Top 10 - Shows that nobody watched

By Nate Adams
Collegian Staff
April 4, 2007

Maybe I’m just an old man before my time, but TV really leaves me disappointed these days. It seems like most of it is just recycled reality TV and poorly executed sitcoms. Oh sure, there are some good shows out there, but more often than not, for any number of reasons, no one watches them. Thus, here is one man’s list of the top 10 TV shows that no one watched until it was too late.

10) Joey—This Friends spin-off was doomed to fail from the start; of all the possible spin-off ideas, this one, featuring Joey (Matt LeBlanc) moving out west to pursue acting and live with his sister, was the worst. Despite the lame premise, the show was legitimately funny, and even won a People’s Choice award and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

9) Firefly—An outer space western of sorts taking place 500 years in the future. It’s a tough sell to anyone. Add to it the fact that the show was scheduled to the barren landscape that is Friday night television, and then criminally under-marketed, and Firefly was off the air in a single season. Still, the show won an Emmy award, was syndicated by the Sci-Fi network, and even inspired a movie, 2005’s Serenity (which also flopped).

8) Sports Night—Created by Aaron Sorkin, this show focused on the goings on at the fictional CSC network as they tried to do their evening Sportscenter type show. Despite witty dialogue, the show struggled to find an audience, as people were still used to laugh tracks telling them when jokes were funny.

7) Greg the Bunny—Before Seth Green was involved in the obviously drug-induced Adult Swim claymation show Robot Chicken, he starred in the obviously drug- induced FOX sitcom, Greg the Bunny, which is best described as The Muppet Show on mushrooms.

6) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip—This show is not actually off the air yet, but the situation looks bleak for Aaron Sorkin’s dramedy that focuses on the backstage goings on at a fictional, SNL-type late night sketch show.

5) Andy Richter Controls the Universe—After breaking away from late night cohort Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter went to FOX to try his hand at situation comedy with this hilarious and criminally ignored show. Like Drew Carey but with worse luck, Richter played a loveable loser who just couldn’t seem to get a break. He didn’t with this show, which was likely canceled due to his low-wattage name recognition.

4) Ed—This show starred Tom Cavanagh as Ed Stevens, a New York City lawyer who loses his practice and his wife in the same day, then decides to move back to his hometown of Stuckyville, Ohio and buy a bowling alley to impress a lady. This show had top notch performances, and set the template for other funny/emotional shows like Scrubs.

3) Clone High—Created by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Spin City), this MTV cartoon was not only funny for taking the piss out of every single “teen drama” type show at the time, but it also took history and spun it on its head, making Abe Lincoln a nervous awkward teen with low confidence, Joan of Arc an angst-ridden goth and Gandhi a hard-partying class clown.

2) Freaks and Geeks—Created by Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin), this show was an offbeat high school comedy that focused on the nerds, burnouts and losers. The show was often offbeat and painfully funny, as its characters were always awkward dorks rather than smooth operators. The show won a well-deserved Emmy for writing, as it was always funny and heartfelt without being over the top or hokey.

1) Arrested Development—This painfully funny sitcom focused on Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), the straight shooter who tries to keep his family together after his father goes to prison for some shady bookkeeping and a case of light treason. The cast of this show was incredible and critics loved it, giving it over 22 awards over its three seasons. However, due to poor marketing and a lousy timeslot, the show died.

adamsn1@lasalle.edu