor 'Brady Bunch' Pilot

by | March 4th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

The early 70s belonged to the Bradys. Co-opting flower power parenting and Leave It to Beaver wholesomeness, Brady Bunch-creator and TV-demigod Sherwood Schwartz turned the story of a lovely lady and some guy named Mike into a ratings dynamo and six kids into the archetypal American youngsters. And, of [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'The Adventures of Superpup' TV Pilot Saves World, Scares Children

by | February 4th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

Superhero stories are a breeding ground for crossover and marketing synergy. Whether it be the standard multi-title comic arc or a video game where the main character flies through floating rings, comic book superheroes, the gods of our time, cannot escape the super-sized shoehorning caused by those looking for [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

NBC's 'Bates Motel' (Or, 'Extreme Makeover: Hitchcock Edition')

by | April 29th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

25 years before A&E’s Bates Motel, there was NBC’s Bates Motel. However, instead of following the origins of Norman Bates, this made-for-TV movie tracks the grand re-opening of the infamous hostel. Filled to the brim with such Psycho staples as camp, interior design, and commentary on the death of [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

Right Before the Sainting of Louis C.K., There Was 'Lucky Louie'

by | April 8th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in, looking at the shows that didn’t make it past their first season and saved us all a ton of grief.

We all have our favorite alternate history scenarios: What if Columbus wasn't bad at his job and didn't accidentally discover America? What if Kennedy invaded Cuba? What if Lucky Louie wasn't canceled after thirteen episodes?

That last one might not seem to be as historically important as the [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

'The Farm': Why 'The Office's Backdoor Pilot Didn't Work

by | March 18th, 2013

Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers that be get things right. That’s where “Brilliantly Canceled” comes in and looks at the shows that didn’t make it past their first episode and saved us all a ton of grief.

After nine seasons of The Office, a spinoff seemed inevitable. The show’s overwhelming success and incredibly popular characters were too good to lose, especially for the flailing peacock. Of the show’s original cast, few characters rose higher than Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute. As Michael Scott’s loyal assistant to the regional manager, Dwight [...]

Brilliantly Canceled

Time Travel, Bazookas, and Robot Dinosaurs: A Look Back at the Weird, Wild Misstep of 'Steel Justice'

by | February 19th, 2013

Steel Justice's infamous 1992 pilot is one of the most unbelievable wastes of money in television history. A gross miscalculation of popular trends, the pilot documents the bizarre things a network (or two crazed screenwriters) thinks the populous will swallow in the most embarrassing way possible. But how does one properly package the rise of Robosaurus in way that isn't overly dramatic, boring, or confusing?

A good title communicates a lot about anything made for public consumption. By putting a glass and an orange on the front, a carton of Minute Maid Orange Juice convinces shoppers there's something resembling OJ inside. In a more relevant example, a show like [...]

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