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As any self-respecting geek would know, there have been some pretty wild ideas for science fiction TV shows. It must have taken a certain warped genius to come up with Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, Lost or The 4400. Of course, those were hits. But some weird ideas didn’t catch on so well. Take K-9000 (1990), about a cop who is telepathically linked to a talking, bionic police dog. Or L.A.X. 2194 (1994), a sitcom starring the not-yet-famous Matthew Perry and Ryan Stiles as baggage handlers at Los Angeles Airport, 200 years into the future. Strangely, neither of those made it beyond a pilot episode. The following shows didn’t last so long, either. But when you read about them, you can’t help thinking “What a wild idea!” (or perhaps “How did they expect anyone to watch that one?”)
1. My Living Doll (1964-1965)
How’s this for an idea? Build a shapely female robot and give her to a lady-killing military psychiatrist so he can teach her how to be (ahem) a perfect woman. Despite that foolproof concept, this sitcom about Rhoda (played by Julie Newmar, TVs first Catwoman), who lives with Bob McDonald (Robert Cummings) and avoids the lecherous advances of their neighbour, Peter Robinson (Jack Mullaney), only lasted one season. It was long enough for Bob to leave the series, so that Rhoda was placed in the care of… Peter! Naturally, the best man for the job is the guy who spent all his time leering at her. Of course, the joke was on him. How could you have a relationship with a machine? (Of course, as this was a sixties sitcom, they never really covered that…)
2. Alternative 3 (1977)
Even in the seventies, people were worried about global warming. With this in mind, Alternative 3 was about a secret colony on Mars, built by American and Russian scientists because planet Earth was a lost cause. (The title came from the three alternatives: cut population, cut consumption, or the one they eventually chose: cut and run.) Not a bad idea for a TV series, perhaps. But no, the makers of this one-off British special decided to do it as a mockumentary. The result: thousands of panicking viewers phoned the production company, demanding to know how long they had left to change planets. Writer David Ambrose was unrepentant, saying that he was “constantly amazed at the gullibility of people.” American networks turned it down, remembering the panic that happened when Orson Welles scared the U.S. public with his 1938 War of the Worlds radio play.
3. The Ultimate Impostor (1979)
Another pilot that didn’t hit the big time. In this one, a secret agent’s brain is erased by the Russians. As a replacement, a computer is implanted into his skull that programs him with a new personality each week. But he has limited time to use each personality, as they fade after 72 hours. If this had been a series, it might have been a great role for a versatile character actor, who would basically get to play a different character each episode. As it was, it didn’t turn lead actor Joseph Hacker into a star – and neither did anything else. Still, he’s been busy ever since, playing numerous character roles. So maybe he could have done it…
4. Cold Lazarus (1996)
Dennis Potter was known to many in Britain as the Shakespeare of television writers. His miniseries, like Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective (both turned into Hollywood movies), were critically acclaimed—and to be honest, downright weird. But his last miniseries (filmed after his death) was possibly the weirdest. Set 400 years into the future, it was about a virtual reality environment created from the visions and memories of playwright Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney). The thing is, Feeld has been dead for years, so the scientists take all of his visions from his disembodied and cryogenically frozen head. Raising the question: did Potter intend to put his own head in deep freeze?
5. Day Break (2006)
Remember Groundhog Day, the classic 1992 comedy in which Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again? How about Groundhog Day: The Series—minus the laughs. Yes, really. In Day Break, Taye Diggs played a police detective framed for a murder, who relives the same day in each episode, always getting closer to finding the real murderer. You might not think that this idea can sustain a whole series… and you might have a point. It was pulled after six episodes due to dismal ratings. The ABC put the remaining seven episodes on its website, so that fans (few as they were) could relive the day a few more times.
6. Gilligan’s Planet (1982-1983)
Everyone knows Gilligan’s Island, that 1960s sitcom about seven people stranded on a desert island. Sadly, while they seemed to know their location, none of them—not even the Skipper or the all-knowing Professor—was able to build a boat. An animated sequel, however, made a logical suggestion: they built a spaceship (out of trees, coconuts, the usual stuff) and blasted off, hoping to return home. Instead, they went off-course, crashing on an alien planet, where they would be stranded. Hoo boy. Strangely, this possibly wasn’t the dumbest idea for a cartoon based on a sitcom. It might come a close second to The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980), in which Richie, the Fonz and their pals get stuck in a time-machine and have adventures in different times while trying to return home to the Milwaukee of 1957. Yeesh!
