11 Awful Shows FOX Has Aired Right After The Simpsons
TMC
Archive Popular Random About Contact Mail List Facebook
Twitter RSS
11 Awful Shows FOX Has Aired Right After The Simpsons
Posted Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 12:01:00 AM
FOX has really tried to springboard some crappy shows by putting them
on at 8:30, right after "The Simpsons".
This list took me forever to research (finding old broadcast schedules
is relatively easy, but finding ones that include midseason and/or
summer replacements is damn near impossible)... but, ultimately, I dug
up 11 terrible, terrible shows that FOX tried to piggyback off of "The
Simpsons".
And I didn't even have to cop out and put in "American Dad", "King of
the Hill" or "Family Guy", thus leading to unbearable fanboy
discussions in the comments.
Here are 11 awful shows that FOX tried to springboard using the
powerful lead-in from "The Simpsons"... all 11 of which crashed and
burned.
"Babes" (1990-91) - "Babes" was the first show that FOX ever tried to
piggyback off "The Simpsons"... back during the first "Simpsons"
season where the focus of the show was on Bart and his catchphrases
("Underachiever and proud of it, man") and it looked like Dr. Marvin
Monroe and Bleeding Gums Murphy were going to be forced upon us as
recurring characters.
And yet, as rough as all that sounds... "Babes" sounds rougher. I have
only hazy, hazy memories of it, so I consulted the Liberal Media and
got this write-up of "Babes":
"The series followed the lives of the Gilbert sisters, a trio of plump
sisters ... shar[ing] a small apartment in New York City. It was
produced by Dolly Parton ... Parton even guest-starred as herself in
[an] episode."
Sounds great.
Apparently, the show was controversial at first because it made a
bunch of fat jokes... then eventually switched gears and embraced the
notion that chubbiness equals godliness... then quickly got canceled
after one season.
This is not to be confused with the FOX show "Studs"... the show that
really blazed the trail for VH1's entire lineup of hepitastic dating
shows.
"True Colors" (Summer 1991) - "True Colors" was another sitcom from
the FOX "edgy" years... back before black sitcoms migrated to UPN, and
then eventually disappeared altogether.
"True Colors" was like (and probably pitched as) an interracial "Brady
Bunch". I'd completely forgotten about it until I started working on
this list, but I have a VIVID memory of one of the promos. A little
white girl meets her new black siblings and, with her sass turned up
to 11, says, "I always wanted a brother, I didn't realize he'd be a
BROTHA!"
The laugh track thought that was the funniest thing ever said in the
history of mankind. And while actual humans didn't necessarily agree,
"True Colors" actually managed to survive 39 episodes.
"Drexell's Class" (1991-92) - Zero memory of this one. Apparently, it
starred Dabney Coleman (who's one of those "hey, it's that guy!"
actors) as a disgraced businessman who was busted for tax evasion and
sentenced to work as a fifth grade teacher in Iowa.
It starred a bunch of "cute" kids, including, if the photo below is
any indication, a poor man's Arsenio (and he was already a poor man's
Eddie Murphy) and a super-young Jason Biggs.
"The Simpsons" lead-in was once again not even good enough to get it
off the ground, as it was canceled midseason after 18 episodes.
"The Sinbad Show" (1993-94) - This sitcom came toward the end of TV
executives' inexplicable belief that Sinbad was marketable. FOX gave
him a sitcom where he played a bachelor who suddenly adopts two
orphans.
One of the orphans was actually played by Willie Norwood Jr... better
known today as Ray J. (Singer of "Sexy Can I"... brother of Brandy...
and prominent player in the aforementioned slate of VH1's syphilirific
dating shows.)
This was canceled after... yep, one season. At the end of the 1994
season FOX canceled four black shows: this, "Roc", "South Central" and
"In Living Color". Jesse Jackson called that racist. (Then again, the
sentence "Jesse Jackson called that racist" is akin to saying "Rasheed
Wallace can't believe he was called for the foul" or "Vizzini thinks
that's inconceivable.")
"House of Buggin'" (1994) - Sure, FOX canceled "In Living Color"...
but, apparently, they believed the non-white sketch show concept still
had legs. So they gave John Leguizamo a Latino-themed sketch comedy
show called "House of Buggin'".
The show didn't catch on, so FOX came to Leguizamo with a thought:
What if we go ahead and replace your Latino cast with some white
people? He balked and that was the end of "House of Buggin'", after
less than one full season.
With him out of the picture, FOX took the show's creative team,
unified them with the people at "MAD" magazine, and created "MadTV".
"Too Something" (1995-96) - "Too Something" was one of the many, many
"Seinfeld"/"Friends"-influenced sitcoms during the "TV shows about
friends hanging out in a New York apartment" era. In this iteration,
two twentysomething guys lived together in an NYC apartment, worked at
their boring jobs but had big career dreams, hung out with their
female friends, and dated. (Also, if the picture below is any
indication, they may or may not have been one-time members of Color Me
Badd.)
