Well, it looks like I will never see Ben Stein dance on television. That was part of the appeal for me of the new reality show “Secret Talents of the Stars.” As it turns out, either the stars didn’t have any secrets or weren’t talented because America was not tuning in. After the first show drew just 4.6 million (I would have thought there would have been at least that many Star Trek fans tuned in just to hear George “Mr. Sulu” Takei sing “On the Road Again”), it was cancelled.
However, “Secret Talents of the Stars” is in good – or is that bad? – company. Here is a list of other shows that were so bad, only the first episode aired before cancellation:
Co-Ed Fever
Ah, back in 1979, everyone had co-ed fever – except CBS fans that was. This show was an attempt to cash in on the Animal House success that failed miserably. Somewhere, there are five unaired episodes floating around.
Comedians Unleashed
Oh, this just sounds like a bad idea. In 2002, Animal Planet decided to have a comedy show in which all the jokes were animal themed. The one episode ran a few times before being locked up in television oblivion.
Dot Comedy
ABC was the network guilty of this bad comedy show that lasted only one night. In 2000, they thought it would be funny to have a show filled with funny material from the Internet. Something just didn’t translate.
Emily’s Reasons Why Not
Heather Graham may be a movie star, but she didn’t do well on the small screen as her show about a single career woman who was unlucky in love was cancelled the day after its broadcast.
Lawless
This Fox show featured American football star Brian Bosworth as a private investigator who is still probably looking for his lost television career.
South of Sunset
This was a 1993 private detective show featured Glenn Frey (a founding member of The Eagles). Despite being heavily promoted during the World Series, it tanked. Looks like someone watched Frey’s Smuggler’s Blues video one too many times!
Turn-On
ABC wanted to compete with the successfully Laugh-In, so they came up with Turn-On. It seems like there should be a joke in here somewhere, but I just cannot think of anything right now.