Don’t believe us? Here’s a clip:
Mark Juddery is a writer and historian based in Australia, with books, scripts and countless articles to his credit. Learn more at markjuddery.com.
Comments (37)
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I liked Daybreak! I also think I remember Gilligan’s planet.
posted by Christopher Cantrell on 4-28-2008 at 2:00 pm
Daybreak was very good, but bad timing, and replacing lost for it probably hurt it more than helped it. Especially now in the age of DVR.
Too many people mark a great show in their DVR, and will usually stop them from seeing the next show. Some of the greatest shows of all time got popular through that method (small shows, like, you know, Seinfeld?).
posted by Kinglink on 4-28-2008 at 2:33 pm
I also liked Gilligan´s planet but Daybreak is not my thing I rather avoided that.
posted by Max on 4-28-2008 at 2:37 pm
You have no idea just how cool Cold_Lazarus is unless you also know about the other half of the story, as told in the sister TV production Karaoke.
Look up “Cold Lazarus” and “Karaoke” on wikipedia.
posted by Stickman on 4-28-2008 at 4:10 pm
You left out ‘The Incredible Robert Baldick’(1972) written by Terry Nation (creator of the Daleks and Blakes 7) which had an awesome premise: An eccentric Victorian scientist/detective travels around England solving bizarre crimes in a custom-built bulletproof train car straight out of Jules Verne. He’s also got a pet owl, and an afroed John Rhys-Davies as a sidekick!
Great concept, but unfortunately they got one of the least enegmatic actors in England to play the titular character, and despite some very Doctor Who-y plot developments the one-off pilot was practically unwatchable.
posted by Troy Wood on 4-28-2008 at 4:42 pm
I doubt if anyone remembers it, but in the mid-sixties there was a show produced by Sherwood Schwartz (who also did “Gilligan’s Island” and “I Dream of Jeanie”)called “It’s About Time”. In the first season, 2 astronauts broke the time barrier and would up in pre-historic times living with comical cavemen. After that proved a bust, they tried the reverse- the cave family was somehow transported to the 1960’s. That didn’t work either and so the whole idea was dropped. The cave family consisted of Imogeen Coca and Joe E. Ross.
posted by harold on 4-28-2008 at 6:59 pm
>The Ultimate Impostor
This IS coming to the TV this new coming season! It is produced by the same guy who did Angel, Firefly and Buffy. Look it up. Email me if you need the link for the news item.
posted by Eugenia on 4-28-2008 at 7:08 pm
“Even in the seventies, people were worried about global warming.”
Not quite; the big scare back then was global cooling and an impending ice age. I don’t see any new glaciers, so I guess the doomsayers were wrong then too.
posted by Dave on 4-28-2008 at 10:13 pm
There’s a website called “Foywonder” where a guy usually discusses bad movies. My name-link is of one he did last month about futuristic TV pilots.
One is a low-budget “Robocop”-meets-”Gunsmoke.”
Another is a family sitcom in the future with Andy Kaufman as a robot butler [!].
The last one is compared to “Brothers & Sisters,” with “battle hockey” and surgery in high-speed ambulances.
posted by Sillstaw on 4-28-2008 at 11:28 pm
I think you forgot “Global Frequency” based on the great comic of the same name by Warren Ellis. The pilot is available somewhere online.
posted by Mike Thompson on 4-29-2008 at 8:47 am
re: The Ultimate Impostor
Wasn’t the show ‘The Pretender’ similar to that concept? Not a computer in his brain but he had been ‘trained’ since a child to be able to perform all kinds of different jobs.
posted by Carol on 4-29-2008 at 11:37 am
daybreak, was good show..the timing was bad..and the fact that the split the viewing schedule didnt help.. they aired 3 esps..then took a two or three week break..then aired the next three esps. it was interesting. and tye diggs is sooooooooooooo easy on the eyes
posted by lillie on 4-30-2008 at 5:27 pm
I’m old enough to remember “My Living Doll” AND “It’s About Time.”
posted by Tom on 4-30-2008 at 6:54 pm
Alternative 3 – Actually the environmentalist fearmongering during the 70s was global cooling. They didn’t fabricate global warming until the 80s.
Day Break – That sounds like an interesting concept for a TV show, but I can’t see how 24 episodes over 7 years could be built from the concept, unless this guy’s life is has lots of separate “groundhog day” traps.