It very well may have been decent (I read an archived review of the
show that praised the writing) -- but it was just too much a part of
the dogpile of Seinfeldian clones to ever get any real traction.
And as bad as the name "Too Something" is, that was actually an
upgrade from the original title, "New York Daze". It lasted one
season.
"Ned and Stacey" (1996-97) - This very well may be the first sitcom
name on the list that you recognized. This was Debra Messing's first
"Name and Name" sitcom... and far less successful than her next one
("Will and Grace").
The premise here was that Ned (Thomas Haden Church) and Stacey got
married for convenience -- he needed a wife to get promoted at work,
she needed a place to live.
Somehow, they got 46 episodes (two full seasons) out of that premise.
After it was canceled, Messing went on to another sitcom about a sex-
free co-ed living situation and Church... well, disappeared into
rancher life for almost a decade until his career was magically
transformed thanks to a movie about the magic of wine.
"The Pitts" (2002) - "The Pitts" wasn't really an awful show -- there
was clearly some brainpower and comedic sensibility behind it -- it
just missed the mark. If you don't remember it (and, since only five
episodes aired, that's probably the case), "The Pitts" was set up to
be an absurdist parody of a sitcom. Like, the family accidentally
become werewolves, all the while making corny jokes that are
punctuated by a laugh track.
I think there were two issues with it. One: As much as the classic
family sitcom deserves to be parodied, it's a completely unsustainable
premise -- it's better suited as an "SNL" or "House of Buggin'" sketch
than an actual TV series. And two: While it's over-the-top, it's not
quite over-the-top enough to delineate between which jokes are there
for "wacky" parody reasons and which jokes are there to actually be
jokes.
"Oliver Beene" (2003) - Period piece sitcoms are very, very hard to do
-- especially on a network that appeals to a demographic that wasn't
alive for that period. "Oliver Beene" was a less charming "Wonder
Years"... Oliver was a little too much of a loser and this version of
the '60s looked (visually, not metaphorically) much more drab and
depressing.
Also, as much as David Cross is wonderful... as the narrating older
version of Oliver Beene, he was no Daniel Stern. And Oliver's older
brother Ted was certainly no Wayne. And all the girls combined weren't
Winnie Cooper. No girl will ever been Winnie Cooper. She, Kelly
Kapowski and, to a lesser extent, Teela really sculpted my "type."
"Oliver Beene" lasted 24 episodes.
"The War at Home" (2005-06) - This show was part of FOX's strange
mid-'00s decision to do a bunch of CBS-style sitcoms. (All of which
are now gone, by the way.)
Me and people of my ilk direct a particularly, and perhaps unfairly,
high level of venom specifically at "The War at Home", though...
because it was the sitcom that replaced "Arrested Development" on
FOX's schedule. For the two years it was on, it served as FOX's slap-
in-the-face to "Arrested" fans, the boorish generic yin to Arrested's
unique genius yang.
And I'm pretty sure they once made a big deal out of a Tila Tequila
cameo. She was no Gene Parmesan.
"The Winner" (2007) - This show featured Rob Corddry, of "Daily Show"
correspondent fame, playing Glen, a 31-year-old guy still living at
home with his parents. I actually watched a few episodes and I
remember it was mostly about Glen's love for his neighbor, a single
mother.
And that might've been the problem (the macro level problem; the micro
level problem were the bad jokes and overbearing laugh track). The big
problem: Somewhere in that premise and main plot line, there's going
to be something that hits too close to home for almost everyone in
FOX's demo.
It only lasted six episodes.
Coming next month, FOX will try out another new show after "The
Simpsons" -- this time it's the "Family Guy" spinoff "The Cleveland
Show". Which stars a white guy doing the voice of the lead black
character.
Should I already start clearing space to make it an addendum to this
list?
aaronhi...@yahoo.com
Mr. Museum
Nick B
Captain Infinity
TMC wrote:
>Coming next month, FOX will try out another new show after "The
>Simpsons" -- this time it's the "Family Guy" spinoff "The Cleveland
>Show". Which stars a white guy doing the voice of the lead black
>character.
>
>Should I already start clearing space to make it an addendum to this
>list?
Next month? You were supposed to set the clock back, not the calendar.
**
Captain Infinity
TMC
wrote:
I discovered the article just yesterday, so pardon me for not
bothering to edit it!
The Doctor (as portrayed by Colin Baker)
> Don't forget "Sit Down, Shut Up."
I believe that long running hit TV series (4 whole episodes) aired
before the Simpsons. Maybe they shouldn't have censored Miracle's
dance in episode 2.
aaronhi...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> Once Upon A Time,
>
> TMC wrote:
> >Coming next month, FOX will try out another new show after "The
> >Simpsons" -- this time it's the "Family Guy" spinoff "The Cleveland
> >Show". Which stars a white guy doing the voice of the lead black
> >character.
The only way to top having a woman do the voice of a little boy.
> >Should I already start clearing space to make it an addendum to this
> >list?
>
> Next month? You were supposed to set the clock back, not the calendar.
Lousy Smarch Weather.
Mr. Museum