Gilligan’s Island – I remember that one! And did anyone notice in that clip that Dawn Wells did the voice of Ginger as well as Mary-Ann? Tina Louis because an enormous primadonna about her role once it was cancelled. Cheesy, yes, but lighten up lady!
Happy Days – I liked that show better when it was a starship instead of a timemachine and the cast was stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
posted by Steve on 5-23-2008 at 3:40 pm
Eugenia is sort of right about The Ultimate Imposter. Joss Whedon is currently working on a new series called Dollhouse where young, pretty people called “Actives” are imprinted with new personalities to be hired out to anyone who needs a job done and can afford it.
It’s not considered a re-imagining of The Ultimate Imposter, though, and I don’t think the actives have computers in their brains. It’s supposedly set to start in January as a mid-season show (but it’s already been pushed back once, so who knows if it’ll ever get up and running). Click on my name for more info.
reCaptcha: game retired
posted by nutmeag on 10-8-2008 at 2:42 pm
As a 9-year-old boy, Julie Newmar got my attention. Plus, I found out later she’s got a genius IQ. She WAS the perfect woman!
posted by MrRetro on 11-10-2008 at 3:56 pm
I’ve seen archive copies of the few episodes made of “Adam Adamant” which is about a Victorian gentleman adventurer who is cryogenically frozen by his evil nemesis and duplicitous fiance. He’s then reawakened in the London of the swining sixties.
It is just bizarre, but really fun! Particular note has to go to Adam Adamant’s sword cane and his mini-skirted proto-feminist side kick. Bonus Trivia: This is where Adam Ant is supposed to have got his stage name from.
posted by Jen - The Alien Spouse on 4-30-2009 at 11:07 am
It’s about time, it’s about space,
About two men in the strangest place. . . That’s all I remember, but I loved the show.
@MrRetro- what prepubescent boy wasn’t in love with Julie Newmar? I certainly remember My Living Doll. . .
posted by gwdMaine on 4-30-2009 at 11:55 am
My wife and I really liked Daybreak and were quite angry when it was cancelled. We watched the rest of the episodes on the web but it didn’t seem like a satisfactory ending. I don’t think it was intended to go for more than one short season, but you never know. Who would think that Prison Break could go for more than one. They broke out of prison already, what else do you need to show us!?
posted by crocostimpy on 4-30-2009 at 1:40 pm
Three words for you: The Robonic Stooges.
This 1978 classic had The 3 Stooges as cartoon bionic crime fighters (think: Inspector Gadget technology meets The 3 Stooges.) It was so lame that they couldn’t do 30 min episodes, but shared the slot with a pair detective dogs (can’t remember the name of those characters, but I will never The Robonic Stooges!)
posted by Fredd in Harlem on 7-9-2009 at 1:20 pm
I was 13 when \My Living Doll\ first aired, and Julie Newmar definitely made a lasting impression.
posted by Donfield on 7-11-2009 at 9:55 am
I also remember “It’s About Time.”
How about The Starlost…Max Headroom…
What was the one with John Saxon as an astronaut landing on a planet of women…Earth 2…? Cleopatra 2525…
posted by firstofnormalin on 7-11-2009 at 10:47 pm
I liked Day Break I watched it online at work. Great way to spend the work day, I just thought it was a mini series because everything was answered in the end. But by far the best scifi series that was ended to soon was Fire Fly… long live the brown coats
posted by chris on 7-28-2009 at 9:45 pm
“Quark” starring Richard Benjamin. NBC, 1977 and 1978.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)
posted by clonus on 8-3-2009 at 4:56 pm
Anyone remember Miracles? It was a show ran for about six episodes back in 2003…it starred Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen. It was about a group of three detectives that worked for a detective agency of sorts, called Sodalitas Quaerito (which is Latin for “Brotherhood in Search of Truth”). The purpose of this agency was to investigate all different kinds of reported “miracles” and try to determine their authenticity. It was sort of like The X-Files with a spiritual twist. Phenomenal show, great acting and some original storylines. Too bad only 13 episodes were produced. =[
posted by Cody on 8-7-2009 at 2:04 pm
Not as wacky as some, but another lost to time was The Immortal (wiki link under my name). This guy, who happens to test race cars for a living, turns out to be immune to all disease. Including aging. And, transfusions from his blood can make you immune to all disease, too, for a limited time. Naturally, an evil billionaire captures him to extract his blood. Naturally, he escapes. In the style of many ’70’s sci-fi shows, he wanders the landscape, always on the run (q.v., The Incredible Hulk).
posted by Lugh on 8-11-2009 at 4:11 pm
I’ve watched “Day Break,” and I agree with most of the posters here: It’s a good show. However, it’s true that it doesn’t seem like it would work after the initial batch of episodes. It does seem like he’d start to think, “Okay, the repeating day is back. Let’s see how I can fix it…” which would probably remove a lot of the drama of the show.
posted by Sillstaw on 8-14-2009 at 1:16 am
i remember my living doll with the wonderful julie newmar when i was a little kid. i fell in love with rhoda the robot.
posted by rick on 8-29-2009 at 8:44 am
Am I the only one who thinks “Alternative 3″ sounds like it could be very interesting? I love British comedy, mockumentaries, and sci-fi – perfect combination!
posted by Kate on 9-4-2009 at 4:02 pm
That one show “The Ultimate Impostor” did eventually get revamped and made. It was called “The Pretender”. Great show back in the 90’s about a genius who can program himself to be anyone in any profession.
posted by Leigh on 9-21-2009 at 9:22 pm
What about VR5?
posted by Jan on 10-8-2009 at 12:58 pm
Alternative 3 –
I didn’t realise the USA didn’t get “Alternative 3″. That is probably related to the screening schedule that should have been mentioned – it was shown around the world on ~ the same day. In Australia the TV news services had already announced it was a hoax b4 we saw it. At the end, someone I didn’t recognise as being in the doco told us it was all fiction. In the extremely unlikely event it wasn’t, this might be just what “they” would have done. The doco project would have had some public exposure, so to avoid or delay screening would have fed suspicion even more than what was done.I wonder if it inspired Ben Elton’s “Stark”.
posted by Galvo on 10-28-2009 at 11:18 pm
In the 1970s “It’s About Time” got almost as many repeats in Melb, Oz, as “Hogan’s Heroes” (also based on reality? ;-)) & “Gilligan’s Island”
“The Immortal” was played by “the immortal” Ben Gazzara.
I saw bits of “Frozen Lazarus”.(Ooh, er!).
I never saw UK’s “1990″ (Shown in Oz in1982? & repeated once ?) with Edward Woodward. Anyone see that?
“Actually the environmentalist fearmongering during the 70s was global cooling. They didn’t fabricate global warming until the 80s.”
“They” being most climate scientists? I wish the (cr/mass would stop spouting off about “Global Warming”. What is seriously postulated is decreased (predicta/sta)bility. Both warming & cooling can result.
So many technically educated sceptics never look at the ridiculous economic models that rule our life far more than environmentallists. I don’t know any who have, & don’t think orthodox economics is a joke.
posted by Galvo on 10-28-2009 at 11:34 pm
I recently rented the complete (but brief) series “Quark”, an ahead-of-its-time sci-fi parody about Capt. Adam Quark and his space garbage tug crew, including a bisexual character, a pet amoeba, and the Doublemint and Playboy-famous Barnstable twins named Betty. One was a clone of the other and Quark’s in love with Betty, but isn’t sure which one is really her. Fun stuff from around 1979.
posted by Skot on 10-30-2009 at 4:26 pm
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.
Its a show that aired in 2004 but parodies numerous aspects of 1980s low budget tv. You can find episodes on youtube, one of the strangest and funniest shows ive seen.
posted by Davesperado on 11-2-2009 at 3:49 pm
Maybe I am the only one, but does anyone remember a show (I don’t recall the name) about a step-family (ala the Brady Bunch) Only the father’s side were normal humans and the mother was an alien-human-hybrid as were the children. I remember it was on ABC, the mother’s name was cookie, she was pretty even though it looked like she had some kind of monstrous tumor on the side of her head. It only had one episode (obviously). I know this because I looked for it the next week. Being ten years old at the time, of course I found it entertaining.
posted by Elise Rivera on 11-18-2009 at 2:43 pm
there was a laugh – in spinoff called turn on that lasted only one episode. it debuted on the east coast and was so outrageous it was cancelled before it was shown on the west coast. i saw it and would love to see it again. can anybody help ? there must be a copy somewhere – up load to youtube so we all can see this show.
posted by dirk alan on 12-21-2009 at 1:28 